About Gothic Art Books, and where is Goth Art going (part 2)

I shall be a bit shorter than what was the original plan. It is partly because I really am not an expert in contemporary art, and partly because I have had an extremely busy fortnight. As I said, next is Hell Hound: New Gothic Art by Francesca Gavin.

In this book there is no chapters per se. There is an introduction and the artists. What is to be noticed is that Gothic is not used as a synonym to Goth (as a sub-culture) it has certain similarity, but it is not representing the sub-culture or it's collective view of art.

I am going to aggravate a tiny bit, to make the differences between books more visible and also perhaps to stir some objections.

As said, compared to the earlier book, Gothic Art NOW, there is no chapters, or one could say each artist is a chapter. In Gothic Art NOW the artworks presented are more the popular view of what does Gothic (in the sense of being submissive to the term Goth) art look like. There was a point, that some of the artist presented in Gothic Art NOW do not consider themselves to be goths or their art to be gothic.

In Hell Hound I think it is even less that way. In the introduction term Gothic is almost reduced to mean the same thing as fear. The artists introduced are somehow dealing with fear, politics and society or the concept of art itself in their work.

Of coarse it is quite visible why goths like these artists, or why people in general consider them to be presenting dark aesthetics. There is a certain sinister allure in the artworks mentioned whether they are paintings, video installations or statues. I can't say I instantly fell in love with every artist or liked every work, but they do give a bigger picture of all art that could be considered gothic or even goth.

The variety of styles, methods and concepts is remarkable considering the way Gothic Art Now presented different works of art, or artists.

Nevertheless, I strongly recommend to explore both of the books I shortly presented. 

Next time: Degradation and Renaissance: Decadence in Finland's Fine Arts and Literature