Philosopher and artist Daisy Dixon explores works of art that society has condemned as depraved, obscene, or dangerous, from prehistoric sculpture to extreme metal music, videogames to classical paintings. Interrogating our sense of morality, past and present, Depraved asks readers to engage with essential questions about art, censorship, social progress, and the eternal debate over right and wrong.
In her timely and punchy new book, the philosopher Daisy Dixon explores some of the most controversial artworks ever produced ... Come to Depraved expecting a conventional view of art history and you’ll be disappointed ... She believes depraved art isn’t something to be squirrelled away, but confronted 'loudly, angrily, beautifully': emotions that capture the spirit of this passionate book, which, like those rewritten labels in museums, is going to delight some, and prompt eyerolls in others.
The adjective depraved, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, occurs about 0.03 times every million words in modern written English ... Dixon makes an outstanding case for reviving the term in this compelling work ... Dixon’s range is impressive and enjoyably global ... Dixon, in this deeply impressive book, argues that art can help change the world. Let’s hope she’s right.
Daisy Dixon looks back over cultural history to argue that there is indeed such a thing as dangerous art, and it is measured by its degree of immorality ... Argues that art, in a slow and non-linear way, plays a part in shaping our morals and our points of view ... For the author, this is enough to complicate today’s standard liberal defence of art as something that is inherently good ... Such deconstructions pepper the book and show Dixon at her best. You feel the scales fall from your eyes ... Where Dixon is less convincing is her assertion that art can be understood as a kind of 'speech'.
