Haden-Guest, Anthony -- True colors: the real life of the art world
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What it's about -- The world of contemporary art in New York, NY,
including the artists, their work, the dealers, the galleries, and
a bit about who is buying it.

The (sub-)movements in the contemporary art movement are mentioned,
and you will learn something about a few of them.  But, for a more
complete picture, visit the "Contemporary Art" page at Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_art) and look for the
table of sub-movements.

Some of the characters and the "works of art" that they've produced
are outlandish.  I put "works of art" in quotes, because you will
need a very loose definition of "works of art" if you want to cover
some of these objects.  In fact, you might need something as broad
and inclusive as "whatever is produced by someone who calls
him/herself an artist and calls what they've done 'art'".  Or, an
alternative definition that might be broad enough to include the
works discussed could be "it's art if it's sold in an art gallery
and has a frame around it (or is marked off in some other way)". 
And, if fact, some of the "works" are not objects at all; they
were, for example, performances.  Others were objects, but were
intentionally designed to be un-sale-able, perhaps by being
impermanent.

For most of the works discussed the idea is much more significant
than the handiwork and craftsmanship required to produce it.

But, then, for me, that is part of the value of this book: it
encourages me to think about what qualifies as art and about what
is valuable in art.  With respect to the contemporary art discussed
by Haden-Guest, the qualities that make this art valuable genuinely
are questionable.  It certainly isn't beauty.  And, it's seldom
that it is socially meaningful, or meaningful in any reasonable
way.  In fact, from this book you'd conclude that the primary value
of the art in the contemporary art world is it's value in terms of
money at an auction, its exchange value in a gallery, or even it's
use as a holder of value among those in the art theft underworld. 
There is more than monetary value, but, I'm a bit mystified what it
is.

Some other topics from the book:

* The art market -- Booms and busts; attempts to inflate market
  value, for example, by creating and running an art market index
  (mimicking a stock market index) and through a point system to
  assign value to individual artists.

* Artists and self-promotion -- Dealers and their attempts to promote
  artists and their works.

* Lots of gossip about which artists are with which dealers or
  might which to which other dealers -- Perhaps more interesting
  that the details of the gossip itself is Haden-Guest's discussion
  of how gossip works in and moves the art world.

* Who's hot and who's not -- Plus a short biography of several
  artists.

What you will *not* find: anything at all in the way of an
indication that there was an attempt at careful craftsmanship in
the contemporary art movement.  This was an art movement that seems
to be about originality, newness, being different, and being
outrageous enough to attract attention.

And, if you are interested in something in the way of a historical
record of the contemporary art world in New York in the last part
of the 20th century, this book is a good way to get it.

By the way, I had an experience with art this last weekend which
was very different from what you'd have with the art discussed in
this book.  I visited the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, CA,
USA, which I recommend very strongly, by the way.  The contrast
between the contemporary art that Haden-Guest describes and many of
the forms of art in the Asian Art Museum was extreme; there are so
many objects in that museum that were created and crafted with
extreme attention to skill and detail and beauty.  Furthermore,
since so many pieces were old, there was a good deal of pottery. 
And, that meant that there were many utilitarian pieces that had
been crafted for both usefulness and beauty.  It was quite
different from the "newness is everything", in your face styles
described by Haden-Guest.

07/08/2010

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