Description

---

A collection of works from the groundbreaking grantLOVE philanthropic art project.

Foreword by New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay
Essay by Alma Ruiz, Cassandra Coblentz, and Eman Alami

What is love? In LOVE: A Visual History of the grantLOVE Project, artist Alexandra Grant’s exploration of that question is documented through a retrospective of her journey engaging in civic art.

In 2008, Grant began making editions of her art based on the concept of love and her trademarked LOVE symbol to raise money for arts projects and nonprofit organizations, and this philanthropic art experiment became the grantLOVE project. Partnering with other artists, makers, customers, and to support art projects and nonprofits, Grant explores how philanthropy and art can effectively intersect. This comprehensive history of the grantLOVE project—complete with paintings, prints, sculptures, textiles, jewelry, and architecture—provides a visual meditation on what “love” is, as conceived by Grant and the numerous collaborators showcased here.

Compiling more than 14 years of grantLOVE works and partnerships, this book invites you to reflect on the confluence of philanthropy and the arts and celebrates building community around the roles of love and empathy in contemporary art and culture.

About the Author

---

Alexandra Grant is a Los Angeles–based artist who—through an exploration of the use of text and language in various media including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, and photography—probes ideas of translation, identity, dis/location, and social responsibility. She is the creator of the grantLOVE project, which has raised funds for arts-based nonprofits, and her work has been exhibited at galleries institutions across the United States and abroad. Roxane Gay is a professor, editor, and the New York Times–bestselling author of Bad Feminist, Hunger, and Difficult Women. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. Alma Ruiz is a curator and senior fellow at the Center for Business & Management of the Arts, Claremont Graduate University. Ruiz has curated numerous exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and internationally, including the 20 Bienal de Arte Paiz in Guatemala City, the Fundación/Colección Jumex in Mexico City; the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; and Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Buenos Aires. Cassandra Coblentz is a curator whose practice champions the artistic process and forefronts creating meaningful, engaging experiences for audiences with works of art. She has curated over 50 exhibitions, including solo projects with Kirsten Everberg, Jean Shin and Brian Ripple, Pae White, and Lyle Ashton Harris. Eman Alami, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, is a creative whose work explores the intersections between creative writing, philosophy, and visual art.