Provides career development advice for artists, including evaluating your work, submitting to museums and galleries, organizing events, using social media to promote your art, raising funds, and more.
As a young man, art writer John Seed had a knack for meeting extraordinary people. Mentored by Bay Area artist Nathan Oliveira and introduced to modern art by collectors Hunk and Moo Anderson, Seed was perfectly positioned to observe the explosive growth of the art world in the early 1980s. He had his portrait done by Jean-Michel Basquiat, met Richard Dienbenkorn, worked for an intense young art dealer named Larry Gagosian, got advice from painter Robert De Niro Sr. and became a founding staff member of MOCA in Los Angeles. My Art World includes Seed's vivid recollections-including essays on Joan Brown, Sam Francis and Frank Lobdell- as well as samples of his later essays for the HuffingtonPost. Once called an "Art World Anthony Bourdain" John Seed's writings are revealing, readable and honest. My Art World brings together writings that were previously published in magazines, in art catalogs, on the author's personal website, on the HuffingtonPost and on Hyperallergic.com. Table of Contents: 1. Nathan Oliveira: A Mentor and a Friend 2. Hunk and Moo Anderson: Passions Cannot Be Denied 3. A David Park Drawing: A Gift 4. Frank Lobdell: "Nothing Worth Anything Is Easy" 5. My Visit with Richard Diebenkorn 6. A Critical Piece of Advice Robert De Niro Senior Gave Me About Art 7. Mazurki: The Multiple Meanings of a Philip Guston Drawing 8. Joan Brown: Towards Unexpected Joy 9. Working for Larry Gagosian (1982-83) 10. The Angry One: Jean Michel Basquiat 11. MOCA Memories: 1983-85 12. F. Scott Hess: A Contemporary Realist 13. Nathan Oliveira: Forgetting the Self 14. Masks and Other Spectral Presences: Prints by Nathan Oliveira, 1952 - 1972 15. "Basel Mural I" by Sam Francis: An Artist at the Height of His Powers 16. Richard Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years 17. The Other End of the Stick: Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park Series 18. Saying "Goodbye" to Diebenkorn 19. When Art Likes You Back 20. Contemporary Art (TM) is a Now a 'Brand' 21. Is Having an 'Eye' for Art a Thing of the Past? 22. A Brief Rant on the Exhaustion of the Avant-Garde 23. So These Three Artists Walk Into a Jeff Koons Show: Thoughts on Art and Skill 24. Hell Has Frozen Over: Figurative Art Is Poised to Become the 'Next Big Thing' 25. On Art and Empathy 26. Bo Bartlett: The Intermediary 27. Margaret Bowland: They Say It's Wonderful 28. Kerry James Marshall: "Mastry" at MOCA
Why is this art? The world of contemporary art can seem intimidating, absurd, and self-obsessed, while the sums of money exchanged are baffling. Writing on contemporary art is often tortured and confused, ignoring the important questions: What is contemporary art? How does it relate to money and power? How is it made? Will it survive? To answer these questions, Katya Tylevich and Ben Eastham offer a series of short biographies on eight great works of twenty-first century art by Martin Creed, Barry McGee, Camille Henrot, Marina Abramovic, Philippe Parreno and Pierre Huyghe, Erwin Wurm, Michaël Borremans, and Gregory Crewdson. They follow these paintings, films, installations, experiences, experiments, sculptures, and performances through all the key stages of their existence so far – from the delicate quiet of the studio to the grand chaos of the art world. A funny, engaging, personal guide through the world of art today, My Life as a Work of Art takes as its starting point the only really important thing: the work of art itself.
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.
Through a series of 36 interviews with leading contemporary artists and art world figures--including curators, collectors, museum directors, and dealers--Diamonstein investigates how artists view their own work and how the art world has changed in the past decade. Among those interviewed: Leo Castelli, Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo, Jenny Holzer, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Brice Marden, Robert Rauschenberg, and Richard Serra. Includes numerous photos of the interviewees in conversation. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The Colors covers the past three decades of the American art scene, a period during which the prevailing artistic fashion has shifted as often as the focus of the Whitney Biennial, when art and money, talent and celebrity have often been confused. During this period, figures such as Julian Schnabel, Jeff Koons, and Keith Haring have crossed over from the rarefied world of high art into popular culture, and art dealers, like Hollywood power agents, have often claimed as much attention as those they represented. Anthony Haden-Guest has moved within this world, known the players, and delivers here an authoritative and deliciously inside account.Focusing on the lives and personalities of the art world's main players, and with a sure critical component, Haden-Guest gives us vivid portraits of the period's key artists as they strive to fulfill their ambitions. He does justice as well to the machinations of those who have come to control the larger drama -- the dealers, collectors, and museum curators. Filled with incredible anecdotes, dramatically told stories, and subtle critical assessments, True Colors tells the story of the art world that we have never heard before.
How today’s artists survive, exhibit, and earn money—without selling out! Career-minded artists, this is the book you have been waiting for! Making It in the Art World, Second Edition, explains how to be a professional artist and shares new methods to define and realize what success means. Whether you’re a beginner, a student, or a career artist looking to be in the best museum shows, this book provides ways of advancing your plans on any level. Author Brainard Carey, an artist himself with prestigious exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial under his belt, draws on more than twenty years of experience in the art world and from over 1,500 interviews with artists and curators for Yale University Radio. Included is a thirteen-part workbook to help you formulate and execute a winning career advancement strategy, a process that will prepare you for navigating the art world successfully. Friendly chapters walk you through it all with topics such as: Evaluating your work Submitting proposals to museums and galleries Creating pop-up shows Presenting work to the public Doing it your way (DIY exhibits) Organizing events Writing press releases Finding collectors online and connecting Using social media effectively Selling online Raising funds for projects Getting international recognition Making It in the Art World, Second Edition, is an invaluable resource for artists at every stage, offering readers a plethora of strategies and helpful tips to plan and execute a successful artistic career.