Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire - Contemporary Art Book for Collectors, Students & Art Enthusiasts | Perfect for Art History Studies, Gallery Collections & Intellectual Discussions

No complaints!You know that any book of criticism with Thomas Eakins, the notorious pornographic film "Moby Dick," Andy Warhol, Vanessa Beecroft, and Tracey Emin in it is going to be quirky. What links all of these quirky artists in this work by an associate professor of English at the U. of California-Riverside and co-author of "Pop Out: Queer Warhol" is their approaches to handling sexuality. With Eakins, the approach in his time and place of Victorian era America was subtle and ambivalent. With Warhol, the approach was ironic and often detached. With Beecroft, forward and multiplicitous. These and the other unconventional treatments of sexuality are critiqued with reference to "the queer theory that addresses the limitations of dominant (largely binary) models for sexual identity for describing our sexual lives and for understanding representations of sexual difference and sexual desire." Doyle demonstrates a sure understanding of the latest methodology and critical possibilities of queer theory.I picked up this book because I met Professor Doyle socially and I am into art. I particularly enjoyed her chapter on Tracey Emin and her introduction, wherein she discusses Moby Dick in decidedly non-academic terms. Most academic prose is like soap without water, but Doyle manages to get a good lather going. Her work is deep but accessible in the best way, not because it's easy, but because it actually makes you think about thinks that matter, and mean something.