Get the Picture
A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See
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- USD 1.99
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- USD 1.99
Descripción editorial
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY NPR, TIME, AND THE ECONOMIST
“Get the Picture is one of the funniest books I’ve read . . . Brilliant.” —The Washington Post
“A gripping and often hilarious investigation into the art world. . . . Bosker goes full Tom Wolfe.” —TIME
“Funny, whip-smart, and gorgeously written, Get the Picture will forever transform the way you see. . . . I loved every word.” —Suleika Jaouad, New York Times bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms
The New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork takes readers on another fascinating, hilarious, and revelatory journey—this time burrowing deep inside the secretive world of art and artists
An award-winning journalist obsessed with obsession, Bianca Bosker’s existence was upended when she wandered into the art world—and couldn’t look away. Intrigued by artists who hyperventilate around their favorite colors and art fiends who max out credit cards to show hunks of metal they think can change the world, Bosker grew fixated on understanding why art matters and how she—or any of us—could engage with it more deeply.
In Get the Picture, Bosker throws herself into the nerve center of art and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators, and, of course, artists themselves—the kind who work multiple jobs to afford their studios while scrabbling to get eyes on their art. 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 hours on end 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.
Probing everything from cave paintings to Instagram, and from the science of sight to the importance of beauty as it examines 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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Journalist Bosker (Cork Dork) takes an energetic jaunt through the elitist and competitive world of contemporary art. Seeking to understand whether art can make for a "richer, more uncomfortable, more mind-blowing, more uncertain... more beautiful" life, Bosker finagled an internship at a rising art star's Brooklyn gallery; sold astronomically priced photos at Art Basel Miami; curated a Hong Kong art show ("What makes art ‘good'?" she asked herself again and again as she tried to sift "crap from grade-A culture"); and studiously observed sculptures as a security guard at the Guggenheim museum (she resolved to spend at least 40 minutes "befriending" each statue). In the process, Bosker came to view art as a means "for appreciating life, but also a practice for creating a life worth appreciating," one that helps "fight our instincts to truncate and elide, and in doing so, to notice more, appreciate more, empathize more." Combining gossipy detail with philosophical musings, Bosker vividly depicts a pretentious world full of moneyed buyers and cliques while simultaneously giving due to the devoted artists, gallerists, and enthusiasts whose creativity enriches and expands their lives. Connoisseurs and neophytes alike will be charmed and captivated by Bosker's boundless curiosity and astute powers of observation.
