IAIN BAXTER&

IAIN BAXTER& has been challenging and expanding notions of art for more than fifty years. Inspired by his creative credo Art Is All Over, he experimented with non-traditional materials and modes of production. In doing so, he pioneered new models of art making that collapsed boundaries between art, commerce, and everyday life, often opening pathways for other artists to follow. BAXTER& began producing art in the late 1950s under his given name, Iain Baxter, N.E. Thing Co. was founded in 1967, with Baxter and then-wife Ingrid serving as co-presidents. Under the guise of a corporation, N.E. Thing Co. produced a diverse array of projects that questioned the role of art both as consumer commodity and as a medium for cultural commentary. When the company dissolved in 1978, Baxter further expanded his practice to encompass Polariod film and multimedia installations that blended painting and sculpture. He also pursued pedagogy as an extension of his creative ideals. In 2005, he legally changed his name to IAIN BAXTER&, appending an ampersand to underscore his belief that art is contingent upon a collaborative connection with the viewer. This comprehensive book surveys BAXTER&'s remarkable career and recognizes his defining contribution to mainstream histories of conceptual art, photography, and installation art. Featuring more than 200 reproductions, it also offers a multi-faceted appraisal of his achievement with feature essays by David Moos, Michael Darling, Dennis W. Durham, Christophe Domino, and Lucy R. Lippard, as well as interviews with IAIN BAXTER& and Ingrid Baxter by Alexander Alberro.