Constance M. Lewallen

The first book devoted solely to Bruce Nauman’s corridors and other architectural installations, Bruce Nauman: Spatial Encounters deftly explores the significance of these works in the development of his singular art practice, examining them in the context of the period and in relation to other artists like Dan Graham, Robert Morris, Paul Kos, and James Turrell. Designed for viewer participation, Bruce Nauman’s architectural installations often confound expectations and induce physical and psychological unease. The essays in this book consider these works, which begin in 1969 and continue into the 1970s and beyond, in terms of the physical, perceptual, and psychological pressures they exert on the participant. Three interlocking perspectives on the topic—Constance M. Lewallen’s historical overview, Dore Bowen’s case study of Nauman’s 1970 Corridor Installation with Mirror—San Jose Installation (Double Wedge Corridor with Mirror), and a supplementary essay by Ted Mann on Nauman’s drawings—provide a comprehensive and in-depth approach. The book coincides with the major retrospective exhibition Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts at the Schaulager Museum, Basel, Switzerland (March 17–August 26, 2018) and the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, New York (October 21, 2018–March 17, 2019).

500 Capp Street tells the story of David Ireland's house, a rundown Victorian in the Mission District of San Francisco that the artist transformed into an environmental artwork, taking the detritus of his restoration labors as well as objects left behind by previous owners and refashioning them into sculptures. Constance M. Lewallen begins by recounting the history of the house from 1886, when it was built, until Ireland acquired it in 1975. She then details Ireland's renovation and continuing engagement with the site that served simultaneously as his residence, studio, and evolving artwork; the house's influence on his own work and that of artists who followed him; and its relationship to other house museums. An introduction by Jock Reynolds, who was close to the artist for many years, chronicles the social scene that developed around 500 Capp Street in the 1980s. The book also includes a 1983 article on the house by renowned poet John Ashbery. Illustrated with a generous selection of photographs taken over the years by the artist and his many visitors, this is an invaluable and intimate record of Ireland's best-known work. 500 Capp Street is essential reading for anyone interested in the artistic and cultural history of the San Francisco Bay Area and the California conceptual art movement.

"State of Mind", the lavishly illustrated companion book to the exhibition of the same name, investigates California's vital contributions to Conceptual art - in particular, work that emerged in the late 1960s among scattered groups of young artists. The essays reveal connections between the northern and southern California Conceptual art scenes and argue that Conceptualism's experimental practices and an array of then-new media - performance, site-specific installations, film and video, mail art, and artists' publications - continue to exert an enormous influence on the artists working today.