Break Down Inventory

Famous for destroying everything he owned, this first major monograph of Michael Landy’s work surveys both his large-scale installations and lesser-known sculpture to illustrate the artist’s joyful inventiveness.

Richly illustrated in full colour, this book surveys his earliest work, including lesser-known sculptures - such as Sovereign shown at Freeze in 1988 - to large-scale installations Market, Closing Down Sale and Scrapheap Services.

Other works discussed in detail include the infamous Break Down, where Landy destroyed all 7,227 of his possessions in a department store on Oxford Street, London; Semi-detached, where Landy constructed a full-scale model of his family home at Tate Britain, London; and the project H2NY where Landy made 168 drawings based on a Jean Tinguely sculpture.

With over 800 colour illustrations and four newly commissioned texts, this volume provides a comprehensive insight into Landy’s work.