From Library Journal
Laib's often unusual choice of media milk, bee pollen, beeswax make for works of art best appreciated in person rather than reproduced on paper (even when seen in the large, full-color, full-page illustrations shown here). Still, independent curator Ottmann gives a good overview of the artist's career and the thinking behind the sometimes enigmatic works. The catalog accompanies a retrospective traveling from Washington, DC, to Seattle, Dallas, Scottsdale, AZ, and San Diego. Also included in the catalog are two essays, an extensive interview with the artist, and a full bibliography. Recommended for larger collections of contemporary art. Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Wolfgang Laib's breathtaking and quietly beautiful artwork draws on the ritual life he leads in and with nature and its processes of becoming and forgetting. His works are composed of purely natural materials, collected and processed by the artist himself: in the 70s, he created his first milk stone, and then moved on to sifting pollen into "color miracles" or piling it into "insurmountable mountains"; in the 80s, he began to incorporate rice into his pieces; and towards the end of the decade he bagn working in beeswax. This gorgeous retrospective of his work -with texts by Klaus Ottman and Margit Rowell, and interview between the artist and Harald Szeeman-offers us a key to fully appreciating his complex and transcendent body of work.
