If you’ve ever been curious about the history of contemporary art, there’s no better introduction than Blow Up! The Explosion of Contemporary Art. This graphic novel by writer Robert Shore and illustrator Eva Rossetti collects the biggest milestones in contemporary art into a comic book primer, with a narrative that is relatively linear and straightforward. It begins with the 1917 scandal concerning Marcel Duchamp’s repurposed porcelain urinal, which sets off a chain of events that carries through 2019, when Maurizio Cattelan duct-taped a banana to a gallery wall. Between those two events, Shore and Rossetti introduce readers to some of contemporary art’s biggest players. There’s an entire chapter on Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, the “high priestess of the polka dot,” that touches on her correspondence with Georgia O’Keeffe and Richard Nixon. There’s a timeline that further breaks down important events and offers biographical details on Kara Walker, the Guerrilla Girls and the installation artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude, among others. For those unfamiliar with contemporary art, Blow Up! provides a thorough and authoritative background. But even if you’re an expert, there is plenty to love here; commentary on the importance of biennials and the effects of rising auction prices on artists’ reputations are spot-on. Plus, it’s thrilling to see art-world figures like art historian Linda Nochlin and multidisciplinary artist Sarah Lucas rendered in comic form.
