Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah thornton
Hello,
Great talk tonight here about the Seven days in the Art world. Thank you for all coming even though most of you didn't particularly like the book !
The idea behind Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton is to demystify the Art world. She takes an intimate look at Christies auction house in London, the people and the drama that make up the Turner prize, a visit to Takashi Murakami's studio in Tokyo and finishes up at the Biennale in Venice. The book focuses on the sociology of art and how today's concept of art is defined and shaped by action houses, art houses, schools, fairs. prizes and of course media. She divided the book into chapters that each focused on a different area in the art world, and while I think the topic fascinating and intriguing I did find the book some what frustrating in that it left me with questions that were not answered. For example what does she think of modern contemporary art ? Has money effected what is being produced and its quality ? Does moneys corrosive influence matter and how is the relationship different now from artisans and there patrons of the past?
Sarah is a journalist and this style of writting comes through in the book, which at times felt heavy and hard going to read. I apperciated that it was written as non-fiction but it felt at times like reading a news article. We wished that she had written the book for the general population, as we often felt disconnected from the references to unknown artists and huge egos! however there were some resounding moments that we all liked. In the chapter about Christies she decribes the peple sitting in the acution room with such clarity that I am sure there are people out there wondering ... Is that me ? Also the mention that art would only sell if it could fit in a New York elevator, wasn't brown and only featured women ! We also loved the concept that contemporary art was extremely popular because its mainly athesist, non-religion. It had never occurred to me that art popularity could be ruled by a religious genre.
Over all an interesting incite, that left me needing more information
Here is the link to the review that I found in the Guardian that I though was really good.
Guardian review
Happy reading
Ellie
Great talk tonight here about the Seven days in the Art world. Thank you for all coming even though most of you didn't particularly like the book !
The idea behind Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton is to demystify the Art world. She takes an intimate look at Christies auction house in London, the people and the drama that make up the Turner prize, a visit to Takashi Murakami's studio in Tokyo and finishes up at the Biennale in Venice. The book focuses on the sociology of art and how today's concept of art is defined and shaped by action houses, art houses, schools, fairs. prizes and of course media. She divided the book into chapters that each focused on a different area in the art world, and while I think the topic fascinating and intriguing I did find the book some what frustrating in that it left me with questions that were not answered. For example what does she think of modern contemporary art ? Has money effected what is being produced and its quality ? Does moneys corrosive influence matter and how is the relationship different now from artisans and there patrons of the past?
Sarah is a journalist and this style of writting comes through in the book, which at times felt heavy and hard going to read. I apperciated that it was written as non-fiction but it felt at times like reading a news article. We wished that she had written the book for the general population, as we often felt disconnected from the references to unknown artists and huge egos! however there were some resounding moments that we all liked. In the chapter about Christies she decribes the peple sitting in the acution room with such clarity that I am sure there are people out there wondering ... Is that me ? Also the mention that art would only sell if it could fit in a New York elevator, wasn't brown and only featured women ! We also loved the concept that contemporary art was extremely popular because its mainly athesist, non-religion. It had never occurred to me that art popularity could be ruled by a religious genre.
Over all an interesting incite, that left me needing more information
Here is the link to the review that I found in the Guardian that I though was really good.
Guardian review
Happy reading
Ellie
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