Today we are recommending five essential contemporary art books previously featured in print editions of Aesthetica Magazine. From championing Black image-makers working at the intersection of art, fashion and photography in Antwaun Sargent’s The New Black Vanguard to the age-old mystery and symbolism of reflective surfaces explored through contemporary art in MirrorMirror. Here we highlight must-read publications which highlight a range of mediums and genres. These titles provide visual inspiration and critical reflection. Which will you be reaching for next?
The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and Fashion
Antwaun Sargent | Aperture
Antwaun Sargent’s The New Black Vanguard brings the talent of Black image makers to the fore. The book is breaking through the glass ceiling that has limited talented Black artists to have equal opportunities and points to a history of exclusion, provoking dialogues about representation, sexuality, gender and identity. In Aesthetica Magazine, Sargent points out that the photographers he’s selected for The New Black Vanguard have many other concerns and explains how social media has made young black artists impossible to ignore. Jamal Nxedlana’s practice, for example, engages with LGTBQ+ communities, whilst Quil Lemons’ Glitterboy reflects questions and explorations of gender in contemporary society.
Lust for Light
Hannah Stouffer | Gingko Press
“Light causes our planet to flourish – it is associated with growth and warmth,” muses Hannah Stouffer, editor of Lust for Light. The book tracks how contemporary light art has evolved over time, highlighting works where illumination acts as the definitive focus. Featuring the work of artists such as Olivier Ratsi, Iván Navarro, Romain Tardy, Brice Bischoff, Barbara Kasten, Bill FitzGibbons and Yayoi Kusama, the body of work in Lust for Light spans a vast range of mediums bringing the implementation and exploration of light to the fore. The title profiles practitioners who are using the medium of illumination in progressive ways, exploring how we place something so fundamental to our existence on such an elevated cultural pedestal.
Firecracker
Fiona Rogers, the Global Business Manager of Magnum Photos, established Firecracker in 2011 as an online showcase of outstanding work by female photographers. What started as a scheme to draw attention to underrepresented practitioners soon grew into a space for network-building and the exchange of ideas, also providing active support for new work. The latest iteration of the project takes the form of a carefully curated book, edited by Rogers and the writer and academic Max Houghton. The result is a contemporary cross-section of subject matter and aesthetic styles: the personal intertwines with the political, and the documentary impulse is heightened by powerful concepts and supreme technical artistry.
MirrorMirror
Thames & Hudson
“Holding a mirror up to yourself, be it an actual or a metaphorical one, is quite a difficult task to undertake,” writes Michael Petry (b. 1960) in MirrorMirror: The Reflective Surface in Contemporary Art, a book that looks at this phenomenon across painting, installation, sculpture and multimedia. It’s a who’s who of contemporary artists working in the space: Anish Kapoor, Cindy Sherman, Doug Aitken, Lee Bul, Tracey Emin, Olafur Eliasson, Trevor Paglen, Sarah Sze, Yayoi Kusama and more. But it also looks back to history to establish the legacy upon which these artists build. MirrorMirror features architectural installations, reflective metal sculptures, shining light displays as well as self-portraits.
Civilization: The Way We Live Now
William A Ewing and Holly Roussell | Thames & Hudson
William A Ewing and Holly Roussell’s Civilization is about “the way we live now.” The book responds to the fact that, a decade ago, in 2008, the human race underwent a profound cultural shift. For the first time in our history, a majority of us lived not in a small pocket of the world’s endless natural expanses, but all on top of each other – in cities. ” Civilization features a diverse collection of photography, spanning epic manufactured landscapes, like Edward Burtynsky’s now famous image of a chicken processing plant in Dehui City, China, along with sweeping vistas of the built environment, to portraits of individuals in domestic spaces, such as in Benny Lam’s Trapped and Michael Wolf’s series Architecture of Density.
Words: Sophie Bullivant
Image Credits:
1. Image courtesy of Nadine Ijewere.
2. Namsa Leuba, Anzie at Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 2018. Copyright: Namsa Leuba. Courtesy Aperture.
3. DAYDREAM V.2 by NONOTAK, Noemi Schipfer & Takami Nakamoto.
4. The Bedroom, from The Woman Who Never Existed, 2016, by Anja Niemi. © Anja Niemi / courtesy of The Little Black Gallery.
5. Mischa Kuball, five planets, (2011). Times Art Museum, Beijing, China, 2022. 5 mirror balls, 5 rotating motors, 5 gobo spots, 5 lenses, 5 gobo masks. Dimensions variable. Edition 1/2. Courtesy Museum Folkwang, Essen Germany. Photo: Yuqi Wei, © Archive Mischa Kuball, Düsseldorf / VG Bild- Kunst Bonn, 2022.
6. Henrik Spohler, THE THIRD DAY. Tree nursery, rows of clipped trees, northern Germany.
