What do you think?
Rate this book
Making Contemporary Art: How Today's Artists Think and Work
Making Contemporary Art is the ideal launchpad for anyone wanting to understand all the essential, but sometimes elusive, aspects of art-making today. In her inimitable voice - accessible, straightforward and jargon-free - Linda Weintraub explores the conceptual and practical concerns that go into making contemporary art. Six clearly defined thematic sections - Scoping an Audience, Sourcing Inspiration, Crafting and Artistic 'Self', Expressing an Artistic Attitude, Choosing a Mission and Measuring Success - draw on the work of forty contemporary artists, including Matthew Barney, Chris Ofili, Isaac Julien, Nan Goldin and Mariko Mori, to create a complex understanding of how to make and look at contemporary art. A series of interviews with various artists sheds light on every aspect of their work, from how they conceive and create their pieces to their more prosaic, practical concerns. In addition to being a fine read for anyone who simply wants to understand how to look at contemporary art, Making Contemporary Art is also an exceptional teaching tool, and one that plugs a huge gap in the art education market.
- GenresArt
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
45 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 16, 2008
browsing through the art section of the local library, i came across this book. i already had my arms full with other books and i almost passed it by. in the end, i picked it up because i wanted to understand contemporary art better.
i read through the first chapter and decided i'd try to read the whole book cover to cover. linda weintraub writes in an accessible way without sacrificing intelligent engagement with the complexities of art.
in the end i had to renew the book twice at the library, because it's quite lengthy, but in reading it i felt like i was in a particularly interesting art history class with a particularly engaging lecturer. it was an interesting experience because i can't honestly say i particularly liked any of the art covered in the book but the themes were fascinating.
weintraub structures her book around six themes: scoping an audience, sourcing inspiration, crafting an artistic 'self', expressing an artistic attitude, choosing a mission and measuring success. she examines the work of 40 artists in this framework.
the scope and style of the artists represented is impressive. but i had a few reservations:
- the selection of artists seems very new york-centric and certainly americo-centric. even the 'overseas' artists examined work in the usa. i understand the need to limit your selection somehow and while new yorkers and americans may think that new york is the centre of the art world, i found this quite a narrow view.
- there didn't seem to be any artists selected who were born after 1970. i thought that was a pity. i guess if you examine an artist who is over 30 you can assume that they have developed some kind of pattern for their artistic practice and thereby examine it more safely. but when your book is about 'contemporary' art i think you need to look at up and coming artists as well for it to be up to date.
- which brings me to my third quibble - and there really isn't much an author can do about this - any book that is about 'contemporary' will date quickly. this book was published in 2003 and much of the art discussed is dated in the mid to late 90s. for someone living in 2008 this feels dated.
despite these relatively minor reservations, the book is extremely useful for an insight into just how diverse artistic practice is in our contemporary world. i feel expanded and more educated as a result of reading this book.
i read through the first chapter and decided i'd try to read the whole book cover to cover. linda weintraub writes in an accessible way without sacrificing intelligent engagement with the complexities of art.
in the end i had to renew the book twice at the library, because it's quite lengthy, but in reading it i felt like i was in a particularly interesting art history class with a particularly engaging lecturer. it was an interesting experience because i can't honestly say i particularly liked any of the art covered in the book but the themes were fascinating.
weintraub structures her book around six themes: scoping an audience, sourcing inspiration, crafting an artistic 'self', expressing an artistic attitude, choosing a mission and measuring success. she examines the work of 40 artists in this framework.
the scope and style of the artists represented is impressive. but i had a few reservations:
- the selection of artists seems very new york-centric and certainly americo-centric. even the 'overseas' artists examined work in the usa. i understand the need to limit your selection somehow and while new yorkers and americans may think that new york is the centre of the art world, i found this quite a narrow view.
- there didn't seem to be any artists selected who were born after 1970. i thought that was a pity. i guess if you examine an artist who is over 30 you can assume that they have developed some kind of pattern for their artistic practice and thereby examine it more safely. but when your book is about 'contemporary' art i think you need to look at up and coming artists as well for it to be up to date.
- which brings me to my third quibble - and there really isn't much an author can do about this - any book that is about 'contemporary' will date quickly. this book was published in 2003 and much of the art discussed is dated in the mid to late 90s. for someone living in 2008 this feels dated.
despite these relatively minor reservations, the book is extremely useful for an insight into just how diverse artistic practice is in our contemporary world. i feel expanded and more educated as a result of reading this book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review