Product Description: A fly-on-the-wall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art.
The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion.
In a series of beautifully paced narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton's entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.
An Art Lovers Bonus For anyone interested in art, this book is a window into the art world. Each day covers another part of what makes the art business go round. It does not matter whether you are interested in Contemporary Art. If you collect and or just enjoy art you will find this book very interesting. It is well written by someone who has been very close to the scene. I highly recommend it
The Art World - - the Glory and the Gory This book is an ethnography (the writer as participant/observer) about the art world. Its message about art as a commodity and the art scene as a performance piece in itself came as no surprise to me as my husband is an artist. At one time we lived in New York and he was represented by a New York Gallery. When you read this book you will understand why we moved back to Alaska. Being an artist in the art world is like wearing a sign on your back that says 'hit me' or else feeling like you're some kind of wind-up toy that must perform in a set way.
The book is divided into seven chapters, each elucidating one specific aspect of the art world. These chapters are:
The Auction - About a Christie's big-time auction in New York The Crit - About an art criticism class at CalArts The Fair - The Basel Art Fair in Switzerland The Prize - The in's and out's of the Turner prize, awarded by Britain's Tate Museum The Magazine - About Artforum, an art magazine The Studio Visit - Takeshi Murakami's studio and his work as an artist and entrepreneur The Biennale - The Venice Biennale (or Studio 54 revisited)
The commodification of art along with the hierarchy of dealers, collectors, curators and artists is in place all along the art feeding chain. While it was no surprise to me, it edified the sad state of the affairs in the art world. This book was written during the economic and art boom so the situation has likely changed along with the expendable money available to hedge fund founders and the general public.
I was amazed to find out that one can not just buy art. Dealers like to choose who they will sell art to - they want art to go to an A-list collector and often collectors get on line to buy a piece of art by a particular artist. Production often does not meet the needs of consumption.
If you are interested in details of the art world, you might enjoy this book. If you're easily jaded or have a weak stomach, I'd skip it. It goes into all the gory details of every aspect of art, from the artist who produces the work on up (or is it down)
Just Brilliant! I would like say just a few words, but this one book is very good and interesting. I am now in the middle of it and I can say with all the confidence, that if I haven't dropped it in the middle, it is really great:) Sarah is showing us the art world from both sides of its existence. And it is the advantage of this book. It is not cruel and sarcastic, it is just normal tone, like my friend is telling me what is going on there. So do not worry, you will not lose your money bying it!
Very interesting read An eye-opening look into the art world and its dirty little secrets (well, not really 'secrets' but behind-the-scene functioning and operation). It is fascinating and well-written. A must-read for art students graduating and entering the real-life art world for the first time.
zipped i zipped right throught his file. it is kindly like the art business itself. the pace that is. i really liked it. living out here in the colonies and all i miss alot. i think we can create our own markets and not worry as much as the people in this book do. and this book reinforced this idea i have about moving my own work into the public. the idea of how little i need the establishment if i really make stuff that is important. (ireaally do not like asher. this is vacarious crit i know but i couldnt help myslef) he is a water bug floating on the membrane of the blood sweat and tears of his students. this is a great work.
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