Octavio Zaya Livres

The first monograph to thoroughly document Shirin Neshat's video production, The Last Word provides both a beautiful reminder of her work's color and intensity and a crucial tool for her increasing number of fans and scholars. Neshat, who studied in the United States and has lived in New York for many years, found international success following the explosive release of her images of Muslim women wrapped in chadors with verses by rebel Persian poetesses traced on their faces, hands and feet. She became renowned when her short film Turbulent was awarded the Leone d'Oro at the 1999 Venice Biennale. With her camera persistently focused on the veiled women of the Muslim world, Neshat has continued to make striking and courageous work of rare beauty and intensity, and has presented it to continuing acclaim. She goes fearlessly into the widening gulf between conformism and revolt, submission and compliance, that characterizes the women of the Muslim world, seeking out images from the far sides of the divide that will both narrow the distance and help viewers sound its depths. The Last Word is a necessity for those who would approach, informed, the poetic works and the fierce commitment of an extraordinary artist.

The exhibition It Will All End In Tears, the first individual show dedicated to the artist Jesper Just (Copenhagen, 1974) in Spain, takes its title from one of the five films chosen by the curator Octavio Zaya, which together with Bliss and Heaven, Some Draughty Window, Something to Love and A Vicious Undertow completes the show and explores the main themes treated by Jesper gender as a social and cultural construct rather than biological, and the generation gap, specifically centred on the father-son relationship.

Focusing on the innovative work of South African multi-media artist Candice Breitz, this collection showcases her significant impact on contemporary art. It explores how she deconstructs and reconstructs mass media culture, offering insights into her creative process and thematic explorations. Through her art, Breitz challenges perceptions and engages with the complexities of modern media.

Fernando Renes, a Spanish artist residing in New York, has dedicated himself to drawing since 2000, primarily using watercolors. His artwork is characterized by its simplicity and directness, devoid of metaphor or irony. Renes captures a raw and innocent realm of imagination, exploring themes of desire, fear, and humor. His drawings convey a world filled with stark contrasts and emotional nuances, inviting viewers to envision the potential for animation within his static images.

The first monograph on Iraqi artist Hayv Kahraman surveys her figurative work, which mines the marginal space that pertains to diasporic peoples, collective and personal memory, and gender.

Through the perspectives of international artists working across mediums, Stories of Resistance sheds light on the situations from which acts of resistance emerge and identifies themes and motifs that recur across history, cultures and regions. Resistance may be found in the rewriting of history, exposing or filling in the blatant absences of the dominant narrative; resistance emerges from within governmental, corporate or institutional structures and systems of power; resistance takes shape in labor movements and in actions to protect water, land and other natural resources.00Exhibition: Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, USA (12.03-15.08.2021)

Paul Pfeiffer is among the most recognized and influential American artists today. This is a select overview of his work over the last decade, including his most recently produced projects, as well as his fundamental works on new technologies through video, installation, sculpture and photography. In his most widely recognized work, the artist digitally alters old film footage and TV sports events to erase the main characters of the scenes, dissecting the role of mass media and the cult of celebrity. The book also examines his creative process with original essays by Lawrence Chua (critic, Cornell University, New York), Jessica Hagedorn (writer, Philippines), Niklas Maak (critic, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and Katy Siegel (critic, Artforum), and other writings selected by the artist, including works by Don Delillo, Ellias Canetti, Gary Indiana and Roger Caillois. Born in 1966 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Paul Pfeiffer spent most of his childhood in the Philippines, until he settled in New York in 1990. Pfeiffer was selected for the 49th Venice Biennial and most recently for the Sydney Biennial 2008.