Keeping it Real

Keeping it Real traces the history of artists and their engagement with materials in the late twentieth century by closely analysing more than 60 key works from the D. Daskalopoulos Collection, Athens. Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" serves as starting point for probing the relationship between art and reality. The book is divided into four sections: "Act 1: The Corporeal" assesses the reemergence of sculpture via installation and the invented readymade in the work of artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Robert Gober, David Hammons and Sherrie Levine. "Act 2: Subversive Abstraction" examines works by artists including Lynda Benglis, Mike Kelley and Dieter Roth which combine abstraction with the use of 'abject' materials. An installation by Mona Hatoum referencing both the body and the minimalist grid forms the center of "Act 3: Current Disturbance"; and "Act 4: Material Intelligence" looks at the increasingly prevalent engagement with everyday source material.