Customer Reviews

This is Modern Art

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This is Modern Art, Matthew Collings. Weidenfield & Nicholson, London, 1999.

Matthew Collings tramples through art theory like a Contiki Tour guide traipsing across Europe, and has as much fun. Each country is a movement described in three sentences or less. Each artist an old monument, pointed out and discarded in one line. On the right Francis Bacon, his art is "something nasty inside something geometric." On the left, Mark Rothko who was "always incredibly depressed." "Dali is the lowest of the low." Over there Postmodernism, but that's another series. If you want the best of Europe in six days, with a voice over, do a tour. If you want modern art stunningly concise and simplified with a smile, then This is modern art is for you.

This book was written as an accompaniment to the Channel 4 series of the same name. Each chapter mirrors an episode. Each episode traces a bizarre thread of logic through art history. Chapter two "Shock, Horror" scans the fright value of art. From the paintings of Francis Goya, "Dismemberment is always a shock" to Damien Hirst's dissected farmyard friends. "Is he a great artist? Phew, that's a hard one." Collings colourfully ponders absurd notions and unanswerable questions. "We know Matisse was a great artist of beautiful colour and patterns. But we are not sure what to do with him......."

It's a surprisingly refreshing tour for first timers or those who don't care, but it's freak show theory for those who do. He writes with the authority of a celebrity gardener. "I might catch myself believing Jeff Koons is a genius because of the weird way he talks...it makes you want to shake him or tell him to snap out of it, but it hypnotizes you at the same time." Art scholars and historians be warned, this book contains observations of a humorous and misleading nature, which may be offensive to some readers. Art students beware, never quote or even mention the name Matthew Collings in an essay unless you are trying to be funny or fail.

His insights are hysterical, but his ideas are brilliantly concise. He concludes Pollock's death is a "warning against drunk driving." You applaud Collings as you would applaud a streaker at the cricket. He undermines the rarefied and all too serious art world with his personal quips, gossip and confounding word-play. He supplies the reader with great dinner party one liners, but we don't trust any of it. The Series works wonderfully on television because from that medium we don't expect too much. We enjoy his irreverent presence, pop music, cynical pauses and lovable lisp all that the book misses. To compensate Colling's strange interpretation of history, the publisher has intervened with a factual side column Biography making the book a useful reference tool.

Any book on modern art would have at its disposal some of the greatest images of the 20th century. You would imagine the decision as to what to put on the front cover would be difficult. Or maybe it wasn't. For those who missed the series you get treated to the glossy image of the author. After all the book is more about Collings than it is about Modern art.

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This is very idiosyncratic look at art today, and in it, Matthew Collings chooses several issues about art to discuss: Shock, beauty, emptiness of meaning, humor, and the present. His writing can be annoying, sounding almost like Warhol in his "Philosophy of Andy Warhol" with short, witty, curious phrases, and a distant, ironic humor that can sound condescending or careless. Still, it turns out to be insightful and entertaining, and even informative. It isn't that you learn something profound about how to see art or understand it. Rather, it's like having a conversation (albeit one way) about art and particular artworks with someone who has a lot of knowledge about art and is often very perceptive. Along the way, you learn about recent artists such as Chris Ofili, Sigmar Polke, and Richard Prince, as well as past artists like Pollock, Picasso, and Goya. The pictures are good too. But it's just a fun look into the issues that modern (or post-modern) art tries to tackle, and some things to think about the next time you visit a modern art museum. Again, it's idiosyncratic and personal, so it's only one person's take on artists and art.

'This is Modern Art' is a book accompanying the ch.4 TV series of the same name, and this fact became all too obvious after I purchased it. The text does not read well: it seems as though the publishers have lifted Matthew Collins' voice-over from the TV programmes and transcribed it directly onto the pages of the book. Sure, there are plenty of nice photorgraphs and the tone is lively and informative, but reading the book - actually reading the text - is a strange experience as the words on the page do not work as words on a page: I kept wanting to read aloud and listen to myself speaking. The book is full of phrases and sentence construction that is made for the ear, not text that has been written to be read.
The TV series was very good, but sadly this book is too close to a script of that series - and not what it should be: a BOOK about Modern Art.

This book is an absolute must-have for anyone interested in the exploding modern art scene.

Collings is based in London, and with it's recently opened Tate Modern museum of Contemporary Art the content of this book seems even more appropriate.

Irreverant, humorous, fact-packed, entertaining and controversial, this book will lead you from Klein to Hirst to Picasso and back on a non-stop, roller coaster ride. Buy it.

As an antidote to art jargon that passes as "writing" whether in ART FORUM or in catalogues, Mr Collings' book is a refreshing RELIEF. Well illustrated examples which illuminate his arguments, clear division into six sections, and an open-endedness to many issues make this a very enjoyable and informative read for the lay person who loves art. I'm immediately passing it on to one of the people I value most in the world - my 17 year old son. Is there a better recommendation?

'This is Modern Art' is a book accompanying the ch.4 TV series of the same name, and this fact became all too obvious after I purchased it. The text does not read well: it seems as though the publishers have lifted Matthew Collings' voice-over from the TV programmes and transcribed it directly onto the pages of the book. Sure, there are plenty of nice photorgraphs and the tone is lively and informative, but reading the book - actually reading the text - is a strange experience as the words on the page do not work as words on a page: I kept wanting to read aloud and listen to myself speaking. The book is full of phrases and sentence construction that is made for the ear, not text that has been written to be read.
The TV series was very good, but sadly this book is too close to a script of that series - and not what it should be: a BOOK about Modern Art.

... I was a bit perplexed to discover accusations of "bias" [by others]. What were people expecting? The evening news? Journalism? Collings approaches his subject - the evolution of modern art and the context of contemporary British artists - from an informed, but highly personal point of view. Pretty much like Clement Greenburg or Robert Hughes or any of the other hundreds of critics with a case to make... Collings's writing is witty, erudite and can, in the turn of one sentence or a single carefully chosen word, create an entirely new way of looking at familiar art works. Not everyone is going to agree that Basquiat is great or that certain UK artists aren't very good - but what the hell - it's just one man's opinion. In light of the orthodox, conservative and sometimes downright reactionary points of view put forward by tv art critics and book authors, Collings is a fresh voice with something to say. That's very rare in any writer and, in the art world, as rare as genius itself.

Excellent view of modern art in the United States as well as England and Europe. I also enjoyed the illistrations.

I found this book to be a challenging, thought-provoking foray into contemporary art. And fun. First off: it is not necessary to agree with the writer to get something out of what they have to say. If you are open minded and a critical thinker and enjoy art, you will like this book. If you only want to read stuff that supports your comfortable notion of what you already know, you will never get through it, and you'll hate it. I enjoyed the discourse and had a sort of running debate with the author as I read, which was like having a stimulating conversation with a fellow art geek. I really liked this book and have recommended it to many of my art buddies. It will be interesting to see what they think...

I bought this book after seeing a BBC program with Matthew Collings. The TV show was quite interesting and not being able to find it here, I bought this book instead, thinking it must somehow also be good. But the book is hardly a book at all. I doubt it was written with an actual reader in mind and some of the other reviewers have noted the same. It reads as if you might imagine overhearing an art critic talking to another art critic, except on a cell phone with spotty service, only picking up a few sentences at a time. I was extremely disappointed and you will be too. The reviewers who rave about it are obviously paid employees of the publisher.