{"id":81978,"date":"2025-10-18T02:44:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/81978\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T02:44:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:44:18","slug":"we-celebrate-30-years-of-our-contemporary-artists-series-with-art-star-phaidon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/81978\/","title":{"rendered":"We celebrate 30 years of our Contemporary Artists Series with art star \u2013 Phaidon"},"content":{"rendered":"

There aren\u2019t many books you could truly say have changed the way we look at and understand art. But Phaidon\u2019s Contemporary Artist series, launched 30 years ago this year, can make that claim – 100 times over. Which is why an art star studded cast joined Phaidon in London and New York this week to celebrate the series\u2019 birthday and its 100th publication.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Antony Gormley, Dana Schutz, Jordan Casteel, Lisa Yuskavage, William Monk, Nigel Cooke, Paul Graham, Mark Dion, Trevor Paglen, and Gillian Wearing were among the special guests at parties at Sotheby\u2019s, New York and 45 Park Lane, London. (All photos Quadir Moore and Jack Hall BFA.com).<\/p>\n

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Antony Gormley (foreground Leonie Gombrich) (background Tim Marlow)<\/p>\n

They were joined by fellow artists, contributors to the books, and luminaries from across the creative industries, alongside UOVO’s Co-Chairman Steve Novenstein, CMO Nicole Levinson, Head of Business Development\u00a0Alexandra Kelly, in New York, and Lily Ackerman of Ackerman Studios and Victoria Glenn and Lee Kelly at 45 Park Lane in London.<\/p>\n

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Michele Robecchi, Lisa Yuskavage, Barry Schwarbsky<\/p>\n

All 100 books from the series were on show in an incredible display at the New York event. Artspace limited editions from artists in the series, including recent releases with Yoko Ono, William Monk and Dana Schutz, were also on view at both events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Dana Schutz<\/p>\n

The gathering of all 100 books was one of only three complete collections worldwide. One of these complete collections is for sale priced $5,000 U.S. at Phaidon.com here.<\/a> You can also buy limited edition artworks commissioned by Artspace for the series, here, <\/a>or any of the books in the Contemporary Artists Series here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 New York gathering was one of the final events Sotheby\u2019s will hold in the space before they relocate their US headquarters to the Breuer Building next month (November).<\/p>\n

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Georgia Powell, Lily Ackerman, Liza Shapiro<\/p>\n

In London, Iwona Blazwick, the former director of The Whitechapel Gallery, who started the Contemporary Artists Series 30 years ago, gave a short speech in which she thanked current series editor Michele Robecchi for \u201cdoing an incredible job in creating and developing the series.\u201d And she told the assembled partygoers about some of the ways in which the groundbreaking books revolutionised the approach to art monographs 30 years ago, along with a couple of anecdotes from the early days of the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Ingrid M\u00f6ssinger<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know if anyone here remembers 30 years ago, but the formula that was accepted by publishers back then was that monographs would have one editor and that the book would become a definitive view on a certain process,\u201d Blazwick said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what we decided to do, was to give a full spectrum 360 view of artists, and their practice. So there are many kinds of writing: we have an interview, we have an overview, and we ask one author to put artworks in focus. Artists are incredibly voracious in their appetite for knowledge. So we asked the artist to choose one of their favourite pieces of writing. We got some very surprising, and revelatory, choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Paul Graham<\/p>\n

\u201cChristian Boltanski lied about everything because he hated the idea of being defined,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we asked Paul McCarthy to send us his writing it arrived covered in ketchup. It was stiff with brown sauce. It was actually a great work of art. His choice for an artist\u2019s writing was Eric Satie\u2019s Gnossiennes,\u201d she told the crowd at 45 Park Lane.<\/p>\n

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Gilda Williams, Iwona Blazwick, Michele Robecchi<\/p>\n

\u201cSo everything that came together to tell the story made for a kind of hub. It was a way of bringing all of these all of these different and creative voices to the centre stage, to add to our understanding [of their work]. What resulted from it are definitive books about artist practice that don’t close ideas down, they’re not retrospective – the artists are often mid-career \u2013 and they open up interpretation. I’m forever grateful to Phaidon Press and their belief in this series, and their belief in contemporary art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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William Monk, Nigel Cooke, Michele Robecchi<\/p>\n

Artist Jordan Casteel was at the New York event and told partygoers how it felt to be the 100th published artist in the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Having my monograph included in such a celebrated series, now in its 30th year, and being the 100th artist featured makes this a particularly special occasion.\u00a0Phaidon\u2019s Contemporary Artist Series is unique in that these aren\u2019t books about artists, but books made with artists. My monograph, releasing this December, offers readers a seat at the table, or maybe, more accurately, a seat in the studio, bringing my deeply intimate and community-driven practice into one’s home.” Casteel went on to thank those involved in making her book.<\/p>\n

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Jordan Casteel<\/p>\n

“It takes a village of people to make a book like this. I\u2019m endlessly grateful to Casey Kaplan and my team, Veronica Levitt, Kaytlin Nodine, and Jennifer Hoffman-Williamson, for holding me down every step of the way. Deep thanks to the writers Asma Naeem, Katherine Brinson, and Legacy Russell for journeying with me through your words. And lastly, thank you to everyone who\u2019s ever returned my hello, welcoming me and my painting practice into their lives.<\/p>\n

“To Phaidon, thank you for continuing to publish a series that makes the voices and visions of so many brilliant artists accessible, inspiring generations of artists and art lovers alike.”<\/p>\n

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Bethan Laura Wood and friend<\/p>\n

Michele Robecchi, the long serving current commissioning editor of the series was present at both the New York and London events. In New York, Robecchi recounted a story about meeting Jordan Casteel for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time I met Jordan and her work was in 2016, when I paid her a visit at the Studio Museum in Harlem where she was artist-in-residence. It probably wasn\u2019t a particularly consequential meeting for her, but it was for me. I walked away thinking how great it would have been to work with her on a book project. And nine years later, here we are. Dreams come true sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ute Decker, Tim Borton<\/p>\n

He thanked Phaidon\u2019s owners, it\u2019s CEO Bob Miller, and publisher, Deb Aaronson, alongside Phaidon\u2019s marketing, design, and production departments for their support of the series, and all of the editors and authors who\u2019ve worked on the series over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And he paid tribute to series founder Iwona Blazwick, saying \u201cThis is all happening because of your vision, of your creativity, and your hard work. But the founding spirit of the series was to make books in collaboration with the artists, and they are the ones who makes these books special,\u201d Robecchi added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Satta Matturi, Natalie Frank<\/p>\n

Robecchi thanked the numerous artists and contributors present at both the London and New York events who included: Lisa Yuskavage (who will be the 101st\u00a0\u00a0artist), along with fellow artists Jordan Casteel, Antony Gormley, Nigel Cooke, William Monk, Gillian Wearing (who holds the unique honour of being the subject of one book in the series and contributing to another); Trevor Paglen, Paul Graham and Dana Schutz. He also announced future titles in the series from Rosa Barba, Tavares Strachan, Glenn Ligon and Huma Bhabha.<\/p>\n

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Kamari Carter, Thelma Golden<\/p>\n

Additional notable guests included artists Glenn Ligon, Tom Sachs, Y. Z. Kami, Milena Dragicevic, Franko B, Natalie Frank, Andro Semeiko, Michael Landy, Lala Meredith-Vula, Nicky Hoberman, Daniel Crews-Chubb, Dohyun Baek, Sokari Douglas Camp and Charlotte Cullinan. The Design Museum\u2019s Tim Marlow, 50 Best\u2019s William Drew, Purple PR founder Fergus Lawlor, designer Bethan Laura Wood, jewellers Ute Decker and Satta Matturi, art writers Craig Burnett, Clara Dublanc, Roger Malbert, Kate Keohane and Jo Manby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Lisa Yuskavage, Glenn Ligon, Anthony Elms<\/p>\n

Press attendees included journalists and photographers from Vanity Fair Italia, BA Highlife, Knightsbridge Magazine, Bella Freud\u2019s Fashion Neurosis Podcast also attended, as well as series contributors Ian Alteever, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Thelma Golden, RoseLee Goldberg, Barry Schwabsky, Ingrid M\u00f6ssinger, John Slyce, Margaret Iversen, Nora L. Lawrence and photographer\/filmmaker Jason Schmidt. Both Frank Bowling\u2019s sons (Ben and Sacha) were also present, representing their father.<\/p>\n

\"\"Trevor Paglen, Julia Bryan-Wilson, Michele Robecchi<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Yoko Ono Skypuddle 2025<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Jim Hodges rearranged for Bill, 2021<\/p>\n

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\"\"The room at 45 Park Lane<\/p>\n

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\"\"\/The UOVO crate housing our Jim Hodges Contemporary Artist Series monograph<\/p>\n

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Sothebys, New York<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There aren\u2019t many books you could truly say have changed the way we look at and understand art.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[412,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-81978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}