Francis Alÿs: The Prophet and the Fly

This unique volume side-steps the performance work for which Francis Alÿs is most recently recognized, presenting instead his recent paintings and drawings. Over 30 beautiful, encaustic-layered canvases illustrate passages from D.H. Lawrence, Plato, and other great writers, and, in a fluid exchange, are likewise illuminated by them. Als entered the art field by accident, through what he calls “a coincidence of geographical, personal and legal matters [that] resulted in indefinite vacations which, through a mixture of boredom, curiosity and vanity, led to my present profession.” A compulsive wanderer, his personal explorations of the cities in which he finds himself have formed the basis for an eclectic body of work that has involved the varied mediums of documentary film and photography, video, painting and performance, each put to work in a way that reflects specific social and economic conditions in a highly individual style. A close observer and occasional manipulator of the quirks of everyday life, Alÿs responds to fleeting and contingent circumstances from the viewpoint of a passerby who is both involved and separate.