From the hyperreal to the fragmentary: the body in contemporary art

This thematic catalog contains more than 110 works by 34 international artists exploring new frontiers in depictions of the human body, exploring themes of life and death, youth and old age, work and migration, loss of balance and bodily life in the time and space of the present. From works by well-known hyperrealists such as Duane Hanson, John DeAndrea and Carole Feuerman, it proceeds to other types of narration where the body is evoked rather than represented. In works such as Christian Boltanski’s Prendre la Parole (Speaking Up), Ibrahim Mahama’s John B B, Chiharu Shiota’s Over the Continents, Dayanita Singh’s Suitcase Museum and Charles LeDray’s Mens Suits, the body seems to have vanished, leaving behind only traces. Fragments of the body and its mutation, and even the mutable conditions of society, are present in the works of Oscar Munoz, AES + F Group, Yael Bartana, Alfredo Jaar, Janine Antoni, Robert Gober, Marc Quinn, Andres Serrano, Robert Longo, Michel Rovner and Franko B.

Text by: Vincenzo Argentieri, Franco Berardi, Furio Colombo, Francesca Giacomelli, Gianfranco Ravasi, Massimo Recalcati, Chiara Spangaro, Gino Strada