Jeremy Deller’s latest book, titled Art Is Magic, is a retrospective of his work as an artist. He believes that art has the power to transform everyday life, even if only for a moment. He considered several titles for the book, including « That’s Not Art » and « You Can’t Do That », as people have often questioned his work. Deller is a rare kind of conceptual artist who feels the need to explain his art, as his work is often collaborative, site-specific, and transient. While he does not consider himself a political artist or an activist, politics is often embedded in his work, whether as political theatre or political memorial.
One of Deller’s most famous works, The Battle of Orgreave, entailed two years of deep research and 1,000 former miners and historical war ‘reenactors’ whom he assembled in a field near Sheffield to reenact the infamous confrontation between police and striking miners. The book also covers his other notable works, including It Is What It Is, Sacrilege, and Putin’s Happy, which captures the chaotic atmosphere of Brexit protests in Parliament Square.
Deller’s approach to his work is more approachable than obscure, and he hopes that his book will demystify his work, explain his motivations, and shed some light on what he does. The book is written in his own words and is designed to resemble an annual that one might receive for Christmas as a child. Although the book is subtitled « a children’s book for adults, » it underplays the provocative political undertow of some of the projects described within.
Deller does not consider himself an outsider in the art world, as his work is less defined by what’s going on in the art world. He feels like he has created a world to be within and does not consider himself a political artist or an activist, even though politics is often embedded in his work. His art is both playful and deadly serious, ranging from an inflatable, lifesize, bouncy castle-style model of Stonehenge to the mangled shell of a car destroyed by a bomb in a crowded Baghdad market.
