A fascinating exploration of the work of one of Britain’s most important and most celebrated sculptors
Cornelia Parker’s art is about destruction, resurrection, and reconfiguration. Demonstrating the importance of process, she frequently transforms objects by using seemingly violent techniques such as shooting, exploding, squashing, cutting, dropping, and burning. Through these actions she both physically alters the object and becomes an active participant in the development of its story. Parker is a best known for her large-scale installations, such as Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View 1991 for which she had a garden shed blown up by the British Army and suspended the fragments as if freezing the explosion process in time. Perpetual Canon 2004 is made up of brass band instruments, steamrollered flat. Much of her work has a poetic yet apocalyptic tone and often reflects a concern for the insidious effects of global warming and consumerism. A Turner-Prize nominee, Parker works in a wide variety of media, including drawings, photographs, embroidery and film, and has collaborated with a diverse range of organizations and groups in the creation of her works, including The Royal Mint, Abbey Road Studios, prisoners, school children, The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, whistle-blowers, and Parliament and the Palace of Westminster. Made in close collaboration with the artist, this lavishly illustrated publication will explore these relationships in a fascinating survey that will encompass all aspects of Parker’s career from the late 1970s to the new work being made today.