You don’t need to go to a museum to experience inspiring works of art. In fact, two new books show that art can be found in the most unexpected and surprising places — from gritty urban streetscapes found across the globe to beautiful pastoral settings in northwest England.
Street World: Urban Art and Culture from Five Continents by Roger Gastman, Caleb Neelon and Anthony Smyrski ($35) captures the vibrant life of the city in more than 1,000 photos and an authoritative text, while Enclosure by Andy Goldsworthy ($60) features sculptures showcasing Goldsworthy’s signature technique of creating art by using natural objects in a natural setting.
The world’s streets have taken center stage as thriving sites of creativity and style. From New York and Los Angeles, to the Brazilian mega-cities, South African townships and Mumbai, Street World celebrates the street as a stage for a new global culture encompassing graffiti, skateboarding, offbeat fashion, music, as well as design, photography, and other more traditional visual arts.
A world away in rural northern England finds the intricate environmental installations of Andy Goldsworthy. Hailed recently by the Los Angeles Times as “the coolest artist on the planet,” Goldsworthy’s art uses materials such as stone, wool, ice and wood, which are incorporated into the landscape in innovative and surprising ways. His new, highly anticipated book, Enclosure, focuses on the landscape’s natural beauty and how it has been molded over the centuries by agriculture.
Both Street World and Enclosure are published by Abrams and are available wherever books are sold or at www.hnabooks.com.
This article was last modified on January 5, 2023
This article was first published on December 18, 2007
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