My Art World: Recollections and Other Writings

by John Seed

When John Seed first glimpsed the art world, as a Stanford student in the late 1970s, he knew he had found his future. Mentored by Nathan Oliveira, introduced to collecting by Hunk and Moo Anderson and invited over by Richard Diebenkorn, Seed thought he had entered a world of sophistication and grace. Things got messy fast in the early 80s when painter Joan Brown told Seed “You need your ass kicked,” and Seed’s encounters with a young dealer named Larry Gagosian and his bad-boy protégé Jean-Michel Basquiat soon offered a walk on the wild side. Two years of working at the newly-opened Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles wised Seed up even more. Filled with first hand-glimpses—of artists as diverse as Robert Mapplethorpe and Rufino Tamayo—“My Art World” brings together Seed’s recollections of his art world coming of age with his later acclaimed critical writings. It concludes with profiles of Bo Bartlett and Margaret Bowland, two contemporary artists whose sense of purpose Seed admires. Free of jargon and conversational in tone, “My Art World,” opens up one man’s personal world of art and artists to the broader public.

178 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 25, 2019

About the author

John Seed is a professor of art and art history at Mt. San Jacinto College in Southern California. Seed has written about art and artists for Arts of Asia, Art Ltd., Catamaran, Harvard Magazine, International Artist, The HuffingtonPost, Hyperallergic.com and Poets and Artists.

Reviews

[Caroline Gerardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of essays and stories, a memoir of a different sort. John doesn't whisper secrets, he tells you what he thinks about the artists he encountered in his life.
I have a couple crossed paths and find his viewpoint honest and funny.

[Joshua Flint · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrific collection of art writing from the author who worked with, studied, and befriended some of the biggest names in the art world during the late 70s and 80s in California. In addition, there's many great articles from his Huffington Post days about the contemporary art world.
Highly recommended.