From Library Journal
As an editor for Art in America , a contributor to such scholarly publications as Skyline and October , and a professor of art history at Yale and Barnard, Owens was a theorist and critic of contemporary culture. Here his colleagues have assembled several of his essays and critical writings as a memorial to Owens, who succumbed to AIDS in 1990 at 39. Set within the framework of the postmodernist movement of the 1970s and 1980s, these highly esoteric essays cover such diverse topics as photography, allegory, feminism, gay politics, art in the marketplace, serial art, and psychoanalysis. The concluding section contains valuable bibliographic material and syllabi devised by Owens for his university courses. Unfortunately, the text is laden with academic jargon, making it intelligible to a select few. Recommended for specialized art history and contemporary culture collections.-Joan Levin, MLS, ChicagoCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Several of the pieces in this collection testify to Owen's great love of music, though he never wrote about opera, which was one of his enduring passions. He was especially fond of the English National Opera, admiring its adventurous productions and its successful attempt to establish music theater as a genuinely popular medium in the United Kingdom. - from the book.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal