both positive and negative. Barney's work has been compared to performance artists Chris Burden and Vito Acconci, and some critics have argued that Barney's art is simultaneously a critique and a celebration of commercialism and blockbuster filmmaking. Commenting on the Cremaster series' enigmatic nature, Alexandra Keller and Frazer Ward write: The philosopher Arthur C. Danto, well known for his work on aesthetics, has praised Barney's work, noting the importance of Barney's use of sign systems such as Masonic symbology. Others have asserted Barney's works are contemporary expressions of surrealism. In the words of Chris Chang, Barney's Cremaster films, though "completely arcane, hermetic and solipsistic ... nevertheless periodically provide some of the most enigmatically beautiful experimental film imagery you'll ever see." "Is Barney's work a new beginning for a new century?", asks Richard Lacayo, writing in Time. "It feels more like a very energetic longing for a beginning, in which all kinds of imagery have been put to the service of one man's intricate fantasy of return to the womb. Something lovely and exasperating is forever in formation there. Will he ever give birth?" Barney's work for the 2007 Manchester International Festival received mixed reviews. "Barney is the real thing. When he brings his boundless imagination to a subject he goes down to its depths to create images and implant ideas that stay in your mind for ever" writes art historian Richard Dorment in The Daily Telegraph. Kanye West also admires Barney's work and credited him as an influence on the music video for West's song "Famous". Awards and prizes Europa 2000 Prize, Aperto '93, 45th Venice Biennale, 1993. Hugo Boss Prize, Guggenheim Museum, 1996. James D. Phelan Art Award in Video, Bay Area Video Coalition, San Francisco Foundation, 1999. Glen Dimplex Award, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2002. Kaiser Ring Award, Museum für moderne Kunst, Goslar, Germany, 2007. Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award, 54th San Francisco International Film Festival, 2011. Publications Kirk, Kara. Matthew Barney: New Work. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 1991. . Wakefield, Neville, and Richard Flood. Pace Car for the Hubris Pill. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1995. . Barney, Matthew. Cremaster 4. Foundation Cartier, Paris and Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, 1995. . Kertess, Klaus. Matthew Barney: Drawing Restraint Volume 7. Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, Germany, 1996. . Barney, Matthew. Cremaster 1. Kunsthalle Wien, Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, Basel, 1997. . Barney,