A collection of the essays of art critic and poet Peter Schjeldahl, which explores his thoughts on individual contemporary artists, their work, events and ethics in the art world and new, creative directions.

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction, by Robert Storr The Hydrogen Jukebox: Terror, Narcissism, and Art Rothko and Belief Edvard Munch: The Missing Master I Missed Punk A Book by Larry Rivers Warhol and Class Content Dubuffet, 1980 First Voice Column Clement Greenberg Exxon Exhibition at the Guggenheim Julian Schnabel and Susan Rothenberg Arshile Gorky L.A. Demystified! Art and Life in the Eternal Present Affairs of the Heat Disney Animators Realism Again H. C. Westermann Only Connect: Bruce Nauman "Les Drippings" in Paris: The Jackson Pollock Retrospective Cindy Sherman David Salle Why New French Art Is Lousy Willem de Kooning Robert Smithson's Writings Documenta 7 Howard Finster Clemente to Marden to Kiefer Leon Golub Decade of Wonders The Grant Wood Revival On Art and Artists: Peter Schjeldahl Edouard Manet Balthus In Defense of Artistic Fashion Minimalism Philip Guston Eric Fischl Ed Ruscha: Traffic and Laughter To Pico The Daemon and Sigmar Polke Adrian Saxe and the Smart Pot The Immigrant Strain Welcome to Helgaland A Visit to the Salon of Autumn 1986 Our Kiefer Hopperesque Mike Kelley Paintings by Aborigines Jeff Koons Courbet De K.ooning Alone Treason of Clerks Velazquez Baselitz and Kippenberger Bibliography of Peter Schjeldahl's Writings on Art Index

"To read Schjeldahl is not to agree or disagree, but rather to enter the enchanting flow of a fertile imagination."--Ken Johnson, Art in America "Ranging from Manet to minimalism, these partisan, passionate writings . . . function as a savvy handbook on the current art scene."--Publishers Weekly "Here's art criticism that demonstrates the power of art to evoke art, in the form of some of the most lusciously written responses to visual beauty ever to hit print. . . . During a decade that defined art mostly through commerce, Schjeldahl consistently reminded readers of its necessary soul."--Village Voice "A shrewd and fluent critic, [Schjeldahl] has a masterly personal voice, flamboyant, witty, lyrical yet often precise; more important, he has an openhearted attentiveness to the subjects of his criticism and the imaginative spaces around them."--Julian Bell, Times Literary Supplement "Schjeldahl is the finest journalistic art critic at work today."--Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times