Petersen (modern culture, U. of Copenhagen, Denmark), along with co-editors Mikkel Bogh (rector, The Royal Danish Art Academy), Hans Dam Christensen (Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark), and Peter Nørgaard Larsen (The National Gallery, Denmark), offer a collection of ten essays that engage with the larger issues and trends in contemporary painting, citing a wealth of artists, critics, and theorists. Gender, space, post-modernism, design, and medium are some of the themes, with Ida Applebroog, Jonathan Meese, Peter Bonde, Olafur Eliasson, and Michael Krebber among the artists discussed. The artist Katharine Grosse contributes a photo-essay with extended comments on her process. The volume, which will be of interest in the undergraduate classroom as well as to professional artists and critics, is well illustrated with color plates. It's distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)