4 comments about Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion (Leonardo Books).

1. The unique approach to handing the history of `virtual art' is scholarly and innovative, undermining popular conceptions of the notion of `virtuality'. I would have appreciated colour plates, since the subject matter often pertains to the study of many forms of visual art. A glossary of terms also would have been helpful. The addition of these to elements would make the book much more accessible to readers who are introducing themselves to these concepts and artworks.
   
   Broad in breadth and depth, Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion traces the history of virtual art through studying the history of `immersion' and `illusion' in the arts, and relates these ideas to the current developments in `virtual reality'. It is unlikely that the general public, or even most arts professionals, would consider the panoramic frescoes of ancient Pompeii a precursor to the 1980's notion of goggled cybernetic digitalia, nor the recent developments in transgenic art, yet this book includes very convincing arguments that link these ideas to the development of today's virtual art. Self-proclaimed as the `first' to link art history and immersive visual culture to the field of contemporary digital environment-based art experiences, this innovative and convincing research is laid out before the reader in an intellectual, yet accessible fashion, complete with diagrams and illustrations to illuminate key ideas. Many interesting works of art are chronicled here, placed within a contextual framework that demonstrates the significance of the ideas and technology supporting the works. Gathering this information in a print format also allows these works to live on and influence other thinkers outside of directly experiencing the works, which is often not technically possible, given the temporal nature of many immersion-based artworks. Ideas do not develop in a vacuum, but through the dialogues of overlapping discourses, combined with critical thought. Grau demonstrates that virtual art is not exactly new, and it satisfies a basic human desire for experiencing the `other', whether through looking at panoramic paintings of mythology or faraway lands, or designing a prototype Holodeck (Star Trek). Unexpected parallels abound, making this a very informative read that may forever change the reader's interpretations of classical art history as well as of virtual reality.
   
   It is likely that Grau reaches the academic arts audience he sets out to reach with this book, as is demonstrated by the numerous references to this book online, in various journals, blogs, and academic websites. This focus on art history as media history would be thoroughly appreciated by Marshall McLuhan fans, as well as art historians who specialize in media studies. Artists and historians interested in 3-D modeling, avatar development, online immersive environments, transgenic art, and historical instances of illusion in the arts will also find this book a valuable and up-to-date resource. This book would make a welcome addition to a University library, a gallery or artist-run centre's library, or the personal collection of savvy technophiles.



2. This book is a outstanding contribution to the upcoming new field image science.



3. This book is an excellent rendition for electro-visual labs.
   The work is perfect if you are looking for new ideas on interior
   decorating for the home. There are many exotic art forms
   depicted in this work.

   
   Virtual reality is integrated into art immersion. The work
   provides a panoramic view of the Battle of Sedan. There are
   pictures of the Futurama in the 1939 World Fair. In addition,
   a screenshot portrays the Home of the Brain. The work is
   excellent for anticipated student school projects.
   This work is perfect for art enthusiasts, historians,
   interior decorators, architects , photographers and a whole
   host of professionals in varied fields.




4. WIRED spoke about a "great read" and Lev Manovich decribed Grau's book as a "must-read for anyone interested in new media, art history, and any field using virtual images." - Grau lives up to expectations !  He analyzes what is new in media art by balancing recent works and historic media development, and so retells art history as media history. An interdisciplinary study in art history, media history, and new media art, the cross fertilization enriches his analysis and helps clarify the essence of immersion and Virtual Reality.  Beyond Grau's analysis, I was thankful to see so many artists involved - many hot names. This book will be valuable for both practitioners and theoreticians. Hopefully there will be a paperback soon for students.

4 comments about Kinky Couture.

1. The photography is brilliantly done in this book. The author herself appears as her own model in many shots and certainly models quite well. Although the work is far from genius artistry it is very well done and a lot of fun. Great high gloss, high impact visuals. You can't go wrong here. Every picture or almost is a winner.



2. With the exception of a few images (including the one on the cover) this book is much more focused on the couture than the kinky. The latex-clad models look bored rather than aroused, and the artist's interest in clown suits is one I do not share.
   
   I was also surprised to see photographs of men in this collection, since both the reviews and the product description indicated that the models were female. Furthermore, the men she chose were not attractive, and instead of being nude or erotically dressed, they just had on some wild latex gimp suit. Just not my thing.



3. More than just a photography book, this is an atmospheric fantasy ride through the imagination of an exciting new artist. As mentioned in the introduction, Emma Delves-Broughton draws much of her inspiration from the grand 18th Century columned architecture of her aristocratic hometown of Bath, England, and is further enthused by the splendid backdrops of stately gardens, follies, and castles there. She mixes all of this together along with her fascination for fetish clothing, props, and subject matter, and plasters it onto each page with an extraordinary and breathtaking range of photographic techniques. If anything, she is an amazingly talented photographer.

   Both color and black & white images are featured here, and most works are saturated with a sultry, glamorous mood which absolutely enhances the sense of uncensored fantasy going on here. Across 108 pages we are treated to a visual smorgasbord of gorgeous models, impeccably made up, strapped and bound and propped-up for our mouth-watering pleasure. This is a marvelous first book for Ms. Delves-Broughton and she's definitely an artist to watch and perhaps .. expect even greater things from.




4. More than just a photography book, this is an atmospheric fantasy ride through the imagination of an exciting new artist. As mentioned in the introduction, Emma Delves-Broughton draws much of her inspiration from the grand 18th Century columned architecture of her aristocratic hometown of Bath, England, and is further enthused by the splendid backdrops of stately gardens, follies, and castles there. She mixes all of this together along with her fascination for fetish clothing, props, and subject matter, and plasters it onto each page with an extraordinary and breathtaking range of photographic techniques. If anything, she is an amazingly talented photographer.
   
   Both color and black & white images are featured here, and most works are saturated with a sultry, glamorous mood which absolutely enhances the sense of uncensored fantasy going on here. Across 108 pages we are treated to a visual smorgasbord of gorgeous models, impeccably made up, strapped and bound and propped-up for our mouth-watering pleasure. This is a marvelous first book for Ms. Delves-Broughton and she's definitely an artist to watch and perhaps .. expect even greater things from.

No comments about Peter Greenaway: The Children of Uranium.

2 comments about The Complete Book of Pottery Making (Chilton's Creative Crafts Series).

1. Comprehensive in scope, this book takes the reader through a complete ceramics course. Very well written, it includes concise but thorough background info, plus clear step-by-step instructions on specific techniques. It lacks some of the detail of specialty books, but if you need to start with one overall book, or if you want to make sure there are no huge gaps in your understanding, this book is a good choice.



2. I reccomend this book to both begginers and experienced potters. It has many step-by-step black and white photos with great instructions. The photos have helped me perform techniques better and properly. There is a section on every method of working with clay and gives you solutions to problems. This book also gives great guides on buying clay, making a work space and many other opinions on how to become a professional potter. I don't have a question about pottery that can't be answered in this book.

No comments about Thomas Zipp: Achtung! Vision.

4 comments about Paula Rego (Contemporary Artists (Phaidon)).

1. excellent product. took a bit longer to arrive but when it did it was in excellent condition.



2. If you like good art, especially by women this one is excellent!! More than everything you needed to know about this fascinating artist.



3. An excellent book about one of the finest & most challenging painters of our time. Paula Rego has produced some very unsettling images with enormous artistic skill. It is difficult to do justice to the complex psychological treatment of her subjects (often nursery rhymes) but the author, John McEwen, does a great job.



4. I had seen Paula Rego's work in a lot of museums and so on an impulse bought this book sight unseen. This book gives a complete overview of her work..it was interesting, but I found that my interest in Rego the artist has diminished after reading the book.

No comments about Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology.

No comments about Vibrant Flower Painting (Paint Pastel).

2 comments about Eroticism and Art (Oxford History of Art).

1. Good overview of a frequently overlooked and more often misconstrued subject, which has nonetheless been a part of every human society since before writing was invented.



2. "What I like is erotica," goes the old joke. "What you like is pornography." There is probably never going to be agreement on how to separate one from the other, and besides, the same people who object to one are often going to object as well to the other. In _Eroticism & Art_ (Oxford University Press), Alyce Mahon draws a distinction. "Pornography's sole intent is to stimulate sexually; it is an aid to sex or masturbation." It is, in her view, more strictly concerned with power rather than mere sex. Erotic art, however, "is about equality between members of the opposite and same sexes." Even so, within erotic art is always another intent, "a shocking means to express social, religious and political criticism or defy bourgeois taste." Not all of the art discussed and depicted here is shocking, but this is closely related to how long we have been looking at it. Manet's _Olympia_ of 1863 shows an alluring nude, a high-class prostitute, staring frankly at the viewer. It was controversial at the time, but it is hard to imagine anyone getting worked up over it now. But Manet borrowed the woman's classical pose from an even more respectable Titian, and has in turn been borrowed by Mel Ramos in 1973 to show a California blonde complete with tanning lines along the _Playboy_ archetype, and in 1988 by Yasumasa Morimura, a male homosexual Japanese artist who assaults the viewer by posing both as the courtesan and the black servant in the original. Mahon, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, has drawn upon extensive sources (this is a book of mostly intellectual rather than sexual stimulation), and has concentrated upon Western art from the mid-nineteenth century to current times. She demonstrates that emphasis on the erotic in art is a constant and that it has profoundly affected not just art movements but also how humans understand themselves sexually.
   
   One picture reproduced here is Courbet's _The Origin of the World_ of 1866. It is an audacious work that is still thrilling; it is simply a finely-rendered "lower portrait" of a woman, legs spread, dramatically foreshortened without showing arms or face. This was a decidedly male point of view, defiant and calling attention to "the dynamics and politics of desire" between artist, model, and viewer. Its dynamics and politics have been updated; two Yugoslav artists in 1997 made a video version. Instead of being a passive female exciting the male artist and viewer, the model stimulates herself in a feminist rendering of the same pose. Both artworks were shocking for their times, and certainly some would put the 1997 version in the category of pornography, but its deliberate intent to modify the message of the original clearly imbues it with the kind of political and social edge that Mahon finds as a universal characteristic of erotic works. Mahon examines the use of the erotic by the surrealists and even by the Nazis and fascists leading up to World War II. She has several chapters covering recent decades, including erotic, bizarre, or dangerous performance art.
   
   Mahon maintains a detached "What can we learn from this?" tone throughout, appreciative of even the strangest sexual displays, and she analyzes them with elegance and sympathy. The subject is literally vital; one chapter after another shows images that might be titillating for some while simultaneously emetic for others. There are over a hundred, mostly color, pictures, all well-keyed to the text, although Mahon has discussed plenty of other unreproduced works that make it handy to have access to the Web to see what she is talking about. It is a handsome and glossy volume, with many pictures and ideas to provoke, uh, thought.

3 comments about What is Painting?: Representation and Modern Art.

1. I read this book as a class assignment for my BFA painting class. I am very grateful. This book is a wealth of knowledge about topics in ancient and modern philosophies about painting. It is nice to find a book that doesn't try to explain the whole concept of what art is. That is imposable to do in 256 pages because of how the topic of art has spread to encompass many profession in the past century. (Side Note: I once told a group of woman I was an artist and the proceeded to ask what instrument I played) This book focuses on one topic which is painting. It is separated into easy to understand chapters and those are broken down into easier to understand sections.
   
   My only complaint (and the reason I gave a 4 and not a 5) is that even though it gives a lot of information, it is extremely compact. It is just a little too much for my taste. You will be reading about one topic and it seems to switch to another topic all in the same paragraph. But it is still a great book for information on contemporary painting.



2. I read this book as a class assignment for my BFA painting class. I am very grateful. This book is a wealth of knowledge about topics in ancient and modern philosophies about painting. It is nice to find a book that doesn't try to explain the whole concept of what art is. That is imposable to do in 256 pages because of how the topic of art has spread to encompass many profession in the past century. (Side Note: I once told a group of woman I was an artist and the proceeded to ask what instrument I played) This book focuses on one topic which is painting. It is separated into easy to understand chapters and those are broken down into easier to understand sections.
   
   My only complaint (and the reason I gave a 4 and not a 5) is that even though it gives a lot of information, it is extremely compact. It is just a little too much for my taste. You will be reading about one topic and it seems to switch to another topic all in the same paragraph. But it is still a great book for information on contemporary painting.



3. This book gives a fascinating view on art from an author who knows very well what he is talking about. Read it.