Absolute Mixture, The: shit art positive

The Absolute Mixture regards excremental art as a kind of extension of the avant-garde project of dismantling the separation between art and life, and all that this entails. It is introduced by a limited survey from medieval times; the main focus, however, is on twentieth-century and contemporary art. It is written by the Times Literary Supplement art critic, gallerist and writer Matthew Bown.

The Absolute Mixture is shaped by multiple interweaving 'excremental discourses', including (but not limited to) disgust theory (beginning in eighteenth-century Germany); Freudian-Lacanian-Kristevan philosophy-cum-psychoanalysis; and notions of rebellion from Diogenes to Sloterdijk's kynicism; and contemporary notions of ecologically-sound production and recycling. The Absolute Mixture is the first book-length study devoted to the scatological in art and, we believe, breaks substantial new ground.

The book includes over 200 illustrations. Artists whose work is considered in the book include Andres Serrano, Anish Kapoor, Anton Henning, Anya Gallacio, Arman, Aubrey Beardsley, Auguste Rodin, Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose, Carl Andre, Carol Rama, Chris Ofili, Cildo Mereiles, Cindy Sherman, Dan Colen, David Hammons, Dieter Roth, Felix Nussbaum, Francis Bacon, Franz West, G. G. Allin, Gelitin, George Grosz, George Maciunas, Giorgio Spiller, Giotto, Günther Brus, Herluf Bidstrup, Kurt Kren, Isidore Isou, James Ensor, James Gillray, Joan Miro, John Isaacs, John Miller, Julian Schnabel, Karen Finley, Katsu, Keith Boadwee, Kerry Trengove, Kiki Smith, Leigh Bowery, Manuel Ocampo, Marc Quinn, Marcel Duchamp, Martin Creed, Mary Barnes, Mary Kelly, Matthew Barney and Jonathan Bepler, Matthias Greuter, Mike Bouchet, Mike Kelley, Mona Hatoum, Otto Muehl, Paul McCarthy and Jason Rhoades, Paul Noble, Peter Bruegel the Elder, Piero Manzoni, Rembrandt, Richard Hamilton, Salvador Dali, Sam Goodman and Boris Lurie, Santiago Sierra, Sarah Lucas, Semyon Faibisovich, Stefan Dokoupil, Stuart Brisley, Titian, Tom Friedman, Traviès, Wim Delvoye, Gilbert and George and others.