Customer Reviews

In the Making

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Now, I've never written a review on Amazon before, but, then again, I've never felt so passionately about a book before.

I'm being forced to read this book for a class and I'm finding it incredibly torturous. Despite that, I'm going to struggle to keep my emotions out of this review.

The Preface of this book begins with questions:

"Why am I an artist? Who is my audience? How can I communicate with this audience? What is art's function in society?"

As a fledgling artist myself I have found myself asking these questions often. I know that there are no answers and I didn't expect this book to provide any. But I thought this book would at least probe and examine these questions. I had my hopes up that this thick text would provide some meaningful insights that would expand my knowledge, change my perspectives, and maybe even tell me how flat-out wrong some of my assumptions are.

Boy, was I disappointed.

Past the introduction, Weintraub, the author, ceases to ask anything. In fact, there is hardly any investigation into any of these questions period.

There is no critical thinking. There are no references to contemporary theorists or philosophers. Instead, the book is composed entirely of articles about contemporary artists who are meant to illustrate various strategies for tackling these problems. For example, to answer the question "who is my audience?" there is an article about Thomas Kinkade as an example of someone who makes "art-for-all."

But once you start reading the articles, the questions fly out the window. Instead, each article reads like an extended press release. The artists' works are written about in superlative, round-about ways. If one were to take away all the fluffy descriptions and half-baked interpretations there might be one or two paragraphs for each artist.

The articles are full of statements like "The artist does this, this, and this" and "The viewer experiences this, this, and this," but there is no critical examination of what the artist is actually doing or what the viewer is actually experiencing. These examinations wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish either. Why not talk with art critics or art historians about what they think about the artists' works or why not interview actual viewers seeing the works what they think about the works? We, the readers aren't provided these options. We are told what to think and experience. The artworks function exactly the way the artist and Weintraub tells us they do.

On top of this, any and all context is removed. Weintraub places each of these artists in their own separate bubbles. No one looks at other art. No one goes to museums. No one has done any reading regarding their chosen subject matter. Weintraub writes as if each artist has miraculously created their ideas out of nothing and are amazingly original even if their concepts are far from new.

For example, Weintraub has write-up on artist Scott Grieger. A major aspect of Grieger's work deals with consumer and advertising culture. Yet apparently neither Weintraub nor Grieger are familiar with Baudrillard's "System of Objects" or Jameson's "Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism" or Naomi Klein's "No Logo" which are all very relevant and very major writings on that very topic.

Additionally, Weintraub writes with a very awkward style that obscures what she is trying to say. This works to her advantage, however, because much of what she is trying to say makes little to no sense. For example, here is a quote from the Grieger article (where she is discussing a work about global warming that incorporates a time/temperature digital display):

"In his determination to make visitors realize that these digital measuring devices actually report instantaneous environmental change with absolute accuracy, and that these changes portend dire circumstances, Grieger used another propagandist tactic: surprise. Exploiting the power of letters and numbers to exceed their role as information-conveyers, he harnessed their ability to captivate attention, and thus to provoke thought. As visitors turn to exit the gallery they confront two painted replicas of LED displays. The stasis of these representations highlights the movement of the functioning devices. The text inscribed on one is 'hELLO.' The other reads '07734.' The perplexing appearance of the lower case 'h' is the clue that helps reveal that the two apparently unrelated signs are actually the same. By turning the sign with the numbers upside down, the viewers realizes that it too spells the word 'hELLO.' As they depart, visitors receive a greeting instead of a farewell."

This long paragraph is mostly nonsense. How does the propagandist tactic of surprise fit into any of these LED displays? How do the "hELLO" signs lead us to think that the other ones "report instantaneous environmental change with absolute accuracy"? Why does Weintraub place so much emphasis on the profundity of the "hELLO" signs when any 3rd grader in math class already knows how to make their own on their calculators?

This review has gotten way too long. And yet I've barely scratched the surface of this book. Each article makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Each paragraph make me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. Hopefully I can prevent some of you from experiencing this same torture.

Thank you for reading.

I think this would be an excellent resource for any artist, especially as a classroom tool (textbook?) TONS of color pictures!! While this book is basically an overview of contemporary artists it takes an interesting form in that it breaks the artists up into 5 'groups' (chapters.) Each artist is looked at in terms of their own oeuvre but also in relation to whatever category they have been placed in. Categories include: "Measuring Success" "Sourcing Inspiration" "Choosing a Mission" "Scoping an Audience" etc. Despite how 'buisness oriented' these topics sound, they are very poignant for contemporary artists, as Weintraub demonstrates. It has a great variety of artists, mediums and styles and a very good representation of women and minority artists. The writing is easy to understand and although there is a lack of heavy critique in this book, it still manages to present challenges: The artists themselves pose questions and challenges both through the interviews and through their work.

This is an impressive introductory survey of where contemporary art is today, and gives a fair account of the myriad options open to young artists. It's easy to understand, beautifully designed, affordable, and up-to-the-minute. As a studio art teacher, I consider this book a great teaching tool. Whereas most college-level art classes are still teaching traditional art-making, this book advocates for a poly-artistic approach more in keeping with the media age. It should be used in all Foundations classes, as well as higher level classes.

I haven't written a review on amazon before, but want to do one now after reading the negative response above.

For me, this book is an incredibly insightful and inspirational read. It shows tons of different approaches to art, not in a didactic manner or 'how-to'way but simply by showing what different bodies of work are about, and how they function. Questions such as 'for how large an audience should you want to be working' are answered not by giving a figure but by showing various possible relations an artist can have with his or her audiences and how the nature of the relationship they choose to build affects their work.

the essays are short, but long enough to get to the point.Each essay can be seen both as a case study for aspiring artists and as an introduction into contemporary practice for any interested reader. There are a lots of good fullcolor photograps added to the text.

The small interviews printed next to the essays hold a lot of insightful information on the more practical side of being an artist - for instance how important do you perceive your location to be, how is your income built up and so on (these interviews take up a lot less space). Totally recommended, i don't know of any book quite like this. I go through it very often.

Weintraub has done the footwork here--for a lot of people that would read her book. She demonstrates her curious mind and is able to convert that into a series of reviews of what is out there right now--and makes it into a very hip series of essays--one you would think is stodgy at first, but is actually very informative, and demonstrates her knowledge and skill by getting into these artists minds and the what and why that goes into ther work. It's a wonderful text book, but even if I didn't use it as a text, I could seriously put it down and feel satiated--like I had learned something new. I would recommend the book to artist and sudent alike, and if I were teaching a class, I would seriously consider using it. All in all, a very good book.

This book was reccomended by tutors as one of three books to buy at the start of our Fine Art degree course. I sort of chuckled, slightly bemused when I skipped through it for the first time, but I am now in the middle of my second year and I find it more and more useful as time goes on. I now understand more about what goes on in the world of art and in the mind of the artist and what I am now reading makes more and more sense, the reasoning behind artistic approaches and the thought trains behind individual artist's work I can now follow using this book. I highly reccomend the work even though it takes a while to take it all in, afterall there is not much time to fit in the social life at Uni never mind actual study ! This book will be invaluable in my third year. It is well written and has enabled me to understand other peoples work so valued in art study and now accessable to myself having read it.

This book is meant to be read in bits and pieces or from the first page to the last. You can get inspired and educated by every word and image. The author is very generous with her respectable amount of knowledge. She employs her skills to get YOU going. This is not a self-help book. This is a serious art and art lovers book, whether you are someone who thinks about art or does art.

Buy this book. I am a career educator, writer, and book producer. This book is unparalleled.

Platonic Love to All Who READ, READ, READ!!

KM

Hi, I returned this book almost 3 weeks ago and haven't recieved a refund yet? Could you please elxplain why and get back to my emails?

Thank you

I picked up this book for an art class that I am taking. Most texts would sit under my desk. However, this book has been easy to read without dumbing the matterial down. It has been interesting as well as informative and I have enjoyed reading it very much. I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning about art and what is happening in the art world today.

As always, Weintraub gets to the essence of the art and the artists. The student interviews are also quite insightful!