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Art Is Life
- Icons & Iconoclasts, Visionaries & Vigilantes, & Flashes of Hope in the Night
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz, Mark Bramhall
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
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Summary
From the Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of How to Be an Artist, a deliciously digestible survey of the art world in turbulent times.
Jerry Saltz is one of our most-watched writers about art and artists, and a passionate champion of the importance of art in our shared cultural life. Since the 1990s he has been an indispensable cultural voice: witty and provocative, he has attracted contemporary readers to fine art as few critics have. An early champion of forgotten and overlooked women artists, he has also celebrated the pioneering work of African American, LGBTQ+, and other long-marginalized creators. Sotheby's Institute of Art has called him, simply, 'the art critic'.
Now, in Art Is Life, Jerry Saltz draws on two decades of work to offer a real-time survey of contemporary art as a barometer of our times. Chronicling a period punctuated by dramatic turning points—from the cultural reset of 9/11 to the rolling social crises of today—Saltz traces how visionary artists have both documented and challenged the culture.
Art Is Life offers Saltz's eye-opening appraisals of trailblazers like Kara Walker, Hilma af Klint and Jasper Johns; provocateurs like Jeff Koons, Richard Prince and Marina Abramovic; and visionaries like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Saltz celebrates landmarks like the Obama portraits by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, writes searchingly about disturbing moments such as the Ankara gallery assassination, and offers surprising takes on figures from Thomas Kinkade to Kim Kardashian. And he shares stories of his own haunted childhood, his time as a 'failed artist', and his epiphanies upon beholding work by Botticelli, Delacroix, and the cave painters of Niaux.
With his signature blend of candour and conviction, Jerry Saltz argues in Art Is Life for the importance of the fearless artist, reminding us that art is a kind of channeled voice of human experience, a necessary window onto our times. The result is an openhearted and irresistibly digestible appraisal by one of our most important cultural observers.
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What listeners say about Art Is Life
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- diana lowe
- 04-12-22
Loved it
I really enjoyed this because it reinforces my love for art even more. Art is life and that is what makes it so interesting and exciting. If you love art, you will love Jerry Saltz audio book.
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- Miss K
- 30-11-22
Excellent!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this and will be listening again and again. I can’t think of any better education for artists. I love Jerry Saltz’s writing style, every time I thought I had a favourite chapter, the next chapter became my favourite. He’s truly given everything in this book and I hope he has another in mind. What a gift!