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Summary: An Insightful and Comprehensive Look at a Video Pioneer
Review: Mary Lucier: Art + Performance is accessible and complex all in the same instant. Barlow begins the book with her own journey to find "House by the Water," a video installation by Lucier installed in Charleston, South Carolina. Barlow then takes the reader on a journey as she frames and contextualizes the writings of both Lucier and other contributors to penetrate the multi-faceted voice of Lucier. This is very appropriate, as we later learn that so much of Lucier's work is about a journey, whether actual or metaphorical into the landscape. Through this journey the reader can grasp the foundation, disparity, continuity and transformation of Lucier's work from her early performance projects to her more recent video projections and installations. This text is great for students because of its accessibility and depth - it presents many useful perspectives. Due to the fact that Lucier's sketches, journal entries and writings are included and so clearly articulated, students can delve into the developmental process of the video artist, a substantial complement to the theoretical analysis. We become the voyeur into the working process of Lucier as Barlow literally takes pages out of Lucier's sketch books to brings all these elements together for us. There is an inherent irony in this, due to the fact that so much of Lucier's work is also about voyeurism. Barlow does an excellent job of making sure that the artist and critics do not have competing voices, but simply present a full and thorough examination of the layers of Lucier's prolific career. This text is crucial not only to the medium of video but also to the art world. When so little has been written on video, and on women video artists in particular, I am thankful for this text. It is an inspiration to my own art making and will help me present to my students an in-depth and accessible look at one of the most important women in video art.
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