Short Reviews

The Art of Living: An Oral History of Performance and Art is a hybrid of oral history, performance ethnography, and scholarly critique. It focuses on a dozen performance artists working from the last quarter of the twentieth century to the present. The interviews are accompanied by striking period photos of each artist in performance. By no means is this volume a comprehensive study of performance art, nor does it intend to be. Instead, it considers how each artist has built a reputation around what Johnson deems "the work of a lifetime." Johnson does not trace an artist's development toward a masterwork, but rather how the study of the artist's lifetime and a variety of works blur the boundaries between the artist and the art. These are individuals who live their art and who demonstrate "a history of the art of living."

The greatest strength of this volume is found in the intimate and introspective self-critiques that Johnson teases out from individual subjects. He succeeds in creating an archive that traces performers who are arguably unknown outside of the underground scene. These individuals, many of whom cut their teeth in the 1970s and 80s alternative club scenes of London and New York City, have been forgotten—swept aside by a younger generation of performers who are less aware of their antecedents. Johnson's sensitive approach to interviewing his subjects, including Ulay, Anne Bean, Kipper Kids, Ann Magnuson and Ron Athey, resurrects their missions and work through their own distinct voices.

My favorite chapters are dedicated to Penny Arcade, Joey Arias, and David Hoyle, representing a transatlantic trio deeply rooted in the queer community who survived the HIV/AIDS crisis to which so many of their peers succumbed. This shared experience has allowed them to reflect back on the dramatic influence of living through such dark times and the effect it has had on their work, building a larger network that both highlights their individual approaches and binds them together. Perhaps the most exciting contribution are the ways in which the book necessitates a larger theoretical conversation on performance art, queerness, and aging.

While Johnson's decision to focus on Anglo-American performance artists and art (more accurately from the UK and U.S.) is a desirable contribution to performance scholarship, the overall hue of the book is starkly white. While Johnson's writing is elegant, he fails to deliver an argument that supports his decision to overlook performers of color. Since its genesis in the twentieth century, the fabric of performance art in the Anglo world has always been polychromatic, and while the length of such a book certainly demands a careful selection and editing process, why not diversify to include, for example, Terry Adkins, Papa Colo, or Lorraine O'Grady? Nonetheless, this book marks the radical shifts seen in performance art over the course of almost five decades, reflecting how artistic practice and product are vital representations of changes to society. It is a valuable contribution for scholars drawn to interviewing living artists and the subsequent construction of narratives drawn from original oral histories.