Lawrence Weiner's art can appear painted across an entire building, floating inside a souvenir pen or sung as a lyric by a country and western band. One of the canonical Conceptual artists of the 1960s, Weiner was among the first to 'dematerialize' the object of art into the realm of language and ideas.

He composes texts that describe process, material and structure while evoking a poetic drama that unfolds in the reader's mind. Using a utilitarian yet elegant typeface and stark monochrome or vivid colours, his works have a striking formal beauty. Dedicated to the circulation of art and ideas, a single statement of Weiner's can take the form of myriad media, ranging from paint to stone to video. This book is the first comprehensive survey of an internationally-celebrated artist who continues to compose innovative new commissions around the world.

Alexander Alberro, contemporary art scholar and author of numerous texts on Conceptualism, collaborates with writer and art archivist Alice Zimmerman to overview Wiener's extensive oeuvre. Renowned art theorist Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, who has written widely on postwar European and American Art, conducts an interview with the artist. Author of a survey on Minimalism, critic and artist David Batchelor examines the chameleon changes of one work in a range of contexts. The artist has chosen poems by Kenneth Patchen and W. B. Yeats for the Artist's Choice, and for the Artist's Writings he has made a selection of his his own scripts, lectures and previous interviews.

Contributions by: Alexander Alberro, David Batchelor, Kenneth Patchen