Matthew Barney – författare

A generously illustrated look at the intricate narrative threads of three of the artist’s earliest works, and their continued resonance todayCelebrated for works blending performance, video, and sculpture, Matthew Barney has created complex narratives that emerge across series since his earliest exhibitions. Matthew Barney: OTTO Trilogy is the first book to trace the progression of three significant early projects—Facility of INCLINE, Facility of DECLINE, and OTTOshaft— and to reveal the narrative system that links them. Titled after former football player Jim Otto, the series explores the training, discipline, and physical limits of the body alongside questions of sexual difference and desire. Featuring an illuminating introduction by Nancy Spector; an essay by Maggie Nelson on the works’ exploration of psychology, bodies, image-making, narrative, and abstraction; and a new text by the artist, this generously illustrated volume includes previously unpublished artist’s sketches, behind-the-scenes photographs, research material, and video stills. It is the definitive publication on this important series, and offers a key to understanding many of the themes that thread throughout Barney’s oeuvre.Distributed for the Gladstone GalleryExhibition Schedule:Gladstone Gallery, New York(09/08/16–10/22/16)

SECONDARY is a five-channel video installation, performed in Barney s Long Island City studio in 2023, then in London, Paris, and Los Angeles in 2024. The plot revolves around an accident that occurred during a football game in 1978, when Oakland Raiders Jack Tatum delivered an open field hit on Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots. Stingley was left paralyzed. The tragic event remained seared in the minds of American fans, including Barney himself, a youth-league quarterback at the time. Through allusion to American sports culture, SECONDARY explores the complex intersection of violence, its representation, and its celebration. It reimagines the game through a unique movement vocabulary. The result is a physical study that focuses on every element of the game, from drills and pre-game rituals to moments of impact and their slow-motion replays. Volume 1 explores SECONDARY in depth, with essays by leading contemporary voices. Volume 2 maps the life of Barney s former Long Island City studio, where SECONDARY premiered to the public.