Sunshine Muse Contemporary Art On The West Coast

"Still the most readable summary of West Coast art activity."--Henry Hopkins, University of California, Los Angeles "Still the most readable summary of West Coast art activity."--Henry Hopkins, University of California, Los Angeles

Unusually inclusive, visually intriguing, and beautifully produced, Made in California will appeal to anyone who has lived in, visited, or imagined California.".

This book reflects on the motivations of creative practitioners who have moved out of cities from the mid-1960s onwards to establish creative homesteads. The book focuses on desert exile painter Agnes Martin, radical filmmaker and gardener Derek Jarman, and iconoclastic conceptual artist Chris Burden, detailing their connections to the cities they had left behind (New York, London, Los Angeles). Sarah Lowndes also examines how the rise of digital technologies has made it more possible for artists to live and work outside the major art centers, especially given the rising cost of living in London, Berlin, and New York, focusing on three peripheral creative centers: the seaside town of Hastings, England, the midsized metro of Leipzig, Germany, and post-industrial Detroit, USA.

“The Light and Space movement—of great importance to my development as a young artist—is far more than a valid art historical reference. It translates matters of psychology, phenomenology, criticality, emotional investment, and now-ness into an immaterial language that is both subversive and compelling. Light and Space is as contemporary as ever.” —Olafur Eliasson

Exploring the transformation of California into a center for contemporary art through the twentieth century, this book dramatically illustrates the paths California artists took toward a more diverse and inclusive culture.