Absurd thinking : between art and design / Allan Wexler ; with the close collaboration of Ellen Wexler ; edited by Ashley Simone ; essays by Patricia C. Phillips, Sean Anderson, and Michele Calzavara.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

On the fine art of applied art -- Assignments in purpose /Patricia C. Phillips -- Process as performance /Sean Anderson -- Abstractions -- Landscape -- Private space -- Public places -- Meditations on habitation /Michele Calzavara -- Biography -- Photo credits -- Contributors -- Index of projects -- Acknowledgements.

"Absurd Thinking: Between Art and Design is a survey of work by artist/architect Allan Wexler. The book features projects developed across the artist's forty-five-year career that mediate the gap between fine and applied art using the mediums of architecture, sculpture, photography, painting, and drawing. Wexler's works can be broadly described as tactile poetry composed by re-framing the ordinary. They sustain a narrative about landscape, nature, and the built environment that highlights the intriguing and surprising characteristics latent in the elements and rituals that pervade daily life. Wexler's work is sometimes functional sometimes theoretical, and often a hybrid of the two. In all cases, it demonstrates a commitment to re-evaluating basic assumptions about the human relationship to the built and natural environments. Organized thematically across four categories—Abstraction, Landscape, Private Space and Public Places—this book is a richly illustrated cross-section of Wexler's multi-scale, multi-media work featuring his own writings, narratives and reflections"--Publisher's description.