{"title":"Ara H. Merjian","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAra H. Merjian\u003c\/strong\u003e offers a compelling exploration of contemporary art through incisive, thoughtful narratives. Her works delve into the intersections of visual culture, history, and personal reflection, inviting readers to engage deeply with the creative process and its broader cultural implications.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom detailed studies like \u003cem\u003eHelen Frankenthaler\u003c\/em\u003e to poetic meditations found in \u003cem\u003eFragments of Totality\u003c\/em\u003e, Merjian’s writing illuminates the rich textures of artistic expression within the landscape of arts and culture. Her books resonate with anyone seeking a nuanced understanding of modern art and its enduring impact.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"fragments-of-totality-by-ara-h-merjian-9780300270013","title":"Fragments of Totality","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA new history of Futurism and its fraught ideological ambitions, centred on sculptural experimentation.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs the first comprehensive avant-garde of the twentieth century, Italian Futurism sought to integrate modern life with every imaginable aesthetic medium. The detached materiality of sculpture offered a singular proving ground for the drive to merge art and existence. Sculpture's theory and practice offers a distillation of Futurism's larger aims and frustrations: a will to mechanise haunted by the tradition of craft; the liberation of flight burdened by mass and gravity; the lyrical mutiny of form chastened by the exigencies of design; and a dream of totality splintered by the contingency of the fragment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCentred on avant-garde sculpture in Italy and other European countries between the world wars, \u003cem\u003eFragments of Totality\u003c\/em\u003e ventures a new history of Futurism and its fraught ideological ambitions. Illuminating understudied works by prominent artists like Giacomo Balla, Enrico Prampolini, Fortunato Depero, and Bruno Munari alongside the efforts of many lesser-known figures, this first major study of Futurist sculpture opens onto wider questions: from labour and leftist Futurism, to the politics of aesthetic autonomy, to the intersections between race, imperialism, and materials. The medium—and the idea—of sculpture sets into relief the demands of any project of modern cultural totality. Futurism's shifting definitions of \"plasticity\" underscore the volatile political economy not only of interwar Italy, but also perhaps of a wider Western epoch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47460835623148,"sku":"9780300270013","price":119.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780300270013-fragments-of-totality.jpg?v=1774953818"},{"product_id":"helen-frankenthaler-by-ara-h-merjian-9781968417031","title":"Helen Frankenthaler","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHelen Frankenthaler: The Moment and the Distance\u003c\/i\u003e documents an exhibition of the artist's large-scale paintings made between 1960 and 1992.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis catalogue documents an exhibition of large-scale paintings by Helen Frankenthaler made between 1960 and 1992, opening in spring 2026 at Gagosian's West 21st Street gallery. Throughout her career, Frankenthaler pushed beyond the boundaries of easel painting to create extraordinary, monumental works, some of which occupied the entire expanse of her studio floor. This exhibition explores the artist's use of scale across four decades of painting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe title is derived from a 1975 review by poet and critic Barbara Guest, where she remarks on Frankenthaler's \"astonishing combination of freedom with restraint, extravagance with discipline, suggestion and definition,\" concluding, \"the moment becomes the distance.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book includes a new essay by art historian Ara H. Merjian that discusses the works in the show in the context of Frankenthaler's Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist influences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHelen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) has long been recognised as one of the great American artists of the twentieth century. A member of the second generation of New York-based postwar abstract painters, she is widely credited with expanding the possibilities of abstraction through her invention of the soak-stain technique, and her highly personal references to figuration and landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47772497936620,"sku":"9781968417031","price":190.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781968417031-helen-frankenthaler.jpg?v=1782165390"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/ara-h-merjian.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}