Manual of Contemporary Art Style

by Pablo Helguera

Youll find all sorts of things in Helgueras Manual that arent in any other book: the difference between an A-level artist and a B-level artist, how to cure the dreaded festivalist syndrome, how to keep your conviction that youre the greatest artist in history, and whether it is ethical for a critic to sleep with an artist whose work she doesnt like. This is a very funny book. It masquerades as an old-fashioned guide to the manners and foibles of the art world, written by a savvy twenty-first century artist. But it is clever, and has many voices: snide like Miss Manners, sweet and impeccable like Emily Post, hapless like Bouvard and Pcuchet, earnest like an Art World for Dummies, sharp like Swifts encyclopedia of clichs, sneaky like David Wilsons fabricated documents for the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Helgueras tongue seems to be in his cheekthats what youre meant to thinkbut he is often very helpful, and everything he says is true. --James Elkins, author of How to Use your Eyes and Our Beautiful, Dry and Distant Texts: Art History as Writing. In the process of writing the rules of the game, Helguera also skewers its participants. --Rebeca Spence, ArtNews An artist who dares to look at the big picture ... Helguera has a savvy understanding of art history and art audiences, enough to know that a little humor and a bit of irony are sometimes the best tools in an artist arsenal. --Barbara Pollack, artist and writer

Genres: Art

103 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

Pablo Helguera (1971, Ciudad de México)

Pedagogo, artista visual y escritor reside en Nueva York donde es director de programas educativos del Museo de Arte Moderno (MoMA). Sus estudios se centran en temas como historia, pedagogía, sociolingüística, etnografía y memoria. Autor de libros como “Endingness”, “Manual de estilo del arte Contemporáneo”, “Estela y las Hojas”, “The School of Panamerican Unrest”, entre otros.

Reviews

[Mills College Library]

702.3 H4749 2007

[Lau Tejada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mitad en serio , mitad en broma Pablo Helguera nos da un paseo rápido por el mundo del arte convertido en bolsa de valores , oficina burocrática y basurero sobrevalorado.

[Leopoldo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una mirada irónica al mundo del arte y a su fauna exótica.

[Santiago Blázquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

goofy ahh lecture for a goofy ahh culture

[Valeria Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Irónico y chistoso.

[Marius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helguera's insights into the social quirks of the contemporary art world are funny and cynical, but ultimately pretty accurate. Anyone who has spent any amount of time fraternizing with artists will recognize the situations described. The one downside to the manual is that if taken seriously it presents a fairly bleak view of the art world and its relevance beyond a socialite parlor game..

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo que se debe conocer en este ambiente, a veces hostil, a veces maravilloso.

[Héctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

He basically described all the BS in the art world and it’s funny