The Ideas, Identity and Art of Daniel Spoerri

"A much-needed biography in English of Daniel Spoerri, Leda Cempellin’s monograph has the great merit to consider this artist’s profound and perspicaciously humorous work on its own terms, beyond its sole classification within Nouveau Réalisme. At the same time, Cempellin’s attentive study locates Spoerri’s ability to continually refuel his artistic curiosity in his and his generation’s propensity to ongoing collaborations and cooperation. A nomadic artist, Spoerri finds his “territory” over and over again in his work with objects, his passion for the anecdotal, and last but not least in his creative bonds with both old and new friends. Underscoring the continuity and interconnectedness in Spoerri’s eclectic art, of which storytelling constitutes the fabric, as Cempellin argues, the book shows how Spoerri never tires of approaching the future both playfully and with an open mind in his work, while always remembering the past with acumen, fondness, and care."

Cecilia Novero,

University of Otago, New Zealand

"The Ideas, Identity and Art of Daniel Spoerri offers Anglophone readers fresh insights into the genesis of Spoerri's important work and illuminates fascinating intellectual exchanges between artists, curators, and other key figures in the European art world from the late 1950s to the present. Cempellin navigates sources in many languages on the multilingual artist, drawing on little-known archival materials and interviews to present key thematic elements in Spoerri's oeuvre. Through reference to projects such as Spoerri's Fluxus works, Eat Art, and Sentimental Museums, the artist's striking inventiveness and intellectual rigor come vividly to the fore."

Jill Carrick,

Carleton University, Canada