Cuts: Texts 1959-2004

Afterimage, May-June, 2005 by Ilana Swerdlin

Cuts: Texts 1959-2004

by Carl Andre

MIT Press/331 pp./$45.00 (sb). Cuts is the most recent edition to the Writing Art Series published by the MIT Press. Each work of the series is a small diaristic sample of writings, poems and thoughts about artwork and the art world. Cuts, however, is unique to the series, for Andre's work, like his writing, is composed of separate pieces--cuts--reassembled in a playful and thoughtful way. The table of contents, which is eight pages long, sets the stage for the book; it is an alphabetized admixture of topics including "Childhood," "Conceptualism," "Japan," "P.S. 1" and "Railroad." Each chapter contains some published and unpublished writings, poems, personal letters, interviews or one-line statements extracted from exhibitions. As mentioned in the introduction by James Meyer, the book's editor, "[Andre] wrote only as much as was needed and in ways that pleased him." To his credit, Andre's multifaceted cuts--his fancies--are enlightening and enjoyable to read.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]