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Get the Picture
A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See
Bianca Bosker(0)
About
In “Cork Dork”, Bianca Bosker trained her insatiable curiosity, journalist's knack for infiltrating exclusive circles and eye for unforgettable characters on the wine world as she trained to become a sommelier. Now she brings her whip-smart yet accessible sensibility along for a ride through another subculture of elite obsessives.
In “Get the Picture”, Bosker plunges deep inside the world of art and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators and, of course, artists themselves, the kind who work multiple jobs and let their paintings sleep soundly in the studio while they wake up covered in cat pee on a friend's couch. As she stretches canvases until her fingers blister, talks her way into A-list parties full of billionaire collectors, has her face sat on by a nearly naked performance artist and forces herself to stare at a single sculpture for an hour straight while working as a museum security guard, she discovers not only the inner workings of the art-canonization machine but also a more expansive way of living.
Encompassing everything from colour theory to evolutionary biology, and from ancient cave paintings to Instagram as it attempts to discern art's role in our culture, our economy and our hearts, “Get the Picture” is a rollicking adventure that will change the way you see forever.
In “Get the Picture”, Bosker plunges deep inside the world of art and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators and, of course, artists themselves, the kind who work multiple jobs and let their paintings sleep soundly in the studio while they wake up covered in cat pee on a friend's couch. As she stretches canvases until her fingers blister, talks her way into A-list parties full of billionaire collectors, has her face sat on by a nearly naked performance artist and forces herself to stare at a single sculpture for an hour straight while working as a museum security guard, she discovers not only the inner workings of the art-canonization machine but also a more expansive way of living.
Encompassing everything from colour theory to evolutionary biology, and from ancient cave paintings to Instagram as it attempts to discern art's role in our culture, our economy and our hearts, “Get the Picture” is a rollicking adventure that will change the way you see forever.
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Reviews
"A page-turning romp around New York's art world"
Financial Times
"One of the funniest books I've read about New York's contemporary art scene . . . Brilliant"
Washington Post
"[A] plucky and hilarious account of years working as a gallery girl, studio assistant and guard at the Guggenheim museum . . . [Bosker] doesn't sit with and sift through her material so much as plunge headlong into it, gatecrashing cloistered ecosystems that want nothing to do with her, and emerging as a foremost expert"
Guardian
"Like Liar's Poker, but for art"
The Economist
"A gripping and often hilarious investigation into the art world. . . Bosker goes full Tom Wolfe"
Time magazine