For Reasons of State examines how our ability to function as a democracy is compromised by governmental secrecy. Looking at contemporary art, the book explores notions of institutional concealment through the work of such artists as the Bureau of Inverse Technology, Jenny Holzer, Lin + Lam, Mark Lombardi, Trevor Paglen, and Susan Schluppi―all of whom provide the public with a new way of looking at information that is otherwise censored or misrepresented due to government or corporate influence.

For Reasons of State (Independent Study Program)

Arts & Photography

Cooke, Erica

Campens, Angelique

Lam, Steven

History & Criticism

Whitney Museum of American Art

Focusing on the vital role of literature in the development of the artistic practice of Frank Stella (b. 1936), this insightful book looks at four transformative series of prints made between 1984 and 1999. Each of these series is named after a literary work—the Had Gadya (a playful song traditionally sung at the end of the Passover Seder), Italian Folktales, compiled by Italo Calvino, Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, and The Dictionary of Imaginary Places by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi. This investigation offers a critical new perspective on Stella: an examination of his interdisciplinary process, literary approach, and interest in the lessons of art history as crucial factors for his artistic development as a printmaker. Mitra Abbaspour, Calvin Brown, and Erica Cooke examine how Stella’s dynamic engagement with literature paralleled the artist’s experimentation with unconventional printmaking techniques and engendered new ways of representing spatial depth to unleash the narrative potential of abstract forms.

Frank Stella Unbound: Literature and Printmaking

Brown, Calvin

Abbaspour, Mitra

Princeton University Art Museum

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Books by Cooke, Erica