Gavin Delahunty

The first comprehensive monograph on groundbreaking neo-conceptual artist Tavares Strachan, whose diverse practice speaks powerfully to today’s cultural climate Tavares Strachan is arguably one of the most important artists working today. His open-ended practice offers distinctive points of view on a broad range of urgent social and political themes: archaeology, history, geography, music, science, and extreme climatology are only a few of the subjects he has explored to create allegorical exhibitions that tell of colonialism and cultural displacement, human aspiration, mortal limitation, and the space race. Strachan’s extensively researched projects are often monumental in scale and scope. Created in collaboration with thought leaders and organizations across a wide spectrum of fields, his projects are also expansive in reach – The First Supper, Strachan’s massive sculpture at London’s Royal Academy, was one of the most popular art pieces exhibited in 2024. In his birthplace Nassau, Strachan established the scientific research platform BASEC (Bahamas Aerospace and Sea Exploration Center). In 2018, in collaboration with LACMA, Strachan launched ENOCH, a 3-U satellite bringing to light the forgotten story of Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., the first Black astronaut to be selected for any national space program. ENOCH circled the earth for three years in a sun-synchronous orbit before re-entering on December 2021. This timely monograph, created in close collaboration with the artist, reveals the breadth and impact of Strachan’s work. Part of Phaidon’s acclaimed Contemporary Artists Series, the book includes a conversation with Strachan; text contributions from writers and experts including Emma Dabiri, Gavin Delahunty, and Michele Robecchi; a studio visit with specially commissioned photography; and a comprehensive chronology of Strachan’s career.

Cecily Brown (b.1969, London) is one of the most acclaimed painters working today. Her inimitable style shifts effortlessly between abstraction and figuration, confounding our understanding of these painterly modes and conventions. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, this lavishly illustrated catalogue is an in-depth look at one of her most conceptually rich and expressive paintings. Cecily Brown: The Triumph of Death delves deep into this gigantic, multi-panel work, which features the figure of Death riding roughshod over a town and its residents. Inspired by a 1446 Italian fresco housed in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo, Italy, Brown’s The Triumph of Death is the culmination of a fascination with death that has permeated her work for several decades. With an introduction by Sylvain Bellenger and newly commissioned texts by Gavin Delahunty, Catherine Foulkrod and Sergio Risaliti, as well as featuring a set of related, previously unseen drawings, the book provides unparalleled analysis of this extraordinary work. Text in English and Italian.

This large-format overview of the work of John Heartfield draws on the superlative collections of the Academie der Kunst, Berlin, and the David King collection at Tate Modern. Born in Berlin in 1891, Heartfield, along with George Grosz, is widely considered to have invented photomontage, a technique of cutting up and manipulating photographs.