The New Explorers

The New Explorers examines encounters with the American landscape by twelve contemporary female artist-adventurers. An illustrated narrative with an introduction by author and critic Lucy R. Lippard, the book traces the role that artist-adventurers have played in shaping American identity throughout history. The author traveled across the country to talk with these women about their projects as part of her own quest to understand how artists make meaning in landscape. The conversations revealed emerging themes that override familiar notions of beauty and entropy and show how the topography of everydayness is ripe for cultural investigation by a new breed of artist-explorers. The book moves well beyond the boundaries of the art world to make unexpected connections between history, geography, and visual culture in the 21st century landscape.