Dream On Baby - Hatje Cantz

A close-up of a book's table of contents page, set against a solid teal background. The white page features a two-column list of artists' names, including Marina Abramović, Ai Weiwei, and Tony Oursler, each with a corresponding page number. Headings for Foreword, Acknowledgments, Credits, and Colophon are also visible.

A two-page spread from a book. The left page is bright pink with the title DREAM ON BABY at the top and the word Foreword in large, bold, teal letters. The right page is white and contains the text of the foreword, with the author's name Gesine Borcherdt at the top.

A biographical page about performance artist Marina Abramović on a yellow background. On the left is a large, contemporary portrait of her with a short biography below. On the right are two historical photos: a top black-and-white image shows her as a child with her father in 1950, and a bottom image shows her as a young woman painting in her studio in 1968.

A two-page book spread against a light blue background. The left page has a large quote from Ai Weiwei about being an independent-minded rebel, placed above a black-and-white photo of a young Ai Weiwei sitting on a construction barricade in New York City in 1985. The right page contains a long text passage where Ai Weiwei recounts his difficult childhood in China.

An open art book displaying two sculptures on facing pages. On the left, a cast aluminum sculpture shows a rocky grotto with a single hand reaching out from the dark interior. On the right, a cast aluminum sculpture of a person holds a bouquet of metallic hydrangeas and wears a large, translucent blue glass hat.

A gallery photograph of Lynda Benglis's 1968 sculpture, Rumpled Painting/Caterpillar. A long, low-lying artwork made of cast pigmented latex rests on a concrete floor. Its undulating, segmented form is painted in bold, organic patches of bright red-orange and dark green.

A magazine page about artist Julius von Bismarck with a light green background. The left side features his name in large black letters, a black-and-white photo of the bearded artist in a jungle setting, and a short biography. The right side shows three color photos of him as a child: peeking from a snow fort, sitting in a red sand desert, and exploring a gold mine with a hard hat and flashlight.

A two-page spread from an art book. On the left, page 91, a large wall-mounted artwork consists of layered, tattered, and discolored blankets in shades of beige, red, and brown. On the right, page 92, under the name Berlinde De Bruyckere, are two sculptures. The top image shows a pale, fleshy, abstract form in a glass case. The bottom image shows a dark, gaunt, horse-like figure lying on a wooden table.

A magazine page about the artist King Cobra, formerly Doreen Lynette Garner, against a pale purple background. On the left, a photo shows the artist, a Black person with a shaved head, in front of a grotesque, fleshy shark sculpture. On the right is a photo of their sculpture, Epigenetic Nacre Noire: a large, pink, vulva-like form with a black furry border, mounted on a black metal stand. Text explains their art addresses racism in medical history.

A two-page book spread about the artist Vaginal Davis. The left page is pink and displays a handwritten letter addressed to Davis, calling her a manipulative, filthy black jungle temptress. The right page is green and shows a diptych of Davis in performance with blonde braids, framed by pink curtains. One image shows her bowing her head, and the other shows her singing into a microphone.

A magazine page about Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem on a light green background. On the left, a large photo shows Gharem holding a giant, clear, circular stamp. On the right is a collage of four personal photos: Gharem as a child with his siblings, a formal portrait of him in military uniform, a pencil drawing of his father, and a sepia photo of him as a toddler with his father. Text on the page provides a short biography and captions.

A two-page book spread on the art of Lynn Hershman Leeson. The left page, with a pale blue background, shows a monitor with a woman's face under a glass bell jar. The right page, with a white background, shows two images: a mannequin head with a grey wig and butterfly clips, and a film still of three women in colorful silk pajamas on a bright red bed.

A two-page spread from an art book about artist Jeff Koons. The left page, on a yellow background, shows an inflatable pink bunny and a massive floral puppy sculpture in front of a palace. The right page shows two collage-style paintings: one of a woman in lingerie riding a dolphin among classical statues, and another of surreal, colorful lips and abstract shapes. A caption at the bottom lists the titles of the four artworks.

A photograph from a book showing Laurie Simmons's artwork Purple Woman/Kitchen/Corner, 1979. The image is a close-up of a vintage dollhouse kitchen with yellow walls, bright green plastic appliances, and a tiled floor. A female doll in a purple dress stands by a counter. In the foreground, a table is set with miniature food, including a large glass bottle of milk, bread, fruit, and a can of baked beans. Harsh lighting casts strong shadows across the scene.

An art gallery installation by Wong Ping. A large, illuminated video screen on the left shows a colorful animation of four figures. The adjacent white walls are covered in a dense grid of hundreds of small, red, chattering-teeth sculptures with gold details, creating a receding pattern down the long gallery space.

Dream On Baby

Artists and Their Childhood Memories

€ 38.00

VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout

Author: Gesine Borcherdt

June 2024, 352 Pages, 50 Photos

Hardcover

149mm x 215mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5682-2

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

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"Every work of art tells a story, even if it doesn´t actually want to be told."

Childhood never lets go of anyone. For many artists, it was the trigger for making art in the first place, and still is what drives them today. For Dream On Baby, Gesine Borcherdt asked 33 artists, including Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, Lynda Benglis, Vaginal Davis, Marcel Dzama, Mona Hatoum, Jeff Koons, Gregor Schneider, and Jordan Wolfson, about their memories of childhood. The result is an anthology of deeply personal, sometimes tragic, sometimes funny, often heartbreaking and always surprising stories. Accompanied by never-before-seen childhood photographs and drawings, this book sheds new light on what it means to make art.

GESINE BORCHERDT (*1976, Braunschweig) is a Berlin-based curator, art critic and author for Art Review, Ursula, Welt am Sonntag, ART, and AD Germany. Recent exhibitions include Dream Baby Dream (2020) revolving around childhood fantasies and traumas, and Home Is Where You're Happy (2023) at Haus Mödrath in Kerpen, Germany.

»Summer is a time for adventure and exploration, and through the pages of this insightful anthology, readers can embark on a journey into the pasts of some of the world’s most innovative artists and discover how the echoes of childhood resonate in the masterpieces we admire today.«

scimparello magazine