Image of Blair Wardorf from Gossip Girl via spotern.com
So, you want to get in a more creative mindset before your big art world interview? What better way to fully immerse yourself in the art world without moving from your warm cosy bed than reading a book! Reading isn’t only great for your brain, but also introduces you to new ideas, invites you to solve problems, helps your writing abilities, improves your conversational skills and challenges your imagination. All great assets to have when looking for a job in the art world, whatever that role may be. And even better, it reduces stress and boosts your confidence with your newfound knowledge to boast about – perfect!
Time to get your creative head on before you delve headfirst into the job hunt and get stuck into some books.
Find our pick of 10 great arty books to read below.
Bauhaus Journal 1926–1931: Facsimile Edition Paperback – Facsimile
by Astrid Bähr
This book is a great example of the Bauhaus’s diversity and impact one hundred years after its founding. Plus the book is gorgeously produced. The 14-volume publication features facsimiles of individual issues of the journal.
Sensations: The Story of British Art from Hogarth to Banksy
By Jonathan Jones
In this new book author Jonathan Jones shows how British artists’ enthusiasm for precision and careful observation paved the way for Realism, Impressionism and the birth of modern art today. Commenting on artists from George Stubbs to Damien Hirst.
A History of PS1 Hardcover
by Marina Abramovic, Janet Cardiff , James Turrell , Andrea Zittel , Carolee Schneemann, & 14 more
Since its beginning in the 1970s, MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, has been a home for fundamental experimentation, in every discipline from performance, music, dance, poetry and new media to painting, sculpture, photography and architecture. This revolutionary publication captures the vibrancy of a long and respected tradition that began with the legendary series of performances and events organized by founder Alanna Heiss under the Brooklyn Bridge in 1971, including film stills, ephemera and photography in a scrapbook style
MoMA Highlights
Introduction by Glenn D. Lowry
This new edition of MoMA Highlights showcases 375 works from the Museum of Modern Art’s supreme collection of modern and contemporary art. Featuring 170 new selections with a grander representation of women, artists of color and artists from around the world.
Contemporary Voices from the Asian and Islamic Art Worlds
Edited by Olivia Sand
During the last twenty years the London-based Asian Art Newspaper has been covering the diverse and changing world of Asian and Islamic art. Contained within the book are interviews, with a chosen contemporary artist, which have been monthly features in the magazine since 1997 all in one place. The images that accompany the interviews allow the readers to form a clearer understanding of each artist’s practice and vision, from painting, sculpture, installation, photography, performance, video, film or music.
The Art Happens Here: Net Art Anthology
Edited with text by Michael Connor, Aria Dean. Text by manuel arturo abreu, Josephine Bosma, Megan Driscoll, Ceci Moss, Lila Pagola, Paul Soulellis, Elvia Wilk.
This publication that is beautifully illustrated retells the history of net art from the 1980s to the present day through essays and interview extracts. Concentrated around the 100 works selected, restored and presented as part of the Net Art Anthology initiative, which originated as an online exhibition series in 2016. Artists featured include Morehshin Allahyari, Cory Arcangel, Shu Lea Cheang, DIS, Constant Dullaart, Cécile B. Evans, exonemo, Cao Fei, Lynn Hershman Leeson, JODI, Oliver Laric, Olia Lialina, Eva & Franco Mattes, Jayson Musson, Paper Rad, Pope.L, Jon Rafman, Rafaël Rozendaal, Wolfgang Staehle, Martine Syms, Ryan Trecartin, UBERMORGEN, Amalia Ulman, Artie Vierkant, Miao Ying and others.
You, Me and Art Artists in the 21st Century
Edited with text by Marta Gnyp
Learn how to shift and expand in the ever-changing art world by reading this book. Setting out to explore the constant flux of the art world, art advisor, collector and journalist Marta Gnyp conducted a series of interviews with artists stored within You, Me and Art.
Art Basel|Year 49
Edited by Clément Dirié, Marc Spiegler. Text by Andrea Bellini, Diana Campbell Betancourt, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Kathy Noble, Michael Rakowitz, Agustin Perez Rubio, François Quintin, Xiaoyu Weng.
Art Basel’s official annual publication captures and documents the exhibitions in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong, and goes beyond them, featuring interviews, portfolios, essays about contemporary art, and personal highlights from artists, curators, collectors and museum directors. With its A–Z format, this year’s publication, maps the world of Art Basel alongside profiles spotlighting each of the 500-plus galleries that participated across the three fairs in 2018.
Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in its Struggle to Be
by Grayson Perry
In this book British artist Grayson Perry wants to show that any of us can appreciate art. Based on his hugely popular BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures and full of pictures, this funny, personal journey through the art world answers the basic questions that might occur to us in an interview but seem too embarrassing to ask.
Why Your Five Year Old Could Not Have Done That: Modern Art Explained
by Susie Hodge
Why Your 5 Year Old Could Not Have Done That is Susie Hodge’s question aimed at modern art. In this humorous and thought-provoking book, Susie examines 100 works of modern art that have attracted critical and public hostility from Cy Twombly’s scribbled Olympia (1957), to Tracey Emin’s My Bed (1998) and explains how, they are inspired and logical extensions of the ideas of their time.
All books available via Amazon.
Text by Peigi Mackillop
All images via Amazon
Reading reduces stress and boosts your confidence.
Career
21 May 2023
