Thought Through My Eyes

In the first volume of his Writings on Art, the acclaimed curator, translator, and author of The Genius Decision: The Extraordinary and the Postmodern Condition; Yves Klein by Himself: His Life and Thought; Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective; Life, Love, and Death: The Work of James Lee Byars; Jennifer Bartlett & Pierre Bonnard: In and Out of the Garden; and The Essential Mark Rothko has gathered his innovative writings on art published between 1977 and 1999. Ottmann combines his background in philosophy with the creative ideas of contemporary artists, places art within a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, literature, and science. Among the texts included are the essays “Painting in an Age of Anxiety,” “The Solid and the Fluid: Bartlett, Laib, Kiefer,” “The Spectacle of Chaos,” “The Reinvention of Painting,” “Heidegger, Beuys, and the Consequences”; exhibition reviews; and interviews with artists Joe Andoe, Ida Applebroog, Rainer Fetting, Günther Förg, Lydia Dona, Moira Dryer, Wolfgang Laib, Mary Kelly, Alain Kirili, Jeff Koons, A. R. Penck, Mimmo Rotella, Salomé, Richard Serra, Cary Smith, Mike and Doug Starn, and Jessica Stockholder.