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Get the Picture
Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See | Bianca Bosker
12 posts | 3 read | 4 to read
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by NPR, Lit Hub, and The Millions Sheer pleasure: the best book I've ever read about contemporary art. Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sontag Immersive reporting along the lines of George Plimpton or Barbara Ehrenreich with...a gift for clever formulations that recalls Oscar Wilde[Get the Picture] could not be more fun. A delightful book on an inspiring topic by a writer who could make dust sparkle. Kirkus Reviews (starred) The New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork takes readers on another fascinating, hilarious, and revelatory journeythis time burrowing deep inside the impassioned, secretive world of art and artists An award-winning journalist obsessed with obsession, Bianca Boskers existence was upended when she wandered into the art worldand couldnt 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 sheor any of uscould 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 themselvesthe 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 arts 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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Larkken
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Pickpick

I wish this book about art was more about the very geeky subject of how and why we appreciate art and less of the author‘s personal journey. Pictures would have helped. The pic above is from Julie Curtiss‘s website (an artist the author spends a great deal of time with) and which I find very arresting. More of that, pls!

I think it might be more fun to develop your own eye than to listen to anyone else develop theirs 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Larkken
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StoryGraph tells me I'm tracking 21, which is downright embarrassing. I think I'm only active on 8... Which probably means I need to make a few dnf decisions, plus be better about remembering when library borrows are going to magically disappear from my devices 🙄🤦
#sundayfunday

DimeryRene I am the same!!! I‘m reading like seven now. Probably only focusing on two at a time or three at a time. But in the middle of so many. 3mo
BookmarkTavern Wow! I always forget about the automatic returns until they happen! 🤣 Thanks for posting! 3mo
17 likes2 comments
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kbuggle
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Pickpick

I loved Cork Dork, and the author used the same investigative method for this one as it relates to the art world

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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

Part expose, part love letter. Well I say expose,
except it appears the New York (fine?) art scene as a place heaving with UNHINGED/plain bad behaviour is kind of an open secret within its exclusionary closed circle, it knows all this shit is happening and thinks it's okay, or there's no way to avoid it!
1/3

Robotswithpersonality 2/3 I enjoyed the second half of the book much more because the detailed exploration of the amount that the art world depends on rich assholes was no longer the primary focus. 6mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/3 Reading about the author engaging with art as opposed to sweating about reputation, seeing them really dive into the questions around what is art, what makes good art, and arrive at a much more expansive view, and an open perspective, a new way of looking at the world at large was an inspiring experience. 6mo
3 likes2 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
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That's just nifty.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Yank off the filters.

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Robotswithpersonality
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Gross for so many reasons. 🤢

julesG People are disgusting. 6mo
4 likes1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
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Adding “aesthetic chills“ to my vocabulary.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Want to see that idea explored visually. This book needs pictures, Bosker!

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Robotswithpersonality
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Well it sounds like a great story prompt!
A tale of the inner life of a lamppost, please.

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Robotswithpersonality
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Okay, but seriously, I see a lot of potential in “toddler dressed for a moon landing“. I want to look in this guy's closet! 🤩

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Robotswithpersonality
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Look, I don't want to come across as dismissive of anyone's process, but I did have a giggle fit at the sudden mental image of curling myself into something vaguely disc-like and repeating the mantra “think SHINY!“ 😄

5 likes1 stack add