Firmin Book Receives National Praise

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The book "Mudman: The Odyssey of Kim Jones" (MIT University Press, 2007), a monograph edited by Sandra Q. Firmin, curator with the University at Buffalo Art Gallery, and Julie Joyce, director of Luckman Art Gallery, California State University at Los Angeles, is receiving national praise.

The book was written to accompany Jones's first retrospective exhibition, "Kim Jones: A Retrospective," which originated at the UB Art Gallery last October and is now on view at the Luckman Gallery through May 19.

It is called "excellent" by The Los Angeles Times, and was reviewed this month in Bookforum, which described it as "a fascinating overview of the career of an artist who deserves not just notice, but acclaim." He is receiving it now. Jones will represent the United States at the 2007 Venice Biennale.

"Mudman" includes essays by Firmin and Joyce; Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University Art School and director of the Venice Biennale; and Kristine Styles, professor and director of undergraduate studies, Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, Duke University.

The book and exhibition offer the first comprehensive survey of Jones's installations and drawings from the 1970s to the present, but in particular of his performances as Mudman, a shaman-like figure covered with mud and organic substances and wearing a cumbersome structure of mud and sticks on his back, who speaks to the experience of destruction and war in the 20th century.