"Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees"- A book about Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin is a man with one hell of a conciousness for perception. Lawrence Weschler wrote a book about him. I read this book recently and it changed the way I think about the role of art in the perceptible world, the role of the artist as an empirical investigator, and in general, it changed the value of my conciousness in perceiving my world. If that isn't enough to make you wanna at least crack the spine of this book, the vantage of Irwin's life given in it by Weschler is certainly sufficient. Weschler unearths a wealth of artistic investigation, personality and intuitive creation as he unfolds the journey Irwin has taken from his days of a second wave abstract expressionist, through the minimalist painting period, his seemingly empty rooms and the later large scale installation projects. Irwin's life outside of his art investigation parallels it in pure focus, energy and freeness of action as Weschler points out his fascination with custom car culture and the science behind horse race betting. This book opens a whole building of doors for anyone interested in the way we value what we see.