Customer Reviews

Blimey!: From Bohemia to Britpop : The London Artworld from Francis Bacon to Damien Hirst

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

 

 

I recommend this for the photos, almost completely. And I do not mean the cover photo where the author, Matthew Collings, has chosen to put a huge picture of himself with an eye-trapping bullseye painting behind his head. This mystified me, till I read the incredibly disorganized, ungrammatical account Collings writes, really more of a reminiscence than a history. Along the way he attacks the brilliant R.B. Kitaj and the rest of the School of London(including those such as Bacon and Freud) as "a bunch of oldsters exhibiting their charcoal life drawings and stuff." Incisive commentary that. Collings must make Robert Hughes tremble. Basically this is one huge self-promotional book, but generously illustrated with works of Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin and others from the infamous and brilliant SENSATION show, and contains, in spite of its obnoxiously chatty style, many interesting anecdotes about the London art world. One can almost piece it together despite the annoying narrator. The current London art scene is beautifully dangerous and the SENSATION Show(and I hope its catalog goes into print in the US soon)may be, in the end, as influential as the 1913 Armory Show, so it deserves study. Art needed back some kind of edge. The book is an OK intro to the subject and the photos alone justify purchase.

My only other complaint is the constant recurrence of those completely nightmarish perversions of conceptual art, the "living sculptures"(or charlatans, as I like to call them) Gilbert and George, laced oddly throughout the book for no apparent reason. What do they do? In a nutshell, they go about and place themselves in context, in photos or live. Why they think they're interesting wherever they're placed, or make a place interesting by their presence, is beyond me, but they've apparently made a great deal of loot from this. Go figure. John Roberson

The chattiness is fine. I haven't seen Collings on television but I can imagine how he'd be entertaining there. I wondered about his motives a few times when Collings' own paintings showed up deep in the background of photos -- obviously he's so deep in this world that he may have some agendas. But the overall impression is certainly friendly and the few artists he dismisses are big enough to take it. It's a fun book you can read in a couple of hours. The only problem then is remembering any of what's been said.

An informative, entertaining and often hilarious overview of the post-WWII London art scene. Included throughout are photos of many of the artists mentioned and examples of their work. As opposed to most art books this one isn't the least bit tedious, the author injects it thoroughly with his lively personality and brings out the fun, playful side of the arts (for a change). I couldn't put it down!

An absolutely accurate, though subjective, overview of the last 30 years of London art. Terribly funny and incredibly insightful. A wonderful read.

There's not much to say here that hasn't been said by others. Just get the book and read it. You will not regret it.

This book isn't about dreary art talk, you're there, with the artists, and their work.

I bought this book back in 1999. It was a year before the infamous Saatchi exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. I think this book gives too much praise and favoratism to the British artists featured inside. It doesn't give any information on their flaws, and you need to know the artists' flaws in order to understand their work.

British art has been rising in prestige in the last decade, and this book should be updated for a new edition. It should also include American reactions to the Brooklyn Museum show in 2000, plus the changes in the artists' styles.

It's comprehensive, it's well-written, it's intelligent and interesting, and it makes art fun and enjoyable - the way it has always meant to be. It's not a wonder that David Bowie had something to do with this, nor is it a wonder they chose to include Damien Hirst (an absolute artistic genius) in the title. The comparison to Francis Bacon is not lost on the populus!

Matthew Collings is extremely aware of the zeitgeist. His criticisms can be so accurate that it hurts. To get a broad overview on the phenomena of Brit Art I really can't reccommend it enough.

I'd recommend something with a bit more... Marc Quinn in it