Seven Days in The Art World

Seven Days in the Art World - Sarah Thornton

Sections one and two

           Personally this was my favorite reading of the semester. It taught me a lot but was also an easy and enjoyable read. I tend to get really bored down if the language is to dense. The book is divided into seven sections as the title would suggest. I think my personal favorite is still the crit which I also read last year.

           The crit is the chapter that really made me want to go to grad school, but it also makes me sad because we don't have a community like this at UNR. some of the memorable quotes from this section were "People remember what they say much more than what they hear."and “What is an artist? It’s an irritatingly basic question, but reactions were so aggressive that I came to the conclusion that I must be violating some taboo.” The first I have always found true. The second was the question of the semester. I think we battled over this question in seminar but also my other classes. This is usually the question that gets me in a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble. Perhaps I enjoy playing devils advocate a bit to much, but also I'm sure it has to do with the fact that as someone who renders things realistically weather it be painting or print, clearly there is some element of talent or skill that I really appreciate and crave. As such my gut reaction is often "NO!". If this semester has changed my opinion in any regard its probably on this question, now more than ever my opinions of what constitutes "Art Work" has continued to relax and expand. I think the other aspect to this chapter i always enjoy is the role that time plays. Because this crits an all day affair the students in attendance are forced to really analyze and think about the work. I wish someone would do that with me.

                  My second favorite would have to be the studio visit with Murakami. Not only is Murakami one of my favorite contemporary artists but its fascinating to read about the whole company and army of assistants Murakami controls. It also really struck me to hear about how theres a room for Murakami to sleep in there office building. You would think that once an artist reached the level of fame that Murakami has achieved and has the number of assistants that he has that he wouldn't have to work so hard. clearly thats not the case. As a painter the description of the standards for the quality of paint and canvas was extreme. 20 layers of gesso and then the paint has to be so thin that their is no trace of the artist. That's a huge time commitment and skill level required.

              I think the reason I liked this book is because the art world makes more sense to me, and I feel comfortable within the confines that it presents. I was really surprised by how negative some of the other students reactions were. I thought all of these events just sounded so interesting and fun. The book also introduced me to so many new artists i almost didn't know what to do with myself. Ill have to go back and relook them all up. Overall awesome book i know ill read it again at some point. Ill have to keep it in mind that in order to be famous i have to make happy blue and red paintings with female nudes. i kid i kid.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read it before.