Paperwork and the Will of Capital
Taryn Simon
Co-published by Gagosian Gallery and Hatje Cantz
English
Texts by Hanan al-Shaykh, Daniel E. Atha, Kate Fowle and Nicholas Kulish
Hardcover
198 pages
262 x 340 mm
2016
ISBN 9783775741576
Taryn Simon in conversation: charlierose.com
In Paperwork and the Will of Capital, Taryn Simon one of the most original and challenging conceptual artists of our time—brings together geopolitics, horticultural science, and the art of still life to investigate how the stagecraft of power is created, performed, marketed, and maintained. At signings of political accords, contracts, treaties, and decrees determining some of the gravest issues of our time, powerful men flank floral centrepieces curated to convey the importance of the signatories and represented institutions. Simon reconstituted and photographed the flower arrangements from archival images of key events; she then dried and pressed the flowers as herbarium specimens. This sumptuous book, part nature study, part metaphor, bears witness to an elaborate and intriguing process of artistic deconstruction and reconstruction.
About the Artist
Taryn Simon directs our attention to familiar systems of organisation—bloodlines, criminal investigations, flower arrangements—making visible the contours of power and authority hidden within. Incorporating mediums ranging from photography and sculpture to text, sound, and performance, each of her projects is shaped by years of rigorous research and planning, including obtaining access from institutions as varied as the US Department of Homeland Security and Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Born in New York, where she lives and works, Simon received a BA in semiotics from Brown University in 1997. In 2001 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for what would become her first major photographic and textual work: The Innocents (2002), which was exhibited at MoMA.
tarynsimon.com
About the Publisher
Hatje Cantz is a German book publisher specialising in photography, art, architecture and design. It was established in 1945 by Gerd Hatje and has offices in Stuttgart and Berlin. Hatje Cantz Verlag has a backlist of nearly 800 titles.
hatjecantz.de
Established by Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles in 1980, Gagosian is a global gallery specializing in modern and contemporary art that employs more than three hundred people at nineteen exhibition spaces across the United States, Europe, and Asia.
gagosian.com
