When forms come alive

Spanning over 50 years of contemporary art, The Life of Forms - which accompanies a major exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery - explores the ways in which artists have been inspired by movement, flux and organic growth, from a dancer’s gesture to the breaking of a wave, or from a flow of molten metal to the interlacing of a spider’s web.

It features a range of energetic sculptural forms that seem to ooze, undulate, blossom, erupt and sprawl across gallery spaces. This richly illustrated hardback book explores the artists and their work in detail, and includes essays by Hayward Gallery Director Ralph Rugoff and art historian Natalie Rudd which cite the artists' work within the context of postminimalism, and explore formal and material innovation in sculpture across the past half century. Texts on each artist by a range of writers will accompany a broad-ranging selection of images.

Includes the works of 21 international artists, namely Ruth Asawa, Nairy Baghramian, Phyllida Barlow, Lynda Benglis, Michel Blazy, Paloma Bosque, Olaf Brzeski, Choi Jeong Hwa, Tara Donovan, DRIFT, Eva Fabregas, Holly Hendry, EJ Hill, Marguerite Humeau, Jean-Luc Moulene, Senga Nengudi, Ernesto Neto, Martin Puryear, Matthew Ronay, Teresa Solar Abboud and Franz West.