Francis Alÿs
Revised & Expanded Edition
Text by Michael Taussig, Russell Ferguson, Cuauhtémoc Medina, and Jean Fisher
A fully updated and expanded edition of the artist's first comprehensive monograph, more than a decade since its original publication
Francis Alÿs examines the patterns of various urban sites before weaving his own fables into their tangled social fabric with wit, sensitivity, and an acutely personal connection to his subject matter. A scene such as a Volkswagen Beetle struggling up a hill or a man pushing a block of ice can carry a message that resonates far beyond the work's simple parameters. As Alÿs puts it, 'Sometimes doing something poetic can become political, and sometimes doing something political can become poetic.'
Click here to purchase.
Publisher: Phaidon
Artists: Francis Alÿs
Publication Date: 2022
Binding: Hardcover
Dimensions: 11.5 × 9.75 in
Pages: 240
Reproductions: 250 illustrations
ISBN: 9780714875002
Retail: $69.95
Status: Available
Francis Alÿs
Francis Alÿs’s art is centered around observations of, and engagements with, everyday life. His multifaceted projects include public actions, installations, videos, paintings, and drawings; the artist himself has described his work as “a sort of discursive argument composed of episodes, metaphors, or parables.” Across these different media, Alÿs presents his distinct poetic and imaginative sensibility towards anthropological and political concerns. His actions have involved traveling the longest possible route between locations in Mexico and the United States to highlight the increasing obstacles imposed along the border; pushing a melting block of ice through city streets; commissioning sign painters to copy his paintings; filming his efforts to enter the center of a tornado; carrying a leaking can of paint along the contested Israel/Palestine border; and equipping hundreds of volunteers to move a colossal sand dune ten centimeters.