Author(s): Peter Benson Miller

Art

"Go Figure!," a lavishly illustrated volume of essays about Philip Guston (1913-1980), considers the late work of Guston who was a friend and contemporary of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. This volume illustrates the enduring power of his work, particularly the fireworkds generated by expressive contradictions embodied in his last paintings. Among the lessons Guston still has to teach is the necessity of constantly messing up the tidy models of artistic "progress" that aesthetic ideologues and tastemakers keep handing down from on high. Unlike the work of many of his contemporaries, Guston's paintings look anything but dated today. The book's contributors: David Anfam, Dore Ashton, Kosme de Baranano, Bill Berkson, Chuck Close, Barbara Drudi, David Kaufmann, David Lewis, Ara H. Merjian, Achille Bonito Oliva, Christoph Schreier, and Robert Slifkin.