The Picture in Question : Mark Tansey and the Ends of Representation

An exploration of the possibilities of representation after modernism, this study charts the logic and continuity of Mark Tansey's painting by considering the philosophical ideas behind Tansey's art. Mark Taylor examines how Tansey uses structuralist and poststructuralist thought as well as catastrophe, chaos, and complexity theory to create paintings that please the eye while provoking the mind. Taylor's accounts of thinkers ranging from Plato, Kant, and Hegel to Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, and de Man should be a useful contribution to students and teachers of art.