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The 1960s and 1970s were decades of extraordinary turbulence in the United States politically, socially, economically, and culturally. The visual arts thrived in this atmosphere, in some cases deeply engaged in the tumult, in some cases relatively detached from it. A number of important artists were motivated to write about their work in manifestos, statements, interviews, and theoretical essays....

Disparity is a method against determinism. It opens existence to free will, which is why credible art never settles. This type of aesthetic experience concentrates the sensual complexity of reality. By reality, I mean both physics and fantasy. “It is a case of a ‘transition,’” Gilles Deleuze explained, “of a ‘change,’ a becoming, but it is a becoming that endures, a change that is substance itself.” We are, disparity makes clear, but the emergence of spirit and matter. …