Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s

In this catalogue accompanying a touring exhibition of 1990s art, curator Schwartz (Ed Ruscha’s Los Angeles) celebrates a decade that is rapidly attracting art-historical attention. The brief essays by academics, curators, and critics accompany striking plates of work made between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Focusing on identity politics, digital media, and globalization, the catalogue includes the expected figures: Nikki S. Lee, Gabriel Orozco, Kara Walker, Catherine Opie, and others. While the essays are typically of an academic mind and voice, they are engaging, especially when addressing topics that remain urgent today, such as net art and the representation of black artists. Seeing the visual creations laid out from Schwartz’s perspective, the decade appears energetic and imaginative again, even though the themes are not always unique to the time period. Although the text requires familiarity with contemporary art, Schwarz’s catalogue backs its insights up with enough visuals to earn readers’ attention. (Jan.)