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My Life as a Work of Art: The Art World from Start to Finish
My Life as a Work of Art
- GenresArt
336 pages, Hardcover
Published September 27, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 29, 2019
Two excellent writers contribute chapters on eight major works of contemporary art, with regard to the artists, the process of imagining and then making the work, the process of selling the work, the interesting challenge of storing it, the gallery or agent, the collector, the viewer, the state of art theory. The works have in common not only their extraordinary prices, but all the disturbing qualities that cause the public to question why it is considered to be art, or at least why it is considered so valuable. The writing is accessible, never overly technical (some other art books are very dense), always relaxed and sometimes very funny.
By the end of each chapter, the reader has certainly gained a real insight into the story of each particular work and will almost certainly have arrived at a considered response to each. I found a few that repelled me and a few that captured my imagination almost – no entirely against my expectation and my initial impressions. But I don’t actually think that is what mattered, or that my approval was sought. I do not even think it matters if the reader agrees with the writers.
What I think does matter, at least for myself, is the opportunity to reconsider what I am willing to accept as being art, and how it might be possible to make art. I do not have to like anyone else's work, though hopefully I will (I do). Why not, instead, make my own? In fact, I was not even thinking primarily of visual art so much as writing and poetry. The book just opens out new possibilities and that is an excellent achievement.
”It is not a light going on and off and then you see God. It really is a light going on and off.”
What do you expect from a work of art? Do you expect to see God? [p37]
He compares it to an ocean, which predictably rises and falls, spitting out and taking back something different with its every movement. [p85]
The administrative drudgery of exhibition-making, any aspiring art worker should know, will always outnumber the moments of creative exhilaration. ‘No one ever thinks about storage,’ Staple jeremiads. ‘Audiences never think about storage. Artists never think about storage. We think about it all the time.’ [p118]
Tied up with Parreno’s disdain for the ‘artist figure,’ then, is his rejection of our fixation on the ‘art object’ as magic totem. ‘I did not want to make objects, but I was interested in making projects. That was a shift.’ [p186]
Among the most familiar objections to contemporary art is that the idea has superseded the means of its expression, and it’s true that much art since 1970 has been concerned primarily with the worth of the idea rather than the object. It is something of a throwback, then, to hear an artist of Borreman’s stature acknowledge, indeed welcome, the possibility that a good idea does not guarantee a good work of art: the skill (and risk) resides in translating the former into the latter. [p249]
We talk about the difference between first seeing works arranged without ceremony on a table in a cluttered studio, and then, three months later, seeing them exquisitely framed and flawlessly lit in a gallery. It’s an illustration of how many people are involved in the successful presentation of a work of art beyond the artist, irrespective of the solitude in which he paints. [p276]
“You go to art to make sense of the world.” [Crewdson. P287]
I am reminded of Crewdson’s description of his personal compulsion to make art. “The only reason to do it is if you have to do it. There’s no other reason,” he told me. [p311]
I would have struggled to construct a coherent case for its defence. I liked it, initially, because people I didn’t like didn’t like it. [p324]
By the end of each chapter, the reader has certainly gained a real insight into the story of each particular work and will almost certainly have arrived at a considered response to each. I found a few that repelled me and a few that captured my imagination almost – no entirely against my expectation and my initial impressions. But I don’t actually think that is what mattered, or that my approval was sought. I do not even think it matters if the reader agrees with the writers.
What I think does matter, at least for myself, is the opportunity to reconsider what I am willing to accept as being art, and how it might be possible to make art. I do not have to like anyone else's work, though hopefully I will (I do). Why not, instead, make my own? In fact, I was not even thinking primarily of visual art so much as writing and poetry. The book just opens out new possibilities and that is an excellent achievement.
”It is not a light going on and off and then you see God. It really is a light going on and off.”
What do you expect from a work of art? Do you expect to see God? [p37]
He compares it to an ocean, which predictably rises and falls, spitting out and taking back something different with its every movement. [p85]
The administrative drudgery of exhibition-making, any aspiring art worker should know, will always outnumber the moments of creative exhilaration. ‘No one ever thinks about storage,’ Staple jeremiads. ‘Audiences never think about storage. Artists never think about storage. We think about it all the time.’ [p118]
Tied up with Parreno’s disdain for the ‘artist figure,’ then, is his rejection of our fixation on the ‘art object’ as magic totem. ‘I did not want to make objects, but I was interested in making projects. That was a shift.’ [p186]
Among the most familiar objections to contemporary art is that the idea has superseded the means of its expression, and it’s true that much art since 1970 has been concerned primarily with the worth of the idea rather than the object. It is something of a throwback, then, to hear an artist of Borreman’s stature acknowledge, indeed welcome, the possibility that a good idea does not guarantee a good work of art: the skill (and risk) resides in translating the former into the latter. [p249]
We talk about the difference between first seeing works arranged without ceremony on a table in a cluttered studio, and then, three months later, seeing them exquisitely framed and flawlessly lit in a gallery. It’s an illustration of how many people are involved in the successful presentation of a work of art beyond the artist, irrespective of the solitude in which he paints. [p276]
“You go to art to make sense of the world.” [Crewdson. P287]
I am reminded of Crewdson’s description of his personal compulsion to make art. “The only reason to do it is if you have to do it. There’s no other reason,” he told me. [p311]
I would have struggled to construct a coherent case for its defence. I liked it, initially, because people I didn’t like didn’t like it. [p324]
June 19, 2017
Fine, often very funny glimpse of the world of contemporary modern art with each chapter dealing with a different artist / work of art. Heartily recommend for modern art afficionados, including those like myself with no formal education in it whatsoever.
April 28, 2018
A bit pretentious at times. Could live without the cringeworthy attempts of (British) humour. Apart from that, a good, interesting read overall.
September 2, 2020
Is indeed slightly pretentious at times, but it was an informative read which encouraged me to explore more works from respective artists.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews