Get the Picture

A page-turning romp around New York's art world * Financial Times * One of the funniest books I've read about New York's contemporary art scene . . . Brilliant * Washington Post * A gripping and often hilarious investigation into the art world. . . Bosker goes full Tom Wolfe * Time magazine * [A] plucky and hilarious account of years working as a gallery girl, studio assistant and guard at the Guggenheim museum . . . [Bosker] doesn't sit with and sift through her material so much as plunge headlong into it, gatecrashing cloistered ecosystems that want nothing to do with her, and emerging as a foremost expert * Guardian * Like Liar's Poker, but for art * The Economist * Exceptionally accomplished...lucid, precise and meticulously researched, her narrative both gripping and challenging...an exuberant guide * TLS * A delightful book on an inspiring topic by a writer who could make dust sparkle. * Kirkus Reviews (starred) * 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 * Publishers Weekly (starred review) * In Get the Picture - curious but not naïve, gossipy but generous, critical but admiring, hilarious but profound - Bosker probes the human thirst for art, examines the addictive high it gives and rescues the unfashionable idea of beauty, of the pleasure of creation, from the theorists and the marketeers. This book is sheer pleasure: the best book I've ever read about contemporary art -- Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of SONTAG and THE UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD A brilliant adventure through the fraught, frenzied, fanatical world of art and emerging artists. Bosker flings us into the epicenter of creativity and obsession, and with infectious curiosity, illuminates the surprising science, history and controversies at the core of our relationship with art. This book paints an extraordinary picture that will make your life more beautiful. Put simply, it's a work of art -- Nathaniel Philbrick, author of IN THE HEART OF THE SEA This book freaked me out. Bosker's accessible, conversational spelunking into the world of contemporary art so powerfully rehydrated the PTSD in me between the little kid artist I once was with the self-consciously constricted thinker I became in art school that at one point I simply had to put it down, shaken. If you've ever wondered 'what happened' to art - galleries, critics, collectors - and, of course, artists - then this book is a very companionable start. It's also very funny, to say nothing of very vivid. And, confoundingly, very, very difficult to put down -- Chris Ware, author of BUILDING STORIES Fascinating for contemporary art lovers and skeptics alike. At the heart of Bianca Bosker's intelligent book is the author's burning curiosity, and it's contagious -- Patrick Bringley, author of ALL THE BEAUTY IN THE WORLD