Artists' Multiples 1935-2000

The artist's multiple offered a repeatable art form that denied the uniqueness of traditional art objects, reflecting industrial capitalism's embrace of consumerism. This book traces its origins in the artist's studio, readymade, fabrication, everyday objects, packaging, and distribution. Beuys' extended series of multiples was pivotal in liberating the medium from print, photography, film, sculpture, painting, and the readymade, making it possible for contemporary artists like Jason Coburn, Martin Creed, and Bob and Roberta Smith to create their own multiples.

Format: Hardback
Publication date: 01 January 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This title, originally published in 2001, explores the emergence of the artist's multiple in the 20th century, a form of art that embraced repetition and challenged the uniqueness of traditional art objects. It suggests that industrial capitalism no longer needed to conceal itself behind classical iconography, allowing art to become its own superstructure. The book traces the origins of the artist's multiple in the playful environment of the artist's studio, the readymade, the idea of fabrication in constructivism, the focus on the everyday in Pop Art and Minimalism, and the fascination with packaging and distribution in Fluxus. The extended series of multiples made by Joseph Beuys is particularly significant, as it transcended the boundaries of print, photography, film, sculpture, painting, and the readymade, liberating it as a medium. Without Beuys' work, the contemporary multiples of artists like Jason Coburn, Martin Creed, or Bob and Roberta Smith may not have been possible.

ISBN-13: 9781138701786