RICHARD FLOOD

Notes from the Playground

Michelle Piranio (Ed.)

Notes from the Playground is a carefully selected anthology of thirty essays by American curator, scholar, and writer Richard Flood. This new collection of his writings from the past forty years reveals an original and rigorous connection to the world of ideas, beauty, and the critical and aesthetic experience of our present times. Drawing from his broad knowledge of history, cinema, literature, poetry, design, and architecture, flood’s writings combine the autobiographical with the theoretical, presenting an intimate window into his years of working with contemporary artists. In many of the essays, he draws from personal correspondence between himself and the artists. Among them are an annotated conversation with Paul Thek discussing his works of wax made, “raw meat” facsimiles embedded in luxurious Plexiglas cases; four interviews with Robert Gober during the 1990s, offering vivid accounts of his sculptural and creative process; and a detailed description of a portrait sitting at Michael Landy’s studio. Flood’s significant essay on Arte Povera, co-curated while at the Walker Art Center with frances Morris, Tate Modern director of collections, is also included. These fascinating and diverse essays interweave the anecdotal with the art historical to bring about new perspectives on the work and the contexts of the artists.

Add to your order