Delirious: Art at the Limits of Reason, 1950–1980

In this generously illustrated exhibition catalogue, curator Baum and art historians Bradnock and Ryan explore the historical, social, and political milieu that shaped the absurdism in art between 1950 and 1980. Categorizing the period’s art into the themes of “excess” (tedious repetition), “vertigo” (intentional disorientation),”twisted” (grotesque abstraction of the figure), and “nonsense” (visual and literary non sequiturs), the authors show how absurdism in art was a jaundiced reaction to the geopolitical climate of the post-WWII era. The time was referred to as “postwar,” but war raged in Indochina, Vietnam, and South America, and the Cold War placed America and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear annihilation. Artists of the period embraced irrationality as a response to what President Eisenhower famously term “the military-industrial complex,” referring to the weaponization of technology on a grand scale by 20th century governments. For example, artist Rauschenberg collaborated with Bell Labs engineer Billy Klüver to produce the iconic neo-dada performance “9 Evenings,” which allegorically and ironically incorporated technology to deliver aleatory chaos. The authors note how playwrights and novelists of this era were also invested in themes of delirium. Samuel Beckett’s experimental, anti-grammatical writing that nullified written language as coherent communication proved particularly influential to visual artists of the day, namely Jasper Johns, Bruce Nauman, Robert Smithson, and Sol LeWitt. This book threads together an array of artists and their work, including the coolly understated geometric abstractions of Sol LeWitt and Ana Mendieta’s visceral and contentiously grotesque photographic self-portraits. The authors succeed in demonstrating that though this art seemed like madness, there was method in it. (Oct.)