Radical Coherency

'We got to talking' so David Antin begins the introduction to "Radical Coherency", embarking on the pursuit that has marked much of his breathless, brilliantly conversational work. From his position in the visual arts department at the University of California, San Diego, Antin has served since the late 1960s as bantering laureate of the American avant garde. Whether spoken under the guise of performance artist or poet, cultural explorer or literary critic, his innovative observations have helped us to better understand everything from Pop to Postmodernism. Intimately wedded to the worlds of conceptual art and poetics, "Radical Coherency" collects Antin's influential critical essays and spontaneous, performed lectures (or 'talk-pieces') for the very first time, capturing one of the most distinctive perspectives in contemporary literature. The essays presented here range from front-line interventions in present debates on poetics to fugitive pieces from the '60s and '70s that still sparkle today - and represent a goldmine for art historians of the period. From Andy Warhol to Allan Kaprow, Mark Rothko to Ludwig Wittgenstein, Antin takes the reader on an idiosyncratic, personal journey through twentieth-century culture, including his earliest publications in "ARTNews" and more recent reflections on the legendary figures who ran in his circle. Forty years in the making, "Radical Coherency" will be welcomed by any fan of this consummate trailblazer.