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Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful yet Too Short Opus
Review: While living in New York City for the first semsester of my junior year in art school, I was assigned to take a look at a gallery exhibition of Jeff Wall. I had never heard of him before, and when I saw the huge Duratrans pieces, I was floored. I instantly loved Wall's aesthetic and historical sensibilities. I ordered this book over the other two available because it was the most recently published. The essays are wonderfully insightful, and I'm glad they were included. I have only one complaint about this otherwise marvelous book-- there are less than 40 plates altogether. Of course I knew this when I bought it, but Wall's work is of the kind where one simply wants to see more. By far my favorite plates are the ones that could be categorized as "near-documentary". They are seemingly real, spontaneous compositions-- yet when one does a double-take, it's obvious that it was set up entirely. Jeff Wall is alone in his mastery of this genre. Obviously, the length of the book isn't something that I should take any stars off of. So it gets a 5-star rating. I suppose I'll have to purchase another Wall book now!
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful yet Too Short Opus
Review: While living in New York City for the first semsester of my junior year in art school, I was assigned to take a look at a gallery exhibition of Jeff Wall. I had never heard of him before, and when I saw the huge Duratrans pieces, I was floored. I instantly loved Wall's aesthetic and historical sensibilities. I ordered this book over the other two available because it was the most recently published. The essays are wonderfully insightful, and I'm glad they were included. I have only one complaint about this otherwise marvelous book-- there are less than 40 plates altogether. Of course I knew this when I bought it, but Wall's work is of the kind where one simply wants to see more. By far my favorite plates are the ones that could be categorized as "near-documentary". They are seemingly real, spontaneous compositions-- yet when one does a double-take, it's obvious that it was set up entirely. Jeff Wall is alone in his mastery of this genre. Obviously, the length of the book isn't something that I should take any stars off of. So it gets a 5-star rating. I suppose I'll have to purchase another Wall book now!
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