Lari Pittman Hardcover – April 5, 2011

Very well done publication with high-quality images of Pittman's work. This was my first book on Pittman (of two now) and I thought it was a superb introduction to his work. (I have since bought "A Decorated Chronology," which I was satisfied with, but this is the superior work in terms of both image quality and volume.)

I am a big Lari Pittman fan. And I perused this book very excitedly in the National Gallery of Art bookstore today. But it was a big dud as far as the reproductions go. I didn't have any time to read the essays, which are probably very fine given the scholarly line-up. But the crisp insouciance of Pittman's paintings seem to have been utterly deflated in the photos in the book. I can say this with some confidence because, at this point, I have seen quite a few of them in person. I have no real idea what it takes to produce convincing reproductions. But whatever it is, this is not it.

Lari Pittman has been bowling over artists in Los Angeles for many years - his huge paintings magnetize viewers to stand in front of these perplexing yet mesmerizingly beautiful for extended periods of time, so full of visual imagery and commentary on social and gender issues are they! While Pittman's work has appeared in almost every significant international 'Biennale' and museums and many of his paintings have been reproduced in catalogues, This book, and the fine commentary by Robert Schorr, director of the Yale School of Art, finally provides a worthy survey of the genius of this brilliant painter.Pittman's paintings almost defy verbal or written descriptions: each of his works has so many overlays of design, decoration, excellent drawing, rich color palette, and important social comments that the only real manner in which to think through his art is to enter the canvas as though strolling through his fantasies. As his paintings have developed over the years his method of painting has thickened and matured. His early more technically simple paintings were at first dismissed by the casual observer as kitsch - mixing patterns and drawings with peppery sexy overtones and visual statements. But the critics and collectors and curators of museums have always seen beyond the cheeky surface and have acknowledged Pittman's gifts not only as a fine artist but as an observer of our human foibles and fallacies and myths.Art critic David Pagel once stated 'Think of Pittman's vertiginous pictures of flowers, birds and puppets, as well as pods, fruits and flow charts, laboratories, labyrinths and kitchens, as the impossible progeny of an exotic, hothouse blossom and a common, hard-to-kill thistle. Breathlessly beautiful and tough as nails, his quixotic hybrids combine exquisite pleasure with grubby pragmatism to turn the world upside-down, inside-out and into a place that is a whole lot better than it was before he got his hands on it.' That statement sums us Pittman's paintings as well as any other critic's view. 'Nature and culture are cut from the same cloth. Nothing meaningful distinguishes organic from artificial. If Oscar Wilde were alive today, he would be at home among Pittman's luscious crops, which are as outlandish and fanciful, flowery and formal, preposterous and promiscuous as Wilde's prose.'The authors, other than the above mentioned Schorr, include Wayne Koestenbaum, Helen Molesworth and Lisa Phillips and their contributions are additive. The reproductions of Pittman's paintings (surely a challenge to any graphic designer and color separator!) are simply splendid. The book is published by Skira Rizzoli and is as fine a monograph as could be imagined. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, April 11