The Decline and Fall of the Avant-Garde: Cv/Visual Arts Research, Book 170 (Unabridged‪)‬

One of the commonest and most loosely used terms in any discussion of contemporary art is the word avant-garde. Indeed it often seems to be taken for granted that valid contemporary art and avant-garde art are synonymous. Yet it doesn't take much thought to perceive that this assumption is unsafe, since it involves contradictions that cannot easily be resolved.