The Disappearance of Objects: New York Art and the Rise of the Postmodern City

In his introduction, art historian Shannon quotes a 1958 essay by Allan Kaprow predicting that ""the new art,"" postmodernism, would in the coming decade feature ""objects of every sort."" In this handsomely illustrated study, Shannon finds much to back up that prophecy in the work of Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Donald Judd. Shannon asserts that these four were responding to the steady commercialization (""urban renewal"") of Manhattan. Oldenburg's The Street, for example, debuting in Greenwich Village in 1960, is ""a visual cacophony of cardboard, paper, newsprint, wood fragments, and black paint"" that spoke to the NYC bureaucrats who preferred profit to authenticity (including a plan to run a massive roadway directly through Washington Square Park, considered the Village's beating heart). The work of Johns is presented as an ""exploration of the role of signification in postmodern consumerism,"" while Rauschenberg's mixed media pieces echo an environment in which he was forced out of his studio in what is now the Financial District to ""accommodate more automobile traffic."" Though the text can read like a tenacious Ph.D. dissertation, Shannon provides a thorough, smart consideration of each artist, accompanied by lovely reproductions of their art. 48 color, 141 b/w illustrations.