Blow Up!: The Explosion of Contemporary Art - Hardcover

by Robert Shore (Author), Eva Rossetti (Illustrator)

How did a urinal become art? And a can of tomato soup, a tent, a pickled shark. . . . How did what seemed like a prank at the New York Armory Show of 1917 explode to become today's global multibillion-dollar art world? Blow Up! answers these questions by following the lives of seminal contemporary artists and the stories behind their groundbreaking works.

Against a backdrop of armed conflict (two World Wars, Japanese militarization, US troops in Vietnam, the Yugoslav Wars) and rapid societal change (democratization, successive waves of feminism, globalization), Blow Up! tells the story of contemporary art from Marcel Duchamp's repurposed urinal to Maurizio Cattelan's taped banana. Literal bombs explode and conventions go up in flames as a series of art objects shock and electrify society: a pickled shark, a stuffed hare, human blood.

Chapters follow a series of chain reactions as artists meet and inspire each other across continents, generations, and decades. Over a period of one hundred years everything changes--and yet the cry of "It's not art!" never goes away. No matter how long people have had to get used to it, contemporary art continues to upset expectations and disrupt conventions--and inspire anew.

Back Jacket

THE JOURNEY OF CONTEMPORARY ART FROM MARCEL DUCHAMP'S REPURPOSED URINAL TO MAURIZIO CATTELAN'S TAPED BANANA.

How did a urinal become art? A can of soup? A pickled shark? A banana taped to a wall? This graphic novel follows the story of revolutionary contemporary art and artists over 100 years, from Marcel Duchamp to Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Marina Abramovic, Damien Hirst, Kara Walker, Tracey Emin, Maurizio Cattelan, and many more.

What started as a rebellious act at a 1917 exhibition has exploded into today's global, multibillion-dollar art industry. Bombs detonate and conventions go up in flames as a series of artworks provoke and electrify society. Across decades and continents--Paris, New York, London, Tokyo, S?o Paulo--discover how daring artists inspired each other, shattered boundaries, and sparked chain reactions that led to shocking and groundbreaking moments that reshaped art forever.

No matter how long people have had to get used to it, contemporary art continues to defy expectations, disrupt conventions, and inspire anew, proving that creativity has no limits.