Art is Magic

The first monograph in French, Art is Magic explores the cultural references of the celebrated British artist, from Rod Stewart to the Industrial Revolution, linking them to his iconic works. The elaborate book, conceived by Jeremy Deller himself, is structured into twelve chapters written by the artist and includes five interviews.

Published on the occasion of the first retrospective in France of Jeremy Deller, winner of the prestigious Turner Prize in 2004 and his country’s representative at the Venice International Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2013, Art is Magic provides the most comprehensive overview of his work from the 1990s to the present day, based on some fifteen projects and major works that have punctuated his career.

Jeremy Deller is interested in popular and counter-culture. Social issues, history and music are central to the artist’s investigations. Tinged with an assertive socio-political discourse, his works make a link between culture—vernacular or mass—and the world of work. His research has led him to explore the social history of his country and the world through the social conflicts of the Thatcherite era, the band Depeche Mode, the world of wrestling, the ferments of Brexit, or even Acid house and the rave movement, with the constant concern to involve other people in the creative process.

Art is Magic is an attempt to link the key works of Jeremy Deller’s career with the art, pop music, cinema, politics and history that have inspired his work. Much has been written about Deller over the decades, but this is the first time he has brought together all his cultural sources. The book is divided into three sections: a visual guide to his favorite works, in-depth reflections on his life and artistic practice and, finally, an album of images explaining what motivates him (from Rod Stewart to bats, the perfect jukebox to Neolithic axe heads). The book features works from Deller’s life and career, most of them previously unpublished. These include his inflatable installation for the Glasgow International Festival, the miners’ strike (his film on the Battle of Orgreave), bats (the subject of at least three of Deller’s works), Andy Warhol (whom he met in 1986), the links between the Industrial Revolution and heavy metal, and hen harriers pecking out the eyes of a Tory MP (featured in his anti-game-hunting mural created for the Venice Biennale).