Opening Gambits: Essays on Art and Philosophy

What is the role of art in modern society? To entertain us? To teach us? Both? And what of philosophy? What relevance does it have to how we think and live? In Opening Gambits, Mark Kingwell argues that art and philosophy are forms of play, working at the margins of meaning and sense. Written in Kingwell’s typical witty and eloquent style, the book begins with general assessments of the art world and the relationship between art and architecture. Including lively critical engagements with artists like Edward Burtynsky, David Bierk, James Lahey, and Blue Republic, these pieces tease out the philosophical issues embedded in the aesthetic experience of art. In part two, Kingwell reverses the polarity, investigating philosophy as a kind of art form that is constantly questioning its own possibility. The two parts of the book are simultaneously separated and joined by a collection of images that feature the works discussed in part one.