From Head to Hand: Art and the Manual

“This is a good book. It is literate, thoughtful, kind, lucid, and meticulous, which is high praise in the Grub Street of contemporary art journalism. It embodies a chastening respect for the artist and the works that is not much in evidence these days. In a serious, somewhat smaller art world, Strauss’s book would set the standard for criticism.”–Dave Hickey, author of The Invisible Dragon

“David Levi Strauss brings an intellectual poise and gentle regard for fact to write of what is truly urgent in the art and literature he admires. Having found his bearings by attentive looking or reading, he retrieves for us that ‘certain sensation’ felt in the moment, found here in model instances of translucent prose.”–Bill Berkson, Portrait and Dream: New and Selected Poems

“Inspired by Leo Steinberg and John Berger, and drawing on his intimate knowledge of a range of contemporary artists and writers, David Levi Strauss deftly combines inquiry, fact, illumination and response in this brilliant collection. Lucid, passionate and provocative, From Head to Hand reimagines for a new generation the necessity for an active engagement with the material processes and presence of art.”–Ann Lauterbach, author of Or to Begin Again

“Strauss’s writing is always smooth…. Strauss makes a good case for paying heed not only to the objects before us but also to how they came into being.”–Bookforum

“Strauss’ writing is as engaging as the intriguing range of practitioners and writing he brings into focus . . . This is a book of words in pursuit of the nature of visual articulation, as gracious as it is informative . . . Highly recommended.”–R.W. Liscombe, CHOICE