Art Now, Volume 4 by TASCHEN

TASCHEN, the legendary art book publishing house founded in 1980 by publisher / collector / rock star Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany, and famous for bestsellers such as "Helmut Newton's SUMO" or "the Big Penis Book", has recently published the 4th volume of "Art Now", the bible of contemporary art. And it's excellent!

The revised version features comprehensive notes on established artists such as Chuck Close, Matthew Barney, David Hockney, alongside younger talents such as Adrián Villar Rojas, Cyprien Gaillard, or Danh Vo. If you want to increase your knowledge of contemporary art or refresh your memory on why Francis Alÿs made a difference for instance, read this must-have book.

Similarly as other TASCHEN books, each artist's profile is multilingual in English, French, and German.

The editor is Hans Werner Holzwarth, a book designer and editor based in Berlin, with numerous publications mainly on contemporary art and photography. For TASCHEN he has edited, among other titles, Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool, Albert Oehlen and Neo Rauch.

More info: http://www.taschen.com

The beauty of Soviet brutalism by Taschen

Photographer Frédéric Chaubin reveals 90 buildings sited in fourteen former Soviet Republics which express what he considers to be the fourth age of Soviet architecture. His poetic pictures, published by TASCHEN in the book entitled CCCP Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed reveal an unexpected rebirth of imagination, an unknown burgeoning that took place from 1970 until 1990. Contrary to the 1920s and 1950s, no “school” or main trend emerges here. These buildings represent a chaotic impulse brought about by a decaying system. Their diversity announced the end of the Soviet Union. 

Fascinating and scary ! A nice Christmas present! Anyone?