Seven Keys to Contemporary Art

The British artist, designer, and critic Simon Morley provides an explanatory grid for the mysterious, changeable, and multifaceted world of contemporary art, combining elements of strict systematicity and childlike play. The works of twenty classics and stars of modernism and postmodernism, from Henri Matisse to Bill Viola, are examined from seven different perspectives: each artist is both the subject of keen and respectful attention and the target of skeptical criticism. Serving as an engaging introduction to the analysis of artistic experience, «Seven Keys to Contemporary Art» also acts as a kind of vaccine against blind adoration of idols.