Notes from the Playground

Notes from the Playground is a carefully selected anthology of thirty essays by American curator, scholar, and writer Richard flood. This new collection of his writings from the past forty years reveals an original and rigorous connection to the world of ideas, beauty, and the critical and aesthetic experience of our present times. Drawing from his broad knowledge of history, cinema, literature, poetry, design, and architecture, floods writings combine the autobiographical with the theoretical, presenting an intimate window into his years of working with contemporary artists. In many of the essays, he draws from personal correspondence between himself and the artists. Among them are an annotated conversation with Paul Thek discussing his works of wax made, raw meat facsimiles embedded in luxurious Plexiglas cases; four interviews with Robert Gober during the 1990s, offering vivid accounts of his sculptural and creative process; and a detailed description of a portrait sitting at Michael Landys studio. floods significant essay on Arte Povera, co-curated while at the Walker Art Center with frances Morris, Tate Modern director of collections, is also included. These fascinating and diverse essays interweave the anecdotal with the art historical to bring about new perspectives on the work and the contexts of the artists. Richard flood is currently curator at large at the new Museum (new York), where he has also served as chief curator. Prior to his 2005 appointment, flood was chief curator of the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), where he organized a wide range of exhibitions, including Brilliant!: New Art from London and Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 19621972 (a joint project with Tate Modern, London). flood has also been a curator at MoMA P.S.1, new York, and managing editor of Artforum magazin