I’m beginning to think that Art is everything, am I wrong?
I wrote that in a letter to my cousin, a poet living in New York City. I had just finished Bianca Bosker’s 2024 book, Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Impressive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See and it didn’t as much open my eyes as affirm what I know: that life is better with art and color; that art is an antidote to things like life’s monotony and the evening news. I enjoyed the hell out of this book.
Bosker is a journalist, her specialty being longform magazine articles on all sorts of interesting subjects. For Get the Picture she immersed herself in the art world for years, working for artists and galleries, assisting at art fairs and even guarding art at the Guggenheim. She’s game for pretty much anything and her let’s go attitude is infectious.
I alternately listened to and read the physical versions of the book, and both are easy to recommend. Bosker narrates the audiobook herself, and I liked her chatty, confident voice, reminiscent of a good friend excitedly telling a story, her tone slightly high and a little raspy.
She’s an engaging writer, drawing you in with her enthusiasm and wit. Bosker decides, with the privilege of a journalist who has the freedom to follow her curiosity, that she wants to develop her eye and learn about art and the art world. She found the whole concept of art completely indecipherable and wasn’t even a fan of color(!) That soon changed…
Get the Picture follows Bosker’s journey beginning with her work with Jack, the owner of a small but proud gallery in Brooklyn. He’s the first of many unique, opinionated, and slightly neurotic characters she encounters. Next came the gallery owners Elizabeth and Rob – her scenes with them at Miami’s Art Basel are some of the most entertaining in the book.
Finally, she gets a job as an assistant with an established artist, Julie Curtiss. She learns about the business side of art while at the same time having her eyes opened and mind blown by Julie’s point of view. It’s because of Julie that Bosker ends up a color fanatic, and a person who actually sees the beauty in things like sunlight falling on a building.
Get the Picture is the kind of book that provides lessons and pointers along with the story. I learned to try and notice five things about a painting the first time I see it, and the value of “slow looking” or bonding with an artwork over a long period of time. It’s also packed with zingers and acute observations from Bosker, like that ‘art handlers are the roadies of the art world,’ and how ‘stretching a canvas is like trying to put formalwear on a rabid monkey using only chopsticks.”
Listening to audiobooks is not without its hazards – it’s easy to mix up a name like when I thought she met the fabulous pair, The Icy Gaze but it turns out these gay partners and collectors from North Dakota refer to themselves as the Icy Gays. Ohhh… The pair are art enthusiasts and evangelists. Bosker spends time with them at an art show and gets to know them and their expansive outlook. They love to collect, to share and to promote, all because they personally know the power of art in life.
I’ve noticed that some people refer to this book as an exposé of the art world, but I disagree. While Bosker does share some secrets and many outrageous stories, I don’t think any of it is an indictment. Let the art snobs do their thing, there’s plenty of local, up-and-coming art in every community; there are still art museums and free online art history classes; and there are enough coffee table art books in free public libraries to quench anyone’s thirst.
Do you get the picture yet? Get this book, get swept up, get Art.
#####################
A single painting can spark a lifelong obsession. If you want more art and fiction try The Talented Miss Farwell and The Latecomer.
#####################
Julie’s art is fantastic, by the way. Go check it out!
bookthrasher 