"This book brings together new texts written to accompany 79 exhibitions organized by Bob Nickas between 1984 and 2011. Nickas chose one work to represent the memory of each exhibition, and through this visual "lens" he reflects on his activity as a curator, offering many behind-the-scenes views to the art world of the 1980s and 90s, as well as intimate recollections of the artists he worked with, and the art works he encountered over the years. The book, then, can be seen as a sort of memoir. Always placing the artists and their works within a social milieu, while also aware of how art travels across time, he reminds us that both lead multiple lives, as an exhibition can reanimate a work from the past, and occasion the discovery of forgotten and marginalized figures among those who are very well-known. This retrospective catalog is also in many ways an ideal exhibition — or collection — 27 years in the making." -- publisher's statement.
Artists include: Vito Acconci, Richard Aldrich, John M Armleder, Barry X Ball, Lisa Beck, Alan Belcher, Ben Berlow, Walead Beshty, Huma Bhabha, Doug Biggert, Marcel Broodthaers, Henri Cartier Bresson, Graham Caldwell, Vija Celmins, Art Chantry, Larry Clark, Verne Dawson, Jules de Balincourt, Jessica Diamond, Trisha Donnelly, Moira Dryer, Gardar Eide Einarsson, William Gedney, Robert Gober, Daan van Golden, Wayne Gonzales, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Peter Halley, Richard Hawkins, Adam Helms, Eva Hesse, Peter Hujar, Jacob Kassay, On Kawara, Yves Klein, Louise Lawler, Mark Leckey, Sherrie Levine, Judy Linn, Lee Lozano, Chris Martin, Allan McCollum, McDermott & McGough, Adam McEwen, Ryan McGinley, John Miller, Olivier Mosset, Dave Muller, Chuck Nanney, Bruce Nauman, Cady Noland, Amy O'Neill, Steven Parrino, Laurie Parsons, Raymond Pettibon, Jean Prouvé, David Ratcliff, Alex Rose, Sally Ross, Allen Ruppersberg, Sam Samore, Tom Sandberg, Joan Semmel, Stephen Shore, Harry Smith, Jack Smith, Robert Smithson, Mark Stahl, Haim Steinbach, Rudolf Stingel, Lily van der Stokker, Aaron Suggs, Philip Taaffe, Paul Thek, Wolfgang Tillmans, Betty Tompkins, Josh Tonsfeldt, John Tremblay, Alan Uglow, Kelley Walker, Jeff Wall, Joan Wallace, Wallace & Donohue, Dan Walsh, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Wool.
