This book was suggested by Sally who felt it would give an insight into the world of contemporary art--and indeed it does.
Written by Sarah Thornton who has an undergraduate degree in Art History and a doctorate in Sociology, the book is broken into seven chapters covering the most important aspects of the art world :
1/ An art auction in Christie's New York
2/ A critique course in California Institute of the Arts
3/ The Basel Art Fair
4/ The Turner Prize winner selection process
5/ Artforum magazine
6/ Visits to an artist's studios
7/ The Venice Biennale
Sarah Thornton uses a particular style of writing which she calls ethnographic research which involved not only interviews with some 250 people but hours of participant observation. We found the beginning chapter on the Christie's auction to be the most fascinating as she was able to paint a vivid scene of the excitement of an auction floor.
There were real enthusiasts in our group about this book while others felt let down by some chapters. For those of us who are not familiar with the art world, there were a lot of names to look up! The few artworks mentioned at the end of the book as being record breakers are worth checking out :
Jeff Koons' Hanging Heart sold for $22.7m
Damien Hirst's Lullaby Spring sold for $22.8m
Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping sold for $33.6m
I discovered this interesting link which gives you a good idea of what the Scope Basel Art Fair in 2011 looked like :
http://360degreeshows.com/scopebasel/
I'd like to leave you with this quote mentioned in the book :
"Art is trying to sell you yourself.
That's what is different about it.
Art is what makes life worth living " -- Keith Tyson, British Turner Prize winner 2002
The average rating for this book is 7 out of 10
Our next selection is All That I Am by Anna Funder and the meeting will be at Robyn's on July 25th Wednesday.
