Olafur Eliasson (Contemporary Artists) Paperback – 15 Nov 2002

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Review ------ On the Contemporary Artists Series "The boldest, best executed, and most far-reaching publishing project devoted to contemporary art. These books will revolutionize the way contemporary art is presented and written about."―Artforum "The combination of intelligent analysis, personal in, useful facts and plentiful pictures is a superb format invaluable for spets but also interesting for casual readers, it makes these books a must for the library of anyone who cares about contemporary art."―Time Out "A unique series of informative monographs on individual artists."―The Sunday Times "Gives the reader the impression of a personal encounter with the artists. Apart from the writing which is lucid and illuminating, it is undoubtedly the wealth of lavish illustrations which makes looking at these books a satisfying entertainment."―The Art Book Synopsis -------- With images that suggest a modern-day Caspar David Friedrich, sculptor Eliasson recreates in elegant forms the extremes of the landscape and the atmospheric conditions of his native Iceland, resulting in a new kind of techno-Romanticism. Based in Berlin, Eliasson rebuilds in the gallery fragments of his faraway land: icebergs at the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, "windmills" at the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek, Denmark. For Eliasson, immaterial sensations such as temperature, smell, taste, air and magnetic waves become sculptural elements when presented in an art context. A simple circular cut in the ceiling of a gallery in Los Angeles, for example, recreates the feeling of the weak sun in Iceland, and becomes a kind of giant sun-clock reminiscent of both Matta-Clark's architectural cut-outs and the oculus of the Pantheon. Eliasson has become a recurring favourite in recent Biennales; his beautiful, quiet works inspired by themes of nature, isolation and introspection have made him among the best known and most admired names. His work has been seen in nearly every important international survey of new art, among them "Cream", the Venice Biennale, 1999, the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale 1997, the Istanbul Biennale 1997, the Sydney Biennale 1998 and the Sao Paulo Biennale, 1997, to name only a few. In 2002 Eliasson is nominated for the Hugo Boss prize and will be featured in the Guggenheim Museum's short-list exhibition in New York.