IAIN BAXTER&: Works 1958-2011 (Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago: Exhibition Catalogues) - Tapa blanda

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Winner, Canadian Museums Association Outstanding Achievement in Publication and Melva J. Dwyer AwardIain Baxter legally changed his name to IAIN BAXTER& in 2005. He appended an ampersand to his name to underscore that art is about connectivity -- about contingency and collaboration with a viewer. He also effected the name change to perpetuate a strategy of self re-definition that is central to his creative project. BAXTER& began making art in the late-1950s under his birth name but quickly realized that the name itself was creative material, to be deployed, manipulated, and shared. In 1965, he formed a collaborative art-making entity which evolved into N.E. Thing Company, a corporate-styled entity whose co-presidents were BAXTER& and his wife Ingrid. Producing a diverse array of projects that encompassed conceptually based photography, pioneering works of appropriation art, and gallery transforming installations, the N.E. Thing Company offered a new model of art making, allowing the artists to remain anonymous and masquerade in the guise of business people. Following the dissolution of N.E. Thing Company in 1978, BAXTER& produced extensive bodies of work with Polaroid film, created numerous installations that blended painting and sculpture, and made pedagogy a focus of his creative enterprise. Consistent themes permeate his work and vector through his thinking. And by assessing these themes -- a relentless emphasis on reaching out to the viewer, a core concern with ecology and the environment, and a belief that art must assume plural means and media -- one discerns BAXTER&'s creative credo, understanding that "art is all over." This comprehensive book reviews BAXTER&'s remarkable career across all media. It accompanies a major international touring exhibition, which opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago in November 2011 and at the Art Gallery of Ontario in April 2012. Featuring more than 160 reproductions of BAXTER&'s work, it also includes essays by the exhibition's curator, David Moos, along with contributions by Michael Darling (James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), Alex Alberro (Associate Professor, University of Florida), and others. The book will also feature a comprehensive bibliography compiled by Adam Lauder (W.P. Scott Chair for Research in E-Librarianship, York University).

Contraportada

IAIN BAXTER& has been challenging and expanding notions of art for more than fifty years. Inspired by his creative credo "Art Is All Over," he experimented with non-traditional materials and modes of production. In doing so, he pioneered new models of art making that collapsed boundaries between art, commerce, and everyday life, often opening pathways for other artists to follow.

BAXTER& began producing art in the late 1950s under his given name, Iain Baxter, N.E. Thing Co. was founded in 1967, with Baxter and then-wife Ingrid serving as co-presidents. Under the guise of a corporation, N.E. Thing Co. produced a diverse array of projects that questioned the role of art both as consumer commodity and as a medium for cultural commentary. When the company dissolved in 1978, Baxter further expanded his practice to encompass Polariod film and multimedia installations that blended painting and sculpture. He also pursued pedagogy as an extension of his creative ideals. In 2005, he legally changed his name to IAIN BAXTER&, appending an ampersand to underscore his belief that art is contingent upon a collaborative connection with the viewer.

This comprehensive book surveys BAXTER&'s remarkable career and recognizes his defining contribution to mainstream histories of conceptual art, photography, and installation art. Featuring more than 200 reproductions, it also offers a multi-faceted appraisal of his achievement with feature essays by David Moos, Michael Darling, Dennis W. Durham, Christophe Domino, and Lucy R. Lippard, as well as interviews with IAIN BAXTER& and Ingrid Baxter by Alexander Alberro.