Customer Reviews

Photo Art

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Compared to many other books of the same genre ("Art Photography Now", "Blink", etc.), PHOTOart provides a more interesting variety of artists. Each of the 112 artists featured in the book has three pages of images together with a page of text about the works (usually well written and long enough to have some substance, which is definitely a big plus). The book also includes a preface, an essay on the aesthetics of photography, a glossary and a short bio about each writer and editor involved.

The only drawback is the absence of a real text or essay to contextualize and justify the choice of the artists. Any pretension to do "a comprehensive survey of photography in the early 21st century" without a description of the curating process can't be taken too seriously as such, and this for me is a big problem.

As far as I know, the only other book on contemporary art photography that I found as relevant as this one is "Vitamin Ph", which has a bit more info on each artist. The two books together would be a good combination.

I bought this book as a gift for my best friend who is a photographer, thinking he would love it and it would be a great coffee table book in the waiting room of his new studio. The book arrived, and he did love it, but my original "coffee table in the studio" idea for this book was nixed due to the several sexual photographs included in this collection, and the inappropriateness of that for his family friendly studio. I'm aware the book features contemporary photography, and I completely understand nudity in art- I have no problem with either one! But it would have just been helpful knowing more detail about the content of this book prior to purchase.
A more pleasant surprise was that the book was much larger than I had expected! At least 2-2.5 inches thick.
Also, the artist autobiographies are a great part of this book- I always think it's interesting to hear the artists' point-of-view on their art; why they did that piece etc., so readers can understand the background of the photos and learn about their ideas and techniques.
Overall, the book was interesting and enjoyable, showing a wide variety of styles and photographers from all backgrounds. Great for people with an interest in photography and/or other arts.