4.0 out of 5 stars
Unconventional glimpse at one artist's life, December 23, 2009
This review is from: A Painter's Life (Paperback)
It's hard to put a novel like K.B. Dixon's A PAINTER'S LIFE in a neat, tidy box. In fact, I think that would be impossible. It's a short, almost genre-less glimpse of the life of one man -- the titular painter -- and his struggles with creativity, success and marriage, and the vignettes that serve as the novel's story are crisp and thought-provoking.
Christopher Freeze has achieved notoriety in art circles for his unconventional, often surprising works of art, and the novel functions as a glimpse of both the man and the artist. Through a series of vignettes, each chapter opens with a portion of Freeze's biography, a work-in-progress by a professor who speaks with Freeze regularly. The artist has a hard time understanding why anyone would want to know who he is personally, so his stories and snippets of conversation with Alan Barnes come across as caustic. But we know Freeze isn't really that way.
Interspersed with the biographical information are excerpts from Freeze's "unpublished journals" -- spaces in which he can tell his own story. These passages range in content from stories about dinner with friends to musings on the art world and criticism to recountings of troubles with his art dealer, Charles Safadi, and are often unintentionally humorous. As a reader, I got the sense that Christopher wouldn't want me to think he was funny -- not at all, in fact -- but he seems like just the serious-faced character who would utter a random, hilarious line and make me laugh my head off.
But the book certainly didn't send me into spasms of laughter. Freeze's quotes -- and the story of his life -- were very interesting, but often tinged with sadness. I found myself pausing over most of his journal snippets to think about art, life and love. Christopher seems lonely and isolated, though he's always meeting with friends or talking with Sarah, his wife. At several points in the story, our narrator admits that life with him must be difficult -- and I wondered more about Sarah and her personal struggles. We're only given a look at her experiences through Christopher's own journal entries.
I did occasionally feel disoriented while reading, as if I were handed a stack of random Polaroids -- all taken from a different moment in one man's life -- and asked to assemble them chronologically. But I have a feeling this was intentional -- and part of the magic of the story. While the novel doesn't exactly take a "twist" in its final chapters, Dixon does divulge some information about Freeze's past that made me completely rethink who he was as an artist and a person -- and I thought that was pretty masterful.
Lovers of art and those interested in the "process" of creativity will find plenty to enjoy in A PAINTER'S LIFE. Overall, a novel I'll be thinking about more as time goes on -- and probably return to if I want to ponder art for art's sake.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
You won't want to spend the time on this..., January 25, 2010
This review is from: A Painter's Life (Paperback)
A Painter's Life, by K.B. Dixon is a mumble-de-gook version of "biological scraps." The book is written with little coherency and I found it difficult to get through it. But, I did get through it, just to be fair.
It starts out with a chronological look at the work of painter Christopher Freeze. Many of his works are described, highlighted and praised in the book. Don't look for any photos or representative images of these fine masterpieces. Unfortunately, they are curiously absent from the book. You will have to trust their word on it that they were great.
Freeze appears to have a lot of ideas, life experiences and possible scandals. But the writing is disjointed and so difficult to follow, that it was hard to keep everything in order. There are excerpts of various interview and impressions from friends or other people. They may bring some light to who Mr. Freeze really is, but you will have to dig very deep for true meaning.
I would not suggest the book for a serious reader. It is not without merit. Possibly a literary course instructor might get some use out of it. Unfortunately, I did not have that experience to share.
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