Author Description

The ironic wit, the challenging images, and the experimental methods of the renegade artists of the late 1950s and early 1960s are closely examined, offering a fresh view of the many manifestations of the art that was once considered a movement. The works of the original Dadaists, Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters, are introduced as the main influences on the younger artists' own readymades, found objects, detritus, environmental, and performance pieces. The diverse works of Arman, Jasper Johns, Allan Kaprow, Robert Rauschenberg, Jean Tinguely, among others, are discussed, linking the previously unconnected movements of Pop Art, Fluxus, and Nouveau Realisme in the first catalogue to focus on this powerful and provocative phenomenon.