A concise dissection of the myths that created Con Art - above all the myth that art has to shock to be new. The multi-million dollar reputations of Duchamp, Warhol, Beuys. Hirst and Koons and many others are exploded. Their art is worthless as art because it isn't art.
Con Art - Why you ought to sell your Damien Hirsts while...
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About the Author
Julian Spalding was director of art galleries for the cities of Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow. He established the award winning Ruskin Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art (Glasgow), the St Mungo Museum of Religious Art and Life, the Open Museum and the Campaign for Drawing. His books include: The Poetic Museum - reviving historic collections: The Eclipse of Art - tackling the crisis in art today; The Art of Wonder, a history of seeing (which won the Bannister Fletcher Prize as the best art book of 2006) and The Best Art You've Never Seen - 101 hidden treasures from around the world (a Rough Guide). His satirical novel about the contemporary art scene, called Nothing On, is also available on Amazon Kindle.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book wanting to gain an insight to current arts practice. I'm unclear as to how any one can take this writing by Julian Spalding seriously. It is fair enough to have an opinion, but opinions need to be backed up, supported & thought through. Throughout the book Spalding makes references to artists & their work, but doesn't include any detail or any context to the work. The writing appears more like a name dropping dinner party guest who actually has never met or been in the same room as the person. Putting David Hockney on par with Michelangelo is a reflection of the depth (or indeed, the lack) of analysis and critical thinking this book revels in.
To anyone seriously wanting to investigate contemporary art, its artists, art & the world surrounding it, this book offers nothing other than the what appears to be a very personal attack.
Alas, it was released on April 1st, so maybe this conceptual provocation is really a work of art in itself...
another thought:
The artist who is after success lets himself be influenced by the public. Generally such an artist contributes nothing new, for the public acclaims only what it already knows, what it recognizes.
ANDRE GIDE, Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality
To anyone seriously wanting to investigate contemporary art, its artists, art & the world surrounding it, this book offers nothing other than the what appears to be a very personal attack.
Alas, it was released on April 1st, so maybe this conceptual provocation is really a work of art in itself...
another thought:
The artist who is after success lets himself be influenced by the public. Generally such an artist contributes nothing new, for the public acclaims only what it already knows, what it recognizes.
ANDRE GIDE, Pretexts: Reflections on Literature and Morality
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a short but nicely-written presentation of the author's opinions. He is critical of much modern art and of the modern art market. I happen to agree with him. The problem is that his book requires, rather than provides, an understanding of art or the market. For that I recommend Don Thompson's The Twelve Million Dollar Stuffed Shark. Reading that book, though, makes Spalding's superfluous unless you want to read confirmation of Thompson's opinions from an art expert (Thompson is an economist).
Format:Kindle Edition
Spalding comes with a lot of good points. His angryness givea good energy to the essay. I allready sold my con art
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is That All There Is, Peggy Lee?
This essay and that is what it is, should be read after reading Mr. Spalding's biting satire of the art world, "Nothing On. Read more
Published 3 months ago by propertius
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short and Sweet
Norm from Montreal,
A great point of view in this world were everything is packaged to make you spend money on sometime and more often questionable reason to do so. Read more
A great point of view in this world were everything is packaged to make you spend money on sometime and more often questionable reason to do so. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Norm the Storm
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Artist's Opinion
I am a full time artist and although I am personally not against conceptual art I am extremely tired of it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rebecca
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a sane and honest review of the trash commonly sold as “art.“
Frightening, really, that so many people and grand institutions have bought into the idea that a urinal is art! Thank God for this voice of reason.
Published 6 months ago by Kevin L Wagler
4.0 out of 5 stars
Con Art review
Explains how people are suckered into thinking some "art" is avant garde when really the emperor's clothes are missing. Idiots to peer pressure. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Martha E. Mertz
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb book!
This is a superb analysis from a highly credible writer. Brief yet substantial. Blunt but not unkind. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ripwalk
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good contribution to art discussion
Good contribution to a subject that should be more widely discussed: what is art? (and what's not). Not all human expression is art. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Eline Vulsma
4.0 out of 5 stars
Right On
Was totally amused to read this very thin volume......most amusing AND sobering. Spalding has put into words exactly how I view the so-called art world of today.
Published 13 months ago by bestbatiker
5.0 out of 5 stars
About Time!
The rotted shark has been replaced once. That was before the Metropolitan Museum put it on display. So would they put a copy of a painting on display when the "original" was lost... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Frank Schaeffer
