Customer Reviews

Art Making, Collections, and Obsessions: An Intimate Exploration of the Mixed-Media Work and Collections of 35 Artists

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been anxiously awaiting this book since it was first announced. The topic fascinated me. The list of artists included is inspiring. The book is lavishly illustrated. So why is it only worth two stars?

For me, the book doesn't deliver on its promises. I was hoping for in-depth discussion of how and why individual artists collect and how their collecting and collections influence their work. What the book delivers is a series of 'sound-bites' which don't go beyond superficial observations. It never comes to grips with its theme.

The organisation of the book doesn't help, with comments and work from each artist spread across several (loosely) thematic chapters. Perhaps a meatier book would have resulted if each artist had been covered in a section of their own. The reader would have certainly got a better sense of each artist's work that way.

The images are beautiful, but they too are frustrating. Some are badly framed. Not everything is captioned, and the captions that are provided are not very informative. Many of the photographs are over-styled. This is particularly annoying when it is the work itself that is being shown. In some cases it is impossible to tell where the work stops and the other bits and pieces start.

It is a pretty enough coffee table book but lacking in substance. I'm happy enough to keep it, but if I'd seen in a bookshop it would have stayed on the shelf.

I ordered this book with the expectation that I would get to see inside artists studios with all their "stuff". I want to see the environment other artists work in and how they tick including those things they are obsessed about having in their studios to work with or be inspired by. Well, that's NOT what I got in this book. While the photography is stunning, I was disappointed to find that there are only a few photos even shot inside an artists studio but also that all the "collections" for the photos were very staged. It makes for a 'pretty' book but that wasn't what I was looking for. It's a coffee table book for people who just like to have books laying around. It's not something to sink your teeth into. I love all of Lynne Perrella's other books but this one was disappointing. Had I realized I had 30 days to return it, it would have flown back to the post office the day I opened it. I just ran across the receipt and had hit my 30 days so I'm stuck with it. I felt I wasted my money. Maybe I just had wrong expectations of the book and it just wasn't for me.

This is the most inspiring art book I've seen in a long, long time. I saw it on the shelf at Borders, and vaguely remembered I'd read something somewhere about a forthcoming Perella book. I took it off the shelf and browsed through it, and got a big rush: Have To Buy!Have To Buy!Have To Buy! followed by, "Oh-h-h-h, I should wait. I've already blown my book budget for this quarter and I don't even have a discount coupon. Oh, how selfish I am even thinking about buying yet another book. Easter expenses coming up and two birthdays and dental work to pay for...etc., etc., etc.." So, I put Perella's book back on the shelf and walked away. But, then I turned around and walked back and picked it up again and looked through it some more---almost hyperventilating all the while---and...put it back on the shelf, but, in the end, I bought the book and I'm completely enamored with it. Upstairs and downstairs, and back up and back down again, I've carried it with me, keeping it close by, browsing through it over and over, each time a pleasure.

As one with a long history as an artist/maker of the odd object and collector of disjecta membra and tattered discards, the book practically sings to me. It's not a how-to book, but instead, could, I think, be aptly described as an afternoon's outing through an intimate art gallery. The photography is glorious; Perella's books always are. The text is superb, both beautifully sensitive and generously nuanced in its reportage of the artists' purposes and devotion to collecting and art making. Truly, of all the excellent art books and magazines I've bought in recent months and years, this is the most personally stimulating and inspiring of all! So inspiring, in fact, that I'm seriously contemplating unearthing my own packed-away collected treasures and either putting them on display---or better yet, making 3-dimensional mixed-media art again!

If you are a mixed media artist, as I am, or just a want to be, you will love Lynne Perrella's latest book. One hundred and sixty delicious pages of gorgeous photos and artists, sharing their passion for collections and their obsessions with papers, found objects and flea market finds.

I am a big fan of Lynne's work and in this book she leads us on a tour of artist's studios, storage areas and of course their art work, while giving insights into the physic of the creative collector. All of my favorite artists are represented here, Michael de Meng, Susan Lenart-Kazmer, Keith Lo Bue and Gail Rieke with many works I have not see before. I wanted to crawl right into the pages and live there for a while, letting it all get under my skin.

This book is a touchstone that you will come back to over and over again. It will move you to the local thrift stores to add to your collections, or into your studio to make art. No bothersome how to instructions here, just plenty of inspiration.

A beautiful coffee table book, with Lynne's heart stopping art on the cover. I had to check my Amazon receipt twice to be sure it was correct, a real bargain which will have a place of honor in my studio.

Although I knew before purchasing this book that it was focused on the collections of different artists, because the lead person is Lynne Perrella I guess I expected it to be more artful. Although it was lovely to look at and the various collections were interesting, this book really isn't more than eye candy -- expensive eye candy. I would recommend that you go into a bookstore or library and look it over before you make this purchase.

Big, beautifully photographed book. Don't buy it looking to learn anything. It's just pictures of people's collections basically. I was very disappointed and it is an expensive book. Usually, Lynn Perella's books are usually awesome. I didn't like this one at all. I am sure I will return it. I can see pretty pictures on the net.

Lynne Perrella's latest book is an inspiration. Not only is it beautifully produced (inspiration enough!), but reading each artist's thoughts and the included quotes suggest pathways to explore. Collecting is an art in itself, but making use of a collection is also an art and this book gives us a view to the process. Instruction as such and details of technique is totally lacking, as it should be. Rather, this book is a conversation between the reader-collector and a group with the same instinct to surround themselves with raw material.

The arrival of a new book from mixed media artist Lynne Perrella is always cause for celebration. You will want to stop whatever you are doing and dive into it. It is visually stunning, well written, and full of information on mixed media artists and the work they create.
As with her previous books, you will refer back to this book time and again.

I thought I had the collector's gene until I saw this book. Lynne and her collecting friends save surprising stuff the rest of us pass by or discard and have unique artistic vision in the stories they tell with their assemblages, collages and dolls. Each page is a jewel with many facets: the intriguing artwork, the artist's own comments and reflections, all presented with superb art direction and photography.
This is not a book to put on the shelf but one to keep handy for daily perusing and inspiration.

This is a coffee table book. period. I did not get "an intimate exploration of the mixed-media work" I got to see what they collect and some pictures of their work but I didn't learn anything new that I could bring to my work.