Lavishly illustrated with more than 120 colour plates, this survey of one of New Zealand’s leading printmakers draws from Barry Cleavin’s vast output to present a major representative sample of his prints and drawings from 1966 through 2012.

Over more than five decades, Cleavin has developed thematic groupings, created visual echoes, and provided contemporary twists on age-old traditions on his way to forging an immediately recognisable style that ranges from lightly humourous parody to caustic social comment.

Selected works are presented within the context of Cleavin’s wider oeuvre, but they are also placed within their social and historical background, demonstrating the range of the artist’s talent and providing significant new insights into his work and thematic concerns.

Written in a generally accessible style and with a glossary that explains terms to a non-specialist audience, Lateral Inversions invites readers to view the world through Barry Cleavin’s unique lens, prompting a wider consideration of humankind’s fragile and often absurd existence.