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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | 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. 8 illustrations | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Sarah Thornton | | Hardcover: | 304 pages | | Publisher: | W. W. Norton & Company | | Publication Date: | November 03, 2008 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 039306722X | | Product Length: | 8.28 inches | | Product Width: | 5.8 inches | | Product Height: | 1.05 inches | | Product Weight: | 1.02 pounds | | Package Length: | 8.3 inches | | Package Width: | 5.5 inches | | Package Height: | 1.0 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.05 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 50 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 50 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
92 of 98 found the following review helpful:
 Fantastic Read Oct 31, 2008
By D. Moulton
"BookmanNYC"
Sarah Thornton's book offers an attentive, ethnographic eye to art, artists, and the world in which they exist. She writes clearly and with great attention to detail not only to the art, but the people and super-sized personalities that they house. This and her access to many of the major art events in the world (Basel etc.) kept me turning to the next page.
At one point I was a little wary of her comparisons of art to a sort of religion for some (thought it was overstated), but her arguments are strong and persuasive and she's definitely changed my mind. Also, the reader doesn't finish this book with a full understanding why some art is valued as much as it is. (But honestly, I didn't expect this. That's an answer we may never have.)
All-in-all, I have to agree with the Publisher's Weekly review above on auctions and the book as a whole. Thornton truly offers an "...elegant, evocative, sardonic view into some of the art world's most prestigious institutions."
$12 Million Stuffed Shark was the book that started this whole art book kick I'm currently on and I had to know more about the hidden quirkiness of this ever-growing area of interest. This was the next must-have on my list and I wasn't let down.
Highly recommended.
47 of 51 found the following review helpful:
Excellent guide to today's wacky art world Nov 26, 2008
By S. McGee
This is, hands-down, the single best guide for outsiders to the inner life of the art world, from the fledgling artists hoping to make their mark to the affluent collectors and the dealers, curators and advisors who surround them.
Her structure is carefully chosen and works beautifully -- breaking the art world down into seven parts, each devoted to a specific group or dimension (the auction, the studio visit, the art fair, etc.), she sheds light on the characters and issues that arise in the context of each. There is enough overlap to make this structure function -- for instance, we encounter gallerists Jeff Poe and Tim Blum first at ArtBasel, then rejoin them as part of her chapter on visiting Takashi Murakami's studio(s), where Poe and Blum discuss an upcoming retrospective with the artist and museum curators. To me, the most intriguing and enlightening part of this structure was the way it shifted, from one chapter to the next, from a view of the art from the outside (the perspective of the collector or the critic, say) to the inside (the creative process itself.) So, a chapter about the "crit" process at CalArts is followed immediately by one about the vast artworld schmoozefest that is ArtBasel (with the NetJets booth and the omnipresent champagne).
Thornton has an eye for that kind of telling detail that only the best journalists possess and a knack for knowing (most of the time) how to use it best. For instance, in the studio visit chapter, she spots the passports of Blum and Poe are crammed full of visas and entry and exit stamps -- not just a random observation but one that reflects the global nature of the art market itself, which requires its participants to dash from visiting a collector in Russia to an art fair in London and on to visit a studio in Beijing. The only downside of this "ethnographic" approach is that sometimes the details that she observes and includes as a result of this feel less useful -- we don't care how heavy her handbag begins to feel at ArtBasel, or how the Japanese car drivers in Toyama jump to open doors for visitors so that no fingerprint mars the shine on the car.
I've attended a number of Christie's auctions, stuffed into the uncomfortable press section that Thornton describes so accurately, and watched the bidding process. Reading this section, I felt as if I were back there again, experiencing the moments of boredom and tension that she chronicles so compellingly. There is no disconnect between my experience and her portrayal of it -- just additional level of background detail that I had never appreciated before (such as the fact that Christopher Burge has nightmares of being caught naked or without his sale "book" in front of an audience of a thousand angry would-be bidders).
The only area in which Thornton fails to deliver is describing the creative process itself in a way that the average reader will find comprehensible and compelling. But that, I suspect, is as much due to the inherent difficulty of discussing a visual art in words -- certainly, the young art students she profiles struggle as much themselves to do just this.
What impressed me the most -- in addition to the high level of reporting and writing -- was Thornton's ability to weave a path through all the politics and ego that fills the art market (and makes comparable nonsense on Wall Street and in Washington look like child's play in comparison...) Even as she chronicles the auction scene, she doesn't get caught up in the buzz and excitement or fall victim to the too-easy trap of criticizing people for being willing to pay outrageous sums for works of art. She addresses those concerns, most effectively in an anecdote where one collector, charged with selling her parents' immense collection to create a charitable foundation, muses on the auction process: "It's been a real loss of innocence... When you think of all the good that money could do... Nobody in the auction room thinks about that." But Thornton doesn't dwell on that, any more than she succumbs to the gushing that is all too often part of the art market. It's an admirably balanced portrayal.
All in all, a tour de force.
Anyone looking for more insider-y glimpses of the art world might turn to Collecting Contemporary, by a major collector, or to a novel penned by the wife of a hedge fund manager who is a force of sorts in the New York art scene: Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him.
20 of 22 found the following review helpful:
A Week of Art Nov 06, 2008
By Christian Schlect
Those interested in entering the frenetic international art world, or simply interested in its current goings on, should buy and read Sarah Thornton's book.
It coupled with "The $12 Million Stuffed Shark" by Don Thompson would be a great two volume present for any aspiring artist, museum curator, or art-gallery owner of your acquaintance.
Ms. Thornton has a good ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for the telling detail. She, while quite capable of the pointed comment, is obviously fond of most of the various people who derive their living from art at the edge and is quite respectful of their work.
(I personally would much rather possess one of J.M.W. Turner's paintings rather than any two of the art works by recent Turner Prize contestants. The Turner Prize contest being described on one of the seven days referred to in this book's title and named for the great English painter of seascapes.)
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Essential and fascinating reading for anyone with interest in modern art Jan 12, 2009
By Robert C. Ross
Sarah Thornton has produced a dense, fact filled book about modern art which reads like a thrilling historical novel covering the past eight year when "the contemporary art world has boomed, museum attendance has surged, and more people than ever were able to abandon their day jobs ... it became hotter, hipper and more expensive."
Thornton focuses on a basic theme: "contemporary art has become a kind of alternative religion for atheists. ... It demands leaps of faith but it rewards the believer with a sense of consequence." She explores the faith in seven installments.
The Auction -- an artist free zone, a morgue for art, where believers commit with immense sums to the validity of their beliefs (or not). Attending auctions at great houses like Christies, and especially the previews, can educate and develop your critical sensibilities in amazing ways. I've attended many viewings over the years: art, fine furniture, books, stamps, wine and jewelry; Thornton describes accurately the scene not only for the big dollar events, but auctions where the dollars are much smaller, but the intensities and personalities just as various and just as interesting.
The Crit -- a legendary teacher's class in California where students seek a Masters in Fine Arts. "Whether it's deemed art or not, the Post-Studio crit is Asher's and most influential work.... It's a minimalist performance where the artist has sat, listened with care, and occasionally cleared his throat."
The Fair -- "Artists tend to view art fairs with a mixture of horror, alienation and amusement." The great thing about art fairs is that absolutely anyone can attend; the ones in New York City are often theater of the highest order, thousands of works displayed in the Javits Center for example.
The Prize -- Thornton's description of how the Turner Prize is awarded makes for some of the most bizarre reading in the entire book: "One [judge] later admits to me that he alternately makes an effort to keep an open mind and rehearses arguments in support of his favorite. How does one compare apples, oranges, bicycles and bottle racks?"
The Magazine -- "'Artforum' is to art what 'Vogue' is to fashion and 'Rolling Stone' was to rock and roll." Thornton is insightful on the conflicts between the ads for art and the need to retain "intellectual purity"; during the last two glory years of modern art "the magazine has been as thick as a phonebook, earning it the nickname 'Adforum.'"
The Studio Visit -- This is no attic garret in Paris. Takashi Murakami owns a company with an insane rang of activities. "It makes art. It designs merchandise. It acts as a manager, agent and producer for seven other Japanese artists. It runs an art-fair-cum-festival called Geisai, and it does multimillion-dollar freelance work for fashion, TV, and music companies."
The Biennale -- The Venice Biennale takes over the entire city for at least ten days, but Thornton argues that it is over for the art world before the public is admitted. The ritual Bellini, a Prosecco and peach puree cocktail, which marks the formal start for attendees. The biennal is not just a show; "it is a goliath exhibition that is meant to caputre the globabl artistic moment." Thornton likens it to a three hundred ring circus, and is wonderfully descriptive of its many nooks and crannies.
The book covers seven days, but Thornton clearly spent many, many days researching the information here. There is an excellent bibliography, and altogether her book is perhaps best captured in the words of a young artist applauded at a restaurant in Venice: "It was bizarre. It was wonderful." It was fascinating.
Robert C. Ross 2009
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Being "in" isn't the same as being "insightful." Nov 21, 2011
By REC
I asked two people about this book before reading it. A woman who worked at Sotheby's said it amounts to gossipy beach reading for a future gallery intern. The other, who is an arts journalist herself, said it was great.
It certainly offers a snapshot overview of key practices within the art world. However, the author lacks any sense of analytical distance that could offer true insight, this coupled with a tinge of self-absorption that lets the reader know just how "in" she actually is, when that doesn't really need to be a subject. (For example, she refers to Robert Storr, previous director of the Museum of Modern Art, as "Rob" Storr" and then waxes poetic about how much she enjoyed swimming in an exclusive pool at a 5 star hotel in Venice.)
The book concludes with her explanation of "ethnography" and her chosen research methods, which seems to lend academic authority to the work, yet remains unconvincing. The book is basically thrilling tale of the lives of precious elites who are extremely interesting and beyond the reach of plebs like you (but not her).
However, as a practicing artist in NYC, I found aspects of the book that treated the artist's side of art world disappointing. For example, I've been through and conducted many an academic critique. Thorton's treatment of the art critique hardly deals with the art at all or what was said about it, and simply narrates in detail the mood of the room, how people shuffle about, etc. I guess the crit she visited was simply that boring, but I've been in many when people breakdown, some cry, some argue, get nasty and go into hysterics. Her crit was dull.
Another chapter, the most disappointing, was the "the studio visit." Her single visit was with Takashi Murakami, whose studio practice so radically different from almost any other artist on earth it's essentially irrelevant "ethnographically." One quote claims Murakami's operation makes Warhol's Factory look like a lemonade stand. He employs dozens of people on two continents and travels so much he rid himself of an actual home. Fascinating, yes. Helpful for understanding how studio visits function within professional art practices, not at all. If you want to know what studio visits are like, this chapter will be misleading.
I recommend the book as being entertaining and mostly informative, yet the author mistakes being "in" with being "insightful" and the reader should keep this in mind.
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