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The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy Hardcover – February 19, 2013

by Ursus Wehrli (Author), Geri Born (Photographer), Daniel Spehr (Photographer)

226 ratings

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The modern world can get messy. Fortunately, Swiss artist Ursus Wehrli is a man of obsessive order, as he demonstrates with eye-catching surprise in The Art of Clean Up. Already a bestseller in Germany, this compulsive title has sold more than 100,000 copies in less than a year, and the fastidiously arranged images have garnered blog love from NPR, Brain Pickings, swissmiss, and more. Tapping into the desire for organization and the insanity of über-order, Wehrli humorously categorizes everyday objects and situations by color, size, and shape. He arranges alphabet soup into alphabetical order, sorts the night sky by star size, and aligns sunbathers' accoutrements—all captured in bright photographs sure to astonish even the pickiest of neat freaks.

Print length

48 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Chronicle Books
Publication date

February 19, 2013
Dimensions

8.75 x 0.5 x 11 inches
ISBN-10

1452114161
ISBN-13

978-1452114163
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From the Publisher


	642 Tiny Things to Draw	Whatever You Are, Be a Good One	Splash of Color	The Wildflower Workbook	In Pursuit of Inspiration	It's OK to Feel Things Deepy
People love	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓


	Illustration Workshop	The Planets	Writers and Their Cats	Theibaud	Spark Creativity	Spark Romance
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Look Inside The Art of Cleanup

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Review

"Organizers, prepare to swoon." - Fast Company.com

"At once utterly delightful and playfully philosophical." - Brain Pickings

"At once utterly delightful and playfully philosophical." - Brain Pickings

"Organizers, prepare to swoon." - Fast Company.com

"Organizers, prepare to swoon." - Fast Company.com

"A surprise on every spread.... The book is a great example of how a compulsion for obsession can make for obsessively interesting art." - NYTimes.com

"At once utterly delightful and playfully philosophical." - Brain Pickings

"A surprise on every spread.... The book is a great example of how a compulsion for obsession can make for obsessively interesting art." - NYTimes.com

"A surprise on every spread.... The book is a great example of how a compulsion for obsession can make for obsessively interesting art." - NYTimes.com

"The photographs are not only visually compelling, but they serve as a fascinating look into an alternative reality in which chaos has given way to careful geometry." - Cool Hunting

"The photographs are not only visually compelling, but they serve as a fascinating look into an alternative reality in which chaos has given way to careful geometry." - Cool Hunting

"Brilliant.... There's a cumulative humor to these bright, sharp photographs, and a deep puckish cleverness in Wehrli's choices. It's the rare art book that provokes laughs, while still earning admiration for color and composition; it's funny and beautiful. " - The A.V. Club

"Ever wish your alphabet soup was actually legible? Your fruit salad arranged into rows? Maybe not, but there's something undeniably pleasing about The Art of Clean Up, a photo book by Swiss comedian and visual artist Ursus Wehrli." -- People magazine

"Ever wish your alphabet soup was actually legible? Your fruit salad arranged into rows? Maybe not, but there's something undeniably pleasing about The Art of Clean Up, a photo book by Swiss comedian and visual artist Ursus Wehrli." -- People magazine

"Ever wish your alphabet soup was actually legible? Your fruit salad arranged into rows? Maybe not, but there's something undeniably pleasing about The Art of Clean Up, a photo book by Swiss comedian and visual artist Ursus Wehrli." -- People magazine

"Brilliant.... There's a cumulative humor to these bright, sharp photographs, and a deep puckish cleverness in Wehrli's choices. It's the rare art book that provokes laughs, while still earning admiration for color and composition; it's funny and beautiful. " - The A.V. Club

"Brilliant.... There's a cumulative humor to these bright, sharp photographs, and a deep puckish cleverness in Wehrli's choices. It's the rare art book that provokes laughs, while still earning admiration for color and composition; it's funny and beautiful. " - The A.V. Club

"The photographs are not only visually compelling, but they serve as a fascinating look into an alternative reality in which chaos has given way to careful geometry." - Cool Hunting

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chronicle Books; Illustrated edition (February 19, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1452114161
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1452114163
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.75 x 0.5 x 11 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #280,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #66 in Conceptual Arts (Books)
- #504 in Photograpy Equipment & Techniques

Customer Reviews:
226 ratings

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Ursus Wehrli

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Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		13%
3 star		3%
2 star		2%
1 star		4%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

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Amusing and creative book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

Saw a page from this book in a meme about sorting flowers. Managed to find it from there, and decided to order a copy for myself. Amusing and creative book. Some of them make you think a little, or are done using the magic of Photoshop. Looking at the title, for instance, you may not notice that the dots are removed from the bowl and aligned neatly by the fruit on the far right. Some of the "clean ups" are comically arbitrary. Why are these pieces of flower considered as a unit, while these are broken down and sorted further? Eh, I dunno. Many of these cleanups are far more amusing than visually satisfying (thinking especially of the chicken coop, and one more that would sort of be a spoiler).

Anyway, worth the chuckle. And my current role as a software engineer focuses on code health, including code cleanup, so I like keeping this book handy as a humorous antithesis to my occupation.

2 people found this helpful

Tongue-in-cheek view of neatness

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 30, 2019

Verified Purchase

When I picked this book off the shelf in the store I expected it was another how-to on getting organized. What I didn't expect was to laugh out loud as I paged though the book. Definitely a different perspective on the value of neatness.
Since buying Wehrli's book for myself, I have gifted it to several friends and have enjoyed watching their faces and reactions as they turn each page.

One person found this helpful

Rearranging your alphabet soup

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is one of the most delightful books that brightens my bookshelves. Ursus Wehrli has put onto silent pages all the things he has taken apart and then put into neat and orderly arrangements, leaving out not the smallest piece. I say they are silent pages because there is no text to read about what the artist has done. The photographs are bright, crisp and wondrous to ponder and humorous enough that laughter can't be helped. This is a book to go through again and again and find something that was missed the last time.

Out of all the photos in the book, the evergreen branch is my favorite.

Highly recommended art book that anyone can enjoy.

13 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

An unusual and visually wonderful art book.

Such a clever book! If only everything could look this neat!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 26, 2015

Verified Purchase

This book is so me. My husband bought it for me as a gift and I keep it out on the coffee table because it is a great book (it's balanced by a book of similar size on the other side of the coffee table of course). I like things to be organized and this is a fun exaggerated version of life at its most organized. Great book for that anal retentive person in your life. :)

3 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2013

Verified Purchase

I love this book. It is a neat little thing to have to show friend or glance at from time to time. I really wish he had added more but I guess having more would cause a bit of a clutter since the book would be thicker than it currently is. In its current state it is extremely easy store away as it takes up very little space.

One person found this helpful

Katybeth Jensen-Ruscitti

Love this Book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 14, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book is such a fun read and a wonderful coffee table book. It also makes a great gift. The illustrations are fabulous, and the extra details will surprise and delight you. Chances are you will never look at the world the same way after reading this book even if you run more towards the chaotic side of life than the OCD side. It will also spark fun conversations about your own OCD tendencies. My only warning.....just be careful you don't start organizing your partners french fries the next time you eat out!

5 people found this helpful

Billie Jo McAfee

perfectgift for OCD people.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 30, 2014

Verified Purchase

A neighbor shares this with me and the next day I tracked it down on Amazon. It comes in the original German version as well(I ordered that one too). I think that it is nice to see that other people do some of the same things I do.....Yes, I line my fries up, and also eat all the imperfect Oyster Crackers first......just a few things my husband pointed out, that I was not aware of. This is a funny and fascinating book.

2 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

RoseN1

Funny and beautiful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 11, 2019

Verified Purchase

It's perfect to talk about order with young children. At my nursery, we showed the book to 3 years old and we observed them sorting toys by colour, size, shape or type. We also took pictures and compared them with the ones in the book. During meal times, it was funny to see some of them trying to organize their fruit salad !
I would live to make the same in my kids bedroom, with their toys. One day, if I have time ;-p

S Hall

Fun book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Lovely book. Excellent gift for anyone who loves neatness or is marginally OCD, as most of us seem to be.

James Hannam

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 29, 2015

Verified Purchase

Not as good as Things Come Apart. It takes the idea of lining up slightly in the wrong direction...

Kentish Maid

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

I love this book. Perfect picture book for grown-ups; lots of visual jokes.

Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

Really fun picture book.

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