Enrique Martínez Celaya - (Paperback)

About the Book

This collection, spanning nearly a decade of artistic activity, features selections of writings that trace the intellectual influences and track the development of one of the more formidable and productive minds in the contemporary art world.

Book Synopsis

This collection, spanning nearly a decade of artistic activity, features selections of writings that trace the intellectual influences and track the development of one of the more formidable and productive minds in the contemporary art world. The writings comprise Enrique Martínez Celaya's public lectures; essays; interviews; correspondence with artists, critics, and scholars; artist statements; blog posts; and journal entries.

These texts were written during Martínez Celaya's appointment as Visiting Presidential Professor at the University of Nebraska; Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College; and, most recently, as the first Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts at the University of Southern California. Marked by Martínez Celaya's encyclopedic curiosity and considerable knowledge about the world, these writings and interviews explore the role of art in life, evaluate texts by other modern and contemporary artists and thinkers, and reveal the artist's deep engagement with artistic, philosophical, and literary lines of inquiry.

Review Quotes

"The essays, lectures, and interviews in this volume provide a fascinating glimpse into the philosophical thought of an uncommonly reflective artist. It offers an exceptionally detailed account of how philosophical ideas and the process of artistic creation can be mutually enriching. This is a unique and valuable book."--Kenneth Walden, assistant professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College
-- (2/23/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"This collection of writings is important, not for addressing a singular subject, but rather because of the diversity of thoughts that is offered. Enrique Martínez Celaya provides the reader with a range of subjects that tantalizes and leaves open new possibilities. For all readers, but particularly artists, he offers perspectives that are rarely articulated. His prose is reflective and expansive."--Christina Gomez, professor of liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
-- (2/23/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"While tracing his various exhibitions and projects as they evolve from ideas to material realities during this turbulent decade, we discover Martínez Celaya wrestling with major themes of existential philosophy, such as doubt and resolve, youth and old age, and home and homelessness. And by engaging with European philosophy and world literature, he continuously questions the power of the artist--as well as the artist's ability to stand alone--in a time of increasing consumerism and political propaganda."--Matthew Biro, from his foreword to this book
-- (2/23/2019 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Enrique Martínez Celaya was trained as an artist as well as a physicist and currently works in painting, sculpture, photography, and writing. He is the author of numerous books, including On Art and Mindfulness; Enrique Martínez Celaya: Collected Writings and Interviews, 1990-2010 (Nebraska, 2010); and Martínez Celaya: Work and Documents, 1990-2015.