Product Description: From the first page to the last, from Thomas Kinkaid (really!) to Matthew Barney, this book serves as a launching pad. Conclusions are perpetually delayed. Resolutions are continually postponed. The text is written for takeoff, not arrival. It is a first step for readersi explorations of current modes of art making and for their own future artistic achievements. The much-anticipated follow-up to Art on the Edge. . .and Over, Linda Weintraubis highly accessible introduction to contemporary art since the 1970s, In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art explores essential but sometimes elusive facets of art making today. In her trademark writing style--straightforward and jargon-free--Weintraub sets out to itemize the conceptual and practical concerns that go into making contemporary art in all its endless permutations. In six clearly defined thematic sections--iScoping an Audience,i iSourcing Inspiration,i iCrafting an Artistic 'Self,'i iExpressing an Artistic Attitude,i iChoosing a Mission,i and iMeasuring Successi--Weintraub moves artist by artist, in 40 individual chapters, using each to explain a different aspect of art making. Isaac Julien makes work for a highly specific audience; Michal Rovner communicates through metaphor and symbol; Charles Ray disrupts the viewer's assumptions; Pipilotti Rist is inspired by female emotions; William Kentridge is moved by apartheid and redemption; Vanessa Beecroft epitomizes the biography of a smart, attractive, Caucasian woman; and Matthew Barney achieves success through resistance. Through a compelling combination of renowned and up-and-coming artists, Weintraub creates a complex understanding of how to make and look at contemporary art--but in a simple, easily digestible format and language.
In addition to being a fine read for anyone who simply wants to understand how to look at contemporary art, In the Making is also an exceptional pedagogical tool, one that addresses what is fast becoming a huge gap in art education. Teaching artistic techniques no longer provides young artists with a sufficient education--a full range of conceptual issues needs to be considered in any well-rounded studio practice. Yet these very same conceptual issues are often those that are dealt with textually in art history and criticism classes. Weintraub persuasively offers a series of texts that fit squarely into this gap, addressing issues that concern anyone who is learning how to make art or how to understand it.
In addition, In the Making includes a series of interviews in which many of the artists discuss the practical issues of their life's work. Conducted by Weintraub's students at Oberlin College, the interviews pose questions about the artists' schooling, their studio space, and how they support themselves if their main income doesn't come from their art--the kind of questions every art student has always wanted to ask the artists whose work they see on gallery walls.
incredibly helpful and a good read I haven't written a review on amazon before, but want to do one now after reading the negative response above. For me, this book is an incredibly insightful and inspirational read. It shows tons of different approaches to art, not in a didactic manner or 'how-to'way but simply by showing what different bodies of work are about, and how they function. Questions such as 'for how large an audience should you want to be working' are answered not by giving a figure but by showing various possible relations an artist can have with his or her audiences and how the nature of the relationship they choose to build affects their work. the essays are short, but long enough to get to the point.Each essay can be seen both as a case study for aspiring artists and as an introduction into contemporary practice for any interested reader. There are a lots of good fullcolor photograps added to the text. The small interviews printed next to the essays hold a lot of insightful information on the more practical side of being an artist - for instance how important do you perceive your location to be, how is your income built up and so on (these interviews take up a lot less space). Totally recommended, i don't know of any book quite like this. I go through it very often.
behind the scenes of new and contemporary art and artmaking Weintraub has done the footwork here--for a lot of people that would read her book. She demonstrates her curious mind and is able to convert that into a series of reviews of what is out there right now--and makes it into a very hip series of essays--one you would think is stodgy at first, but is actually very informative, and demonstrates her knowledge and skill by getting into these artists minds and the what and why that goes into ther work. It's a wonderful text book, but even if I didn't use it as a text, I could seriously put it down and feel satiated--like I had learned something new. I would recommend the book to artist and sudent alike, and if I were teaching a class, I would seriously consider using it. All in all, a very good book.
An excellent tool, one to buy This book was reccomended by tutors as one of three books to buy at the start of our Fine Art degree course. I sort of chuckled, slightly bemused when I skipped through it for the first time, but I am now in the middle of my second year and I find it more and more useful as time goes on. I now understand more about what goes on in the world of art and in the mind of the artist and what I am now reading makes more and more sense, the reasoning behind artistic approaches and the thought trains behind individual artist's work I can now follow using this book. I highly reccomend the work even though it takes a while to take it all in, afterall there is not much time to fit in the social life at Uni never mind actual study ! This book will be invaluable in my third year. It is well written and has enabled me to understand other peoples work so valued in art study and now accessable to myself having read it.
Superior Writing, Excellent Production Values This book is meant to be read in bits and pieces or from the first page to the last. You can get inspired and educated by every word and image. The author is very generous with her respectable amount of knowledge. She employs her skills to get YOU going. This is not a self-help book. This is a serious art and art lovers book, whether you are someone who thinks about art or does art.
Buy this book. I am a career educator, writer, and book producer. This book is unparalleled.
Platonic Love to All Who READ, READ, READ!! KM
An awful, frustrating read Now, I've never written a review on Amazon before, but, then again, I've never felt so passionately about a book before.
I'm being forced to read this book for a class and I'm finding it incredibly torturous. Despite that, I'm going to struggle to keep my emotions out of this review.
The Preface of this book begins with questions:
"Why am I an artist? Who is my audience? How can I communicate with this audience? What is art's function in society?"
As a fledgling artist myself I have found myself asking these questions often. I know that there are no answers and I didn't expect this book to provide any. But I thought this book would at least probe and examine these questions. I had my hopes up that this thick text would provide some meaningful insights that would expand my knowledge, change my perspectives, and maybe even tell me how flat-out wrong some of my assumptions are.
Boy, was I disappointed.
Past the introduction, Weintraub, the author, ceases to ask anything. In fact, there is hardly any investigation into any of these questions period.
There is no critical thinking. There are no references to contemporary theorists or philosophers. Instead, the book is composed entirely of articles about contemporary artists who are meant to illustrate various strategies for tackling these problems. For example, to answer the question "who is my audience?" there is an article about Thomas Kinkade as an example of someone who makes "art-for-all."
But once you start reading the articles, the questions fly out the window. Instead, each article reads like an extended press release. The artists' works are written about in superlative, round-about ways. If one were to take away all the fluffy descriptions and half-baked interpretations there might be one or two paragraphs for each artist.
The articles are full of statements like "The artist does this, this, and this" and "The viewer experiences this, this, and this," but there is no critical examination of what the artist is actually doing or what the viewer is actually experiencing. These examinations wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish either. Why not talk with art critics or art historians about what they think about the artists' works or why not interview actual viewers seeing the works what they think about the works? We, the readers aren't provided these options. We are told what to think and experience. The artworks function exactly the way the artist and Weintraub tells us they do.
On top of this, any and all context is removed. Weintraub places each of these artists in their own separate bubbles. No one looks at other art. No one goes to museums. No one has done any reading regarding their chosen subject matter. Weintraub writes as if each artist has miraculously created their ideas out of nothing and are amazingly original even if their concepts are far from new.
For example, Weintraub has write-up on artist Scott Grieger. A major aspect of Grieger's work deals with consumer and advertising culture. Yet apparently neither Weintraub nor Grieger are familiar with Baudrillard's "System of Objects" or Jameson's "Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" or Naomi Klein's "No Logo" which are all very relevant and very major writings on that very topic.
Additionally, Weintraub writes with a very awkward style that obscures what she is trying to say. This works to her advantage, however, because much of what she is trying to say makes little to no sense. For example, here is a quote from the Grieger article (where she is discussing a work about global warming that incorporates a time/temperature digital display):
"In his determination to make visitors realize that these digital measuring devices actually report instantaneous environmental change with absolute accuracy, and that these changes portend dire circumstances, Grieger used another propagandist tactic: surprise. Exploiting the power of letters and numbers to exceed their role as information-conveyers, he harnessed their ability to captivate attention, and thus to provoke thought. As visitors turn to exit the gallery they confront two painted replicas of LED displays. The stasis of these representations highlights the movement of the functioning devices. The text inscribed on one is 'hELLO.' The other reads '07734.' The perplexing appearance of the lower case 'h' is the clue that helps reveal that the two apparently unrelated signs are actually the same. By turning the sign with the numbers upside down, the viewers realizes that it too spells the word 'hELLO.' As they depart, visitors receive a greeting instead of a farewell."
This long paragraph is mostly nonsense. How does the propagandist tactic of surprise fit into any of these LED displays? How do the "hELLO" signs lead us to think that the other ones "report instantaneous environmental change with absolute accuracy"? Why does Weintraub place so much emphasis on the profundity of the "hELLO" signs when any 3rd grader in math class already knows how to make their own on their calculators?
This review has gotten way too long. And yet I've barely scratched the surface of this book. Each article makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Each paragraph make me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. Hopefully I can prevent some of you from experiencing this same torture.
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