Lothar Baumgarten, Autofocus retina - Tapa blanda

Readers who are interested in photography and mixed media as social commentary will find this book compelling. Baumgarten's expansive range of work is both inspiring and intimidating. He's an artist who refuses to view his work dispassionately, claiming, "You cannot reflect your own society, unless you know a society that is remote from it. To know that society, you don't want to walk into it, get a Ph.D. and turn the page. You have to jump into the bushes, almost naked, as I did." (Will Mahoney-Watson, for Notable Book Reviews).

The title of this book, "Autofocus Retina" means a configuration of four diamond shaped mirrors connoting the inner mechanics of a camera lens: the photographic eye. Lothar Baumgarten (b. Germany 1944, living and working in Berlin/New York) presents a personal selection of photographs, sculpture, drawings and film, from the late 1960s to the present day. The book follows the creative trajectory of an artist who does not comply with the aesthetic vision of art but who continually questions the logic structuring Western thought and systems of representation. It features essays on Baumgarten's work by Hal Foster, Michael Jakob, Craig Owens, Anne Rorimer and Friedrich Wolfram Heubach. Each text has been chosen by the artist himself along with special graphic illustrations and images.