Never Touch a Painting When It's Wet: And 50 Other Ridiculous Art Rules

by Anneloes van Gaalen

Anneloes van Gaalen never stops researching ridiculous rules in creative sectors and we are thankful for that because it produces more of these wonderful and bestselling Ridiculous Design Rules books, which make perfect gifts for creative people and those who love creative work. In this series, "ridiculous" is a relative term, because what is nonsense for one can be an important guideline for another. These pleasing and educational books are not about laying down the law. For each of the fifty-one rules covered in each book, Van Gaalen refers to quotes by famous fellow creators, who either think there is something to the rule or have made a personal variation on it. Whether you agree with them or not, the Ridiculous Design books sharpen your own thoughts about the rules and the assumed truths within the creative disciplines. Each rule is convincingly illustrated, with the illustrations either confirming or disproving the rule in question.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published August 14, 2012

Reviews

[Kabir Mukherjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t know about this one - feels like it needs a bit more writing…
It would work as a very good coffee table book though, and I did learn some things. There was nothing groundbreaking for me in it, however, and that’s ok, but it left me slightly underwhelmed.

[Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this book in the Peggy Guggenheim shop; it’s nicely packed and bound. Guess I judged the book by its cover. It’s really light reading: 51 aphorism, a small paragraph explaining them, and a few quotes supporting them or totally against them. Pictures accompany every sentence, most of them with a free license.
So there’s very little original content, other than the curation of quotes, many of which seem to come from Damien Hirst, Picasso or Munch. They’re mildly interesting, but they don’t leave a lot after you’ve read.
Plus some pages are black ink on blue or red, and they’re really hard to read. So it’s three stars “e basta”. Probably wait for the paperback version, or simply don’t and look for quotes elsewhere.

[Ashwaq · Rating 4 out of 5]

simple and interesting.

[Bee Sim · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who enjoys art, it’s nice to get to pick artists’ brains through this compact and visually stimulating book.

[Anneke Guns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wat een mooie kijk op kunst! Een heel aparte ervaring!