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Rating: 
Summary: Great Analysis of a Transient Phenomenon
Review: From its birth in the 19th Century, concurrent with the rise of Impressionism, the Modern Art Market has existed for one reason and one reason only: to separate affluent fools from their cash. Most of what affluent fools have bought over the years was, of course, drek of no lasting value. However, there was almost always available, for those who could appreciate such things, contemporary art of lasting value. In more recent times, unfortunately, this no longer seems to be true. Case in point: the so-called young British art movement of the 1990's which this book analyzes in depth, perhaps beyond the point that it deserves analysis. While the criticism of the mostly empty, ephemeral, pseudo-shocking and, ulimately, BORING art of the yBa movement is spot-on and amusing to read, it is also another sad example of a critical work that is infintely more insightful and provocative, and technically more accomplished, than the subject it examines. Through the term "high art lite" author Stallabrass has also coined something that may very well come to be as useful a putdown in the art world as "politically correct" has been in politics. For "high art lite" isn't just appropriate for the immature Britishers. It might also come in handy to label the work of figures as diverse as Andy Warhol, Phillip Glass and Maya Angelou, to name but three non-British practitioners of pseudo-art. For anyone interested in the subject (however antithetical their interest might happen to be) this book is highly recommended. I'll just finish off with one quote, amongst many others that I might have chosen: "It is often said of high art lite that it has a dark view of things, and it does; the true depth of its cynicism, though, is not to be found in its representation of suicides, or torture victims, or abused children, or in its multitude of corpses, but instead in all that it turns its back on, all that it leaves out when it comes to what art can be." [p. 169] This is illuminating, but in my opinion it doesn't take things quite far enough. The practitioners of high art lite may very well be turning their backs on what art "can be," but the main reason for this is undoubtedly because the vast majority of them could hardly do otherwise. For the bulk of the work they have produced is fitting evidence that they have neither the imagination, technique nor discipline to produce anything more than the State-sponsored, University-condoned, quasi-avant-garde trash for which they have become famous.
Rating:
Summary: Great Analysis of a Transient Phenomenon
Review: From its birth in the 19th Century, concurrent with the rise of Impressionism, the Modern Art Market has existed for one reason and one reason only: to separate affluent fools from their cash. Most of what affluent fools have bought over the years was, of course, drek of no lasting value. However, there was almost always available, for those who could appreciate such things, contemporary art of lasting value. In more recent times, unfortunately, this no longer seems to be true. Case in point: the so-called young British art movement of the 1990's which this book analyzes in depth, perhaps beyond the point that it deserves analysis. While the criticism of the mostly empty, ephemeral, pseudo-shocking and, ulimately, BORING art of the yBa movement is spot-on and amusing to read, it is also another sad example of a critical work that is infintely more insightful and provocative, and technically more accomplished, than the subject it examines. Through the term "high art lite" author Stallabrass has also coined something that may very well come to be as useful a putdown in the art world as "politically correct" has been in politics. For "high art lite" isn't just appropriate for the immature Britishers. It might also come in handy to label the work of figures as diverse as Andy Warhol, Phillip Glass and Maya Angelou, to name but three non-British practitioners of pseudo-art. For anyone interested in the subject (however antithetical their interest might happen to be) this book is highly recommended. I'll just finish off with one quote, amongst many others that I might have chosen: "It is often said of high art lite that it has a dark view of things, and it does; the true depth of its cynicism, though, is not to be found in its representation of suicides, or torture victims, or abused children, or in its multitude of corpses, but instead in all that it turns its back on, all that it leaves out when it comes to what art can be." [p. 169] This is illuminating, but in my opinion it doesn't take things quite far enough. The practitioners of high art lite may very well be turning their backs on what art "can be," but the main reason for this is undoubtedly because the vast majority of them could hardly do otherwise. For the bulk of the work they have produced is fitting evidence that they have neither the imagination, technique nor discipline to produce anything more than the State-sponsored, University-condoned, quasi-avant-garde trash for which they have become famous.
Rating:
Summary: Very Intelligent and Thorough Exploration of Recent UK Art
Review: This is a (very) critical look at the art produced recently in the United Kingdom, particularly that of "young British artists", those artists made into stars in the 90s by collector Charles Saatchi. It is intelligently written, and explains well the historical background that led up to this type of art. Stallabrass is no fawning fan of these artists by any means, and has no time for accolades or flattery; he dissects the yBa phenomenon completely and leaves its bones for the culture vultures.
Rating:
Summary: Very Intelligent and Thorough Exploration of Recent UK Art
Review: This is a (very) critical look at the art produced recently in the United Kingdom, particularly that of "young British artists", those artists made into stars in the 90s by collector Charles Saatchi. It is intelligently written, and explains well the historical background that led up to this type of art. Stallabrass is no fawning fan of these artists by any means, and has no time for accolades or flattery; he dissects the yBa phenomenon completely and leaves its bones for the culture vultures.
Rating: 
Summary: New British Art
Review: This is the best and clearest text on the YBA [Young British Artists] phenonomenon of the 1990s - required reading for anyone who is interested in Damien Hirst, Jake and Dinos Chapman and their peers. A little spoilt by a certain Marxist rigidty of attitude but highly intelligent and frequently amusing as well.
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