Demetrio Paparoni – författare

From the 1990s until just before his death, the legendary art critic and philosopher Arthur C. Danto carried out extended conversations about contemporary art with the prominent Italian critic Demetrio Paparoni. Their discussions ranged widely over a vast range of topics, from American pop art and minimalism to abstraction and appropriationism. Yet they continually returned to the concepts at the core of Danto’s thinking—posthistory and the end of aesthetics—provocative notions that to this day shape questions about the meaning and future of contemporary art.Art and Posthistory presents these rich dialogues and correspondence, testifying to the ongoing importance of Danto’s ideas. It offers readers the opportunity to experience the intellectual excitement of Danto in person, speculating in a freewheeling yet erudite style. Danto and Paparoni discuss figures such as Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Franz Kline, Sean Scully, Clement Greenberg, Cindy Sherman, and Wang Guangyi, offering both insightful comments on individual works and sweeping observations about wider issues. On occasion, the artist Mimmo Paladino and the philosopher Mario Perniola join the conversation, enlivening the discussion and adding their own perspectives.The book also features an introductory essay by Paparoni that provides lucid analysis of Danto’s thinking, emphasizing where the two disagree as well as what they learned from each other.

From the 1990s until just before his death, the legendary art critic and philosopher Arthur C. Danto carried out extended conversations about contemporary art with the prominent Italian critic Demetrio Paparoni. Their discussions ranged widely over a vast range of topics, from American pop art and minimalism to abstraction and appropriationism. Yet they continually returned to the concepts at the core of Danto’s thinking—posthistory and the end of aesthetics—provocative notions that to this day shape questions about the meaning and future of contemporary art.Art and Posthistory presents these rich dialogues and correspondence, testifying to the ongoing importance of Danto’s ideas. It offers readers the opportunity to experience the intellectual excitement of Danto in person, speculating in a freewheeling yet erudite style. Danto and Paparoni discuss figures such as Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Franz Kline, Sean Scully, Clement Greenberg, Cindy Sherman, and Wang Guangyi, offering both insightful comments on individual works and sweeping observations about wider issues. On occasion, the artist Mimmo Paladino and the philosopher Mario Perniola join the conversation, enlivening the discussion and adding their own perspectives.The book also features an introductory essay by Paparoni that provides lucid analysis of Danto’s thinking, emphasizing where the two disagree as well as what they learned from each other.

The first monograph conceived for the international market devoted to one of the most important Chinese contemporary artists. Wang Guangyi is considered one of the emblems of new China, because his work underlines, through new expressive language forms, the deep social changes the country is experiencing. This monograph reveals for the first time the entire oeuvre of the artist, whose works are classified in China under the genre of Political Pop, and are kept in the collections of the most important museums and foundations in the world. Born in Heilongjiang Province in 1956, Wang Guangyi became one of the great stars of contemporary Chinese art through his Great Criticism series. Through the juxtaposition of two definitely opposing ideologies, each represented through iconic symbols, Guangyi criticises Communism and consumerism while negating both by combining them skilfully. Stylistically merging the government-enforced aesthetic of Agitprop with the kitsch sensibility of American Pop, Guangyi’s work adopts the cold-war language of the 1960s to ironically examine the contemporary issues of globalisation. Through their critique, Guangyi’s paintings weave intricate narratives, implying the role of the artist as an active participant (both as subjugator and subservient) in economic and social policies. Guangyi treads a very delicate line between moral dictum and capitalist endorsement; the interpretation of his paintings alternates with the subjectivity of context. Amalgamating, confusing and blurring opposing ideological beliefs, Guangyi’s billboard-sized canvases readily sell out national valour, while simultaneously devaluing status symbol luxury for the proletariat cause.

This is the first chapter in a triennial project that centres on the relationship of the artist with him or herself in the screen-based age. All the works were created after 11 September 2001, a date impressed in the memory of everyone and that marked epoch-making changes. With Timer01, questions are asked on the internal space of the new social context created since the attack on the Twin Towers. One hundred artists from all over the world – many of whom are already well known on an international scale – are the protagonists of this project.This is the structure of the three chapters:Timer01: the individual in relation to him or herself;Timer02: the individual in relation to others;Timer03: the individual in relation to the architectural environment.

Simple, direct, and penetrating, the celebrated photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders portrays his subjects like a painter from another age. Thanks to his 11x14” Fulmer & Schwing, an old wooden box dated 1905, which he uses as if he were using a palette and brush, he produces portraits that are rich in detail without being overly psychological. The poignant poses and expressions he captures in his straightforward images convey a sense of the person. Like Rembrandt and Velázquez depicting the great figures of their time, Greenfield-Sanders focuses his lens on today’s icons: artists, architects, writers, scientists, actors, directors, musicians artists, architects. Undoubtedly one of Greenfield-Sanders’s greatest merits is his being able to limit the distance that separates the portrait from the observer. This beautifully produced volume brings together an impressive selection of portraits taken between 1977 and the present with over 100 never published before. The juxtaposition of the portraits adds a compelling dimension to the individual portraits. The intensity of Elaine and Willem de Kooning or Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal multiplies as they appear next to each other on the page. William Wegman and Richard Hamilton lean toward each other, toward some kind of cosmic center. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg seem to confirm the notion that a director is in total control. And porn star Briana Banks, look every bit like a porn star.

This illustrated volume highlights the rich personality of the Armenian painter Rafael Megall (born 1983), his connection with the artistic tradition of his country, and the peculiar language inspired by the story of his people. The book offers a panorama of his production, among others: the famous icons, paintings on wood first showcased at the 57th Venice Biennale; the installation The Artist and His Mother, showcased at the National Gallery of Armenia, one of the most powerful artworks dedicated to the Armenian genocide; the unpublished series of portraits dedicated to Lev Tolstoy.

The volume deals with the complex universe of the artist (Manila, 1975), who combines elements deriving from the iconography and aesthetic of Baroque with Japanese woodcuts (ukiyo-e), reinterpreted in a Pop style. In his paintings, men, women, and anthropomorphic animals are shown in forests plentiful with butterflies and birds, introducing the theme of vanitas in a context of strong visual impact.