Art is Magic

‘His work is hilarious and touching’ – David Byrne

‘Making good political art is almost impossible. Deller makes it fun. What sets him apart is his utopian optimism and belief in people.’ – Jonathan Jones, The Guardian

Art is Magic is artist Jeremy Deller’s attempt to tie up the key works of his career alongside the art, pop music, film, politics and history that have inspired his work.

Much has been written about Deller over the decades but this, ‘the best book by Jeremy Deller’, is the first time he has pulled together all of his cultural touchstones.

The book features work from across Deller’s life and art and includes Sacrilege the inflatable Stonehenge, the Iggy Pop Life Class, The Battle of Orgreave, a recreation of a confrontation from the Miners’ Strike, bats (a subject in at least three of Deller’s works), Andy Warhol (whom he met in 1986), rave culture, hen harriers pecking out the eyes of a Tory MP, and a giant Chameleon slide. Art is Magic gives us the most rigorous account of Deller and his work to date – including previously unseen artworks.

With conversations between the artist and an eclectic mix of cultural figures and collaborators, from fashion provocateur Sportsbanger to classicist Mary Bear, the book offers an unpredictable and exhilarating tour of Deller’s life and works.

‘Making good political art is almost impossible. Deller makes it fun. What sets him apart is his utopian optimism and belief in people.’ – Jonathan Jones, The Guardian

Jeremy Deller studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute and at Sussex University. He won the Turner Prize in 2004 for his work Memory Bucket and represented Britain in the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. His projects, such as The Battle of Orgreave, 2001, We’re Here Because We’re Here, 2016 and the documentary Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992, 2019, have influenced the conventional map of contemporary art.