A seminal work of simply outstanding scholarship, ‘Aesthetic Theory, Abstract Art, and Lawrence Carroll’ is enhanced for academia with the inclusion of figures, plates, selected solo and group exhibitions, selected public and private collections, an eleven page listing of references, and a three page index … [Very] highly recommended for community, college, and university library Art History collections in general, and Lawrence Carroll supplemental studies lists in particular.
Midwest Book Review
Two retrospectives of Lawrence Carroll's abstract painting allow David Carrier to wend his way through Carroll’s whole ‘project’ philosophically. When analytical philosophers absorbed aesthetics into ‘philosophy of art,’ they pretty much stamped out delight; here however, one of their own breaks ranks, on behalf of an abstract painter who, Nietzsche would say, teaches him how to dance. Yes, Carrier discusses the nature of art per se; but he is also concerned with thinking about the ‘deskilled’ application of paint on a thing that takes up space but clings to the category of painting.
Joseph Masheck, Professor Emeritus of Art History, Hofstra University, USA and former Editor-in-Chief of Artforum