Max Neuhaus

This jack-of-all-trades percussionist/painter/writer is one of America's most innovative artists, working primarily in the field of contemporary art and music experimentation. His installations often incorporate the use of monumental public buildings and spaces: his installation New Work (Underground) 1978, for example, consisted of a looped throbbing growl rising from a loudspeaker beneath a grate in the Museum of Modern Art's sculpture garden, which Neuhaus himself described thus: “The sound creates a space for itself with definite boundaries. You can only hear it within a few feet. But the main audible effect is not so much hearing it as hearing what it does to everything around it. It kind of slices up the sounds of that fountain splashing over there, for instance.” Filled with drawings and commentary that examines the artist's theoretical approach, this is a fascinating portrait of a truly original and important voice.