Academy of Tal R, Hardcover

Joyously chromatic and brimming with reckless vitality, the paintings, drawings and collages of Danish artist Tal R (born 1967) are anything but academic--hence the ironic title of this overview, which surveys works from the past 20 years of his vast output as well as a series of new works. Tal R has been a storyteller from the outset of his career in the 1990s, always hovering between figuration and abstraction with a special eye for the overlooked, hidden and repressed spaces of modern life. "I do painting a bit like people make a lunch box," he once declared. "I constantly have this hot-pot boiling and I throw all kinds of material into it." While the artist is well known as a prolific publisher of artist's books (usually gathering specific bodies of work), Academy of Tal R is the most substantial overview of his diverse ouevre yet published.