From Library Journal
Though New York City has been the prime focus for much of American postwar art, significant schools and movements have arisen in sometimes strange outposts of the art world. Rutgers University, though just a short ride from SoHo, is not usually considered a hotbed of the avant-garde. However, as shown in this volume, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Newark Museum, the New Brunswick campus was the birthplace of a significant avant-garde movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The text focuses on artists such as Lucas Samaras, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal, Allan Kaprow, and others, clearly documenting their influence on the art of the Sixties. Of particular interest are the interviews with the artists who worked (either as students or instructors) at Rutgers in this important period. Recommended for collections with an interest in contemporary art.Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DCCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Irving Sandler, author of Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960s to the Early 1990s
Rutgers University was the improbable hotbed of Happenings, Fluxus, and Pop Art from 1957 to the early 1960's. Off Limits provides a lively, comprehensive account of the avant-garde activities of Allan Kaprow, George Segal, Lucas Samaras, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Watts and their colleagues.

Corrine Robins, critic and author of The Pluralist Era: American Art, 1968-81
This important book uncovers the beginnings of Pop Art and the avant-garde movement of the sixties, which it turns out, began at Rutgers University. The personalities and productions by these innovative artists make for energetic and challenging reading. Off Limits is art history with all the excitement and challenge of the innovative art itself

Book Description
Off Limits examines a group of Rutgers artists who came together on the Rutgers University, New Brunswick, campus during the 1950's and revolutionized art practices and pedagogy. This groundbreaking book features more than 140 illustrations as well as interviews with Allan Kaprow, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, George Segal, Robert Whitman, and Geoffrey Hendricks. Essays are by Simon Anderson, Joseph Jacobs, Jackson Lears, Joan Marter, and Kristine Stiles. Also included is "Project in Multiple Dimensions," a previously unpublished statement by Kaprow, Robert Watts, and George Brecht about their commitment to art and technology, and an uncanny prediction about the future of art. Rutgers was clearly the place to be for experimental artists during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Allan Kaprow's first Happening, Roy Lichtenstein's first Pop paintings, George Segal's earliest figurative tableaux, and photo-Fluxus events and Conceptual Art by Robert Watts and George Brecht all were made or took place on or near the Rutgers campus. Simultaneously, Lucas Samaras was painting with smoke on aluminum foil and embedding razor blades in boards, and Robert Whitman was making installations incorporating film projections, the forerunner of video installation. This innovative group boldly rejected the then-fashionable Abstract Expressionism and created startling new artforms that still prevail at the end of the century.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Off Limits is the first examination of a group of artists who came together on the campus of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, during the 1950s and revolutionized art practices and pedagogy. Based on interviews with artists, critics, and dealers from the period, the book connects the initiation of major trends such as Happenings, Pop Art, and Fluxus to the faculty, students, art curriculum, and events at the university. By constantly challenging one another to take art "Off Limits," George Brecht, Geoffrey Hendricks, Allan Kaprow, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucas Samaras, George Segal, Robert Watts, and Robert Whitman defied the art world, bringing Abstract Expressionism to a screeching halt and setting the stage for the art of the rest of the century. Off Limits accompanies a major exhibition of the same title at The Newark Museum, February 18 - May 16, 1999.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Though New York City has been the prime focus for much of American postwar art, significant schools and movements have arisen in sometimes strange outposts of the art world. Rutgers University, though just a short ride from SoHo, is not usually considered a hotbed of the avant-garde. However, as shown in this volume, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Newark Museum, the New Brunswick campus was the birthplace of a significant avant-garde movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The text focuses on artists such as Lucas Samaras, Roy Lichtenstein, George Segal, Allan Kaprow, and others, clearly documenting their influence on the art of the Sixties. Of particular interest are the interviews with the artists who worked (either as students or instructors) at Rutgers in this important period. Recommended for collections with an interest in contemporary art.Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

This important book uncovers the beginnings of Pop Art and the avant-garde movement of the sixties, which, it turns out, began at Rutgers University.... Off Limits is art history with all the excitement and challenge of the innovative art itself. — Corinne Robins

"Rutgers University was the improbable hotbed of Happenings, Fluxus, and Pop Art from 1957 to the early 1960's. Off Limits provides a lively, comprehensive account of the avant-garde activities of Allan Kaprow, George Segal, Lucas Samaras, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Watts and their colleagues."

Irving Sandler, author of Art of the Postmodern Era: From the Late 1960s to the Early 1990s — Irving Sandler

"This important book uncovers the beginnings of Pop Art and the avant-garde movement of the sixties, which it turns out, began at Rutgers University. The personalities and productions by these innovative artists make for energetic and challenging reading. Off Limits is art history with all the excitement and challenge of the innovative art itself."