John Latham

British conceptualist John Latham (1921–2006) began using books as a medium in 1958, extending his earliest spray-painted canvases into the third dimension with reliefs in which books emerged from plaster on canvas. This catalog marks the first focused representation of this seminal series.

His work encompassed sculpture, installation, painting, ?lm, land art, engineering, assemblage, performances and happenings and theoretical writings; he is probably most famous for his burning book towers (“skoobs”) and his light-show collaborations with Pink Floyd. The incredible diversity of Latham’s work was part of a lifelong quest to understand our place in the universe.

The first comprehensive volume on this cult artist, John Latham: A World View traces the trajectory of Latham’s practice and brings together archival material, including documentary photographs, texts, correspondence and various ephemera, in order to build a picture of the artist’s life and work.

This publication introduces a never-before-exhibited series of works by the late British artist John Latham (1921–2006).

Accompanying a solo exhibition at Karsten Schubert, London, the group of work features spray painted and twisted canvas on wooden stretchers. The works challenge the conventional relationship between canvas and stretcher, turning the traditional site of the painting into a sculptural field.

Reproductions of the 'Canvas Events' series (1994) are accompanied by a conversation between the artist, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Barbara Steveni, in which they discuss the artist's career as a whole.