From Library Journal
This magazine-sized volume on the nature of the group Fluxus, termed a "catalog," contains two essays by recognized experts and 189 selected works illustrating 145 international neo-Dada intermedia objects, boxes, editions, artistic happenings, and musical performances orchestrated by Fluxus's founding father, George Maciunas. From his 1961 founding of the group until his death in 1978, Maciunas conceived of this variable international association as a drastic alternative to crass, materialistic "high art" and the fame afforded egocentric artists. Everybody was declared his or her own artist, and works were developed and disseminated through exhibitions, publications, mass-produced objects, "products," paper or boxed editions of cheap Fluxus items, photos, and films. Ironically, perhaps, many widely recognized artists did emerge from Fluxus (e.g., Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Nam June Paik), but none could match the "complex genius" of organizer Maciunas, who was "driven by a utopian vision of a new art and a new society." Recommended for larger contemporary art collections, especially for the bibliography.?Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson State Univ., Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
