John Currin

Rating:
Summary: disappointment
Review: An enormous disappointment ! A collection of mediocre sketches (without a single written word attached) that might be of interest as an induction to a more comprehensive book, but on their own offer little reword.
I just can't understand how a great painter like Currin can be such an unremarkable draftsman.

Rating:
Summary: A must for the Currin fan
Review: This is an interesting and attractive book, a survey of John Currin's lesser known works on paper (drawings, watercolors, pastels, etc.), although with a disappointing lack of text. It's not the more famous (or infamous) oil paintings featured in the recent traveling exhibition--for those you'll want the catalogue (now out of print?). These works on paper are an interesting insight into Currin's working methods and ideas. Several feature the same subjects or themes as the larger oil paintings (the large breasted women, of course, but also the "old guys", couples, women in bed, the later nudes and those amazing faces). It's also interesting to see themes that have never made it into the paintings and some more atypical work. These are mostly "finished" drawings rather than sketches; less formal than the oil paintings, but in some ways livelier and more spontaneous.

It's an attractively produced hardback book (illustrated boards, no dust jacket), with 58 beautiful color plates (a few annoyingly printed across the gutter). The text is very minimal: just a summary CV of Currin's career and a listing of the works illustrated (with thumbnail images) on the back flyleaf. It would be good to know a little more about these works and the circumstances of the publication of this book by a Tokyo gallery (was it an exhibition catalogue?). I would have given it 4 stars if there had been more text. "Limited" printing of 3,000 copies, for whatever that's worth (isn't that the usual print run of most art books like this?).

Rating:
Summary: A must for the Currin fan
Review: This is an interesting and attractive book, a survey of John Currin's lesser known works on paper (drawings, watercolors, pastels, etc.), although with a disappointing lack of text. It's not the more famous (or infamous) oil paintings featured in the recent traveling exhibition--for those you'll want the catalogue (now out of print?). These works on paper are an interesting insight into Currin's working methods and ideas. Several feature the same subjects or themes as the larger oil paintings (the large breasted women, of course, but also the "old guys", couples, women in bed, the later nudes and those amazing faces). It's also interesting to see themes that have never made it into the paintings and some more atypical work. These are mostly "finished" drawings rather than sketches; less formal than the oil paintings, but in some ways livelier and more spontaneous.

It's an attractively produced hardback book (illustrated boards, no dust jacket), with 58 beautiful color plates (a few annoyingly printed across the gutter). The text is very minimal: just a summary CV of Currin's career and a listing of the works illustrated (with thumbnail images) on the back flyleaf. It would be good to know a little more about these works and the circumstances of the publication of this book by a Tokyo gallery (was it an exhibition catalogue?). I would have given it 4 stars if there had been more text. "Limited" printing of 3,000 copies, for whatever that's worth (isn't that the usual print run of most art books like this?).

Rating:
Summary: to the point
Review: While other people have complained about the lack of text in this book, I found it refreshing. It was nice to evaluate these rarely seen drawings (in high quality reproductions) on my own. The thumbnail reference page in the back is also a nice design idea. This book might serve as a nice companion to either the MCA catalouge or the Rosenblum book.