Cadences: Icon and Abstraction in Context. 1991; 111 pages; paperback; 25 b/w, 9 color illustrations. Critics often presume that form and content are equivalent in non-objective works. Cadences confronts this notion by gathering works from the late 1980s and early 1990s by nine artists including Maria Elena Gonzalez, Tomoharu Murakami and Charles Ray, and argues for the recognition of a broader social context for their work. Yve-Alain Bois, Elizabeth Grosz and curator Gary Sangster contribute essays defining the historical basis for different abstractionist movements. Their inquiries into the nature of signs, symbols, and representation ultimately holds that abstract pieces, though simple and elegant, can also engage in complex intellectual strategies. “The modulations of a cadence create shifts of perception, usually understood in terms of the dimension of sound but also applicable to areas of sight, tactility, and psychological expectation. In the context of this exhibition, the notion of ‘cadences’ is intended to cause us to reconsider and reflect on our experience and place in the world…to cultural, and technological upheavals and developments that have taken place during the past one hundred years.” -Gary Sangster, “Thinking Through Abstract Objects,” p.12. Artists: Terry Adkins, BP, Dana Duff, Maria Elena Gonzalez, Claudia Matzko, Curtis Mitchell, Tomoharu Murakami, Charles Ray, Eva Schlegel. Exhibition Catalogue. 6 in. x 9 in.

Funding: The New Museum