Contact

One of the most widely discussed & intriguing exponents of contemporary British art, Sam Taylor-Wood has won acclaim for work that forces elasticity into the boundaries between established artistic genres. Although they fuse elements of photography, film, video installation & sound, her pieces retain an austere, direct simplicity. But her work is not an exercise in mere technique: Taylor-Wood's ability to build sophisticated narratives that centre on scenarios & absolutes such as solitude, provocation, euphoria & aggression, flags a unique approach that uses this deceptively clean-cut aesthetic to discuss emotionally visceral themes. With this book, the first to bring together an extensive cross-section of her work, Taylor-Wood continues the process of technical innovation expressed in works such as her pioneering 360ø timed-exposure images. Collaborating with acclaimed designer Bruce Mau, the artist uses the book as an alternative means to push the boundaries of the way space may be represented in two dimensions. The starting point was the reinstallation in Mau's studio of Contact, an exhibition Taylor-Wood mounted at London's fig-1 gallery in 2000, which consisted of a wall covered in a collage of contact sheets from hundreds of the artist's past photographic shoots. Taylor-Wood has photographed this new set-up from all angles -- close-up, from across the space, & from above & below -- with the intention of creating a book that directly replicates the experience of visiting an exhibition. Rather than presenting her images in the standard, sequential style of a conventional monograph, Taylor-Wood chooses to highlight the relationship between her images. She offers a bombardment of 400 different views of Contact's collaged sheets, giving the reader the chance to zoom into detail or see the long view. Book-as-exhibition, Sam Taylor-Wood is a provocative spatial hybrid.Taylor-Wood, Sam is the author of 'Contact' with ISBN 9781861542236 and ISBN 1861542232.