Books published by Ridinghouse

Focusing on John Stezaker's subversion of landscape painting and the nude figure, this volume reapproaches the artist's important innovations in collage through the prism of art historical tradition. John Stezaker's found images, collages and image fragments are most associated with cinematic imagery, however it is the other found-image sources which he has worked with over the past 30 years which is the focus of this publication; notably the artist's 'Bridge' collages and the anatomical nudes of his 'Fall' and 'Expulsion' series. This catalogue - published in association with Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, which showed the exhibition John Stezaker: Nude and Landscape in October 2011 - centres on Stezaker's works from the 1980s, when he switched from the cinematic imagery of the 1970s towards 'an engagement with the culture of the image to the nature of the image'. The catalogue presents many new works that have not been shown before and, interestingly, also unaltered found images so similar to the Stezaker collages that they are only identifiable when focusing on the absence or presence of the artist's cut. Over 40 full-colour images are accompanied by texts by curator Sid Sachs, who explores the relationship between the landscape and the nude, and Elizabeth Manchester who looks at the notion and role of 'The Source' in Stezaker's work.

Comprising 41 works in verse, shape poems and abstract pieces written over a 20-year period, the volume's design is sensitive to the unique visual look of each poem. To introduce the book, editors Jeremy Akerman and Eileen Daly discuss with Peake the relationship between art and writing.

John Stezaker is renowned for his innovative approach to found photographic imagery. This artist book focuses on his 'Crossing Over' series, which reframes image fragments from postcards to stimulate new readings.

When Charles Harrison died in 2009, the British art world lost a pivotal figure. Fromcurating the groundbreaking 1969 exhibit, ''When Attitudes Become Form'' at London's Institute ofContemporary Art; to co-writing the hyper-influential, three-volume work Art in Theory; toteaching art history to thousands in much-admired ''plain English'': Harrison's influence on theBritish art scene cannot be overestimated.This collection of autobiographical interviews - a fitting tribute to Harrison - opens a windowinto the thinking of the tireless critic and riveting professor who railed against second-rate art withhis trademark motto, ''Better fewer, but better.'' Looking Back offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience one of the art world giantsof our time.Interviews with Jo Melvin, Teresa Gleadow, Pablo Lafuente, Juliette Rizzi, Sophie Richard,Elena Crippa, Christopher Huer and Matthew Jesse Jackson.

Critic, novelist and cultural voyeur Michael Bracewell is not a writer who's easy to classify. Born in 1958, a veteran of the British punk scene, he is a shockingly wide-ranging intellect whose influences range from Oscar Wilde to Patti Smith to electronic music artist Goldie. One of the most influential commentators on modern and contemporary art, a regular contributor to Frieze since its inception, Bracewell also has won awards for fashion writing. In an engaging collection from the outstanding British art publisher Ridinghouse, Bracewell explores connections between the visual arts, pop music, modern iconography and various sub-cultures. These finely crafted essays appraise the vision and ideas of individual artists and the relation of their work to its broader cultural context. Bracewell has written extensively on artists including Gilbert & George, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Wolfgang Tillmans, Anish Kapoor, Keith Coventry, John Stezaker, Glenn Brown and Damien Hirst. Reading Bracewell is sheer pleasure. His British colleagues describe his work as "lyrical" and "inspired." One critic calls him "the poet laureate of late capitalism," while another says his prose "shimmers with metaphysical warmth." Even allowing for critical exaggeration, there's no question this is a writer of huge talent, with a lot to say.

Photographing white single squares and rectangles found in urban areas, David Batchelor's Found Monochromes project expands the artist's interrogation of colour, skill and the cityscape. Since 1997, David Batchelor has been photographing single square and rectangle planes of uninterrupted white that he passes as he walks through London and places he visits. The images are informal and impromptu; shot from a uniform distance the white planes are seen on a diversity of backdrops: brick walls, car doors, metal fences and more. Batchelor began this body of work after considering the history of the monochrome in painting, and the lack of skill associated with them in the work of Yves Klein and Ad Reinhardt, amongst others. Bringing together the largest group of photographs from this series, a conversation between the philosopher Jonathan Rée and the artist focuses on the importance of monochromes to ideas of modernity, artificiality and the city.

Made across a 32-year span, the works in Tabula Rasa unite the central themes in the art of celebrated British artist John Stezaker, from the capacities of collage to the current flow in an age of mass media. This volume brings silkscreens on canvas from the early 1990s and film still collages from the 1990s and 2009 together for the first time. Accompanying full-colour illustrations and a series of installation views of Stezaker's work at The Approach, London, an essay by art critic and cultural commentator Michael Bracewell looks at the connections within Stezaker's practice, centering on notions of screens, voids and cut-outs.

From the opening of The Louvre to the launch of Tate Modern and beyond, this accessible publication traces the development of the museum and its evolving role within society.

Bringing together over 20 gouache studies by celebrated British Op artist Bridget Riley, along with an artist interview, this catalogue explores Riley's process and the effects of her decision making.

Famous for destroying everything he owned, this first major monograph of Michael Landy's work surveys both his large-scale installations and lesser-known sculpture to illustrate the artist's joyful inventiveness. Richly illustrated in full colour, this book surveys his earliest work, including lesser-known sculptures - such as Sovereign shown at Freeze in 1988 - to large-scale installations Market, Closing Down Sale and Scrapheap Services. Other works discussed in detail include the infamous Break Down, where Landy destroyed all 7,227 of his possessions in a department store on Oxford Street, London; Semi-detached, where Landy constructed a full-scale model of his family home at Tate Britain, London; and the project H2NY where Landy made 168 drawings based on a Jean Tinguely sculpture. With over 800 colour illustrations and four newly commissioned texts, this volume provides a comprehensive insight into Landy's work

Emerging in the late 1960s, Conceptual art was spurred by a network of artists, dealers, curators and critics. These little-known connections are detailed for the first time in this indispensable volume. A detailed account of a decade of artistic activity is accompanied by an extensive set of previously unpublished data, charting the exhibitions and sales of Conceptual works to galleries, public institutions and private collections. The relationships, support structures and strategies of dealer galleries - such as Konrad Fischer, Wide White Space and Lisson Gallery to promote artists such as Marcel Broodthaers, Richard Long and Lawrence Weiner - are revealed and make fascinating reading. Including numerous interviews with key figures of the period, Unconcealed exposes the new dealing, curatorial, collecting and teaching methods formed in this decade that continue to be critical to today's art world.