Focal Points: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Focal Points is a new book series of essays, articles and reviews, by acclaimed curator and critic Robert Storr. Expertly edited by art historian and curator Francesca Pietropaolo, and richly illustrated, it lends Storr’s illuminating insights into some of the critical themes across recent decades that are of timely urgency. Brilliantly scholarly, accessible and engaging, Focal Points offers fresh interpretations of the varied territory of modern and contemporary art.

This volume grapples with one of the most critical topics at the heart of culture in the United States: racial division. In the essay, originally produced in 1994 when Storr lived in the diverse neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn and worked as a curator in the then predominantly white, male world of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the author vividly describes the role of the modern art museum and multiculturalism, and analyses issues of identity and representation explored in the works of a range of artists including David Hammons, Byron Kim, Glenn Ligon and Adrian Piper, among others.

Robert Storr is an art critic, curator and artist. He has written widely on art and has interviewed some of the world's leading artists. Storr's writing has appeared in countless books and exhibition catalogues as well as in Art in America, Artforum, Parkett and ARTnews. He has curated exhibitions internationally and was the first North American curator of the Venice Biennale in 2007. His bestselling Interviews on Art (2017), Writings on Art 1980-2005 (2020) and Writings on Art 2006-2021 (2021) were published by HENI.Francesca Pietropaolo is an Italian art historian of modern and contemporary art, and an independent curator. She has worked at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. As an art critic, she has written widely, including for Flash Art International, ARTnews, Art in America and Arte e Critica. 

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