Sherrie Levine: Mayhem

Although the American photographer and conceptual artist Sherrie Levine (b. 1947) has been the subject of much critical discourse for the past thirty years, she has not been the subject of a comprehensive survey, until now. This handsome volume, created in close collaboration with the artist, contains 150 colour images that cover the full range of Levine's practice, from classic photographic works and sculptures to lesser-known works on paper, paintings, and three-dimensional objects. A selection of previously unpublished writings by the artist herself and several essays by distinguished art historians augment the artworks. While much of Levine's art has a historical basis - drawing on existing imagery from both high and low culture - her early and continued engagement with digital technology places her firmly within a contemporary context, in which the borrowing, reframing, and reproduction of imagery have become second nature. This book acknowledges the central role Levine has played in the history of appropriation, and also draws attention to her practice of using repetition, multiple images and the pairing of objects, thereby highlighting conceptual threads that run through her work. Above all, however, the publication focuses on the materiality of Levine's art, emphasizing its powerfully seductive nature.