With references to the Bible and 17th-century Dutch still-life painting, Vanitas links the works of fourteen contemporary artists to the age-old theme of life's transience. At the same time, it presents these artists in their 20th-century context while exploring the related themes of beauty and death, pleasure and fear, love and loss. The book focuses on contemporary sculpture and installation art using non-traditional forms, materials, and processes.

The artists included--from Warsaw, Paris, New York, London, Sao Paulo--are Miroslaw Balka, Chris Boltanski, Willie Cole, Leonardo Drew, Tony Feher, Robert Gober, Felix Gonzalez, Mona Hatoum, Jim Hodges, Anish Kapoor, Jac Lairner, Zoe Leonard, Gabriel Orozco, Rachel Whiteread, and Yukinori Yanagi.