"I see artists' studios as private stages for the daily rehearsal of self-belief."Wow, how I love this concept. In 33 Artists in 3 Acts, Thornton asks us to embark with her through intrusive--and sometimes relatable!--scenes of the contemporary artist. We can feel a little left out at times if we're not familiar with the contextual history of artists and pieces discussed in the dialogue. I don't think this is reason not to read the book. If you're drawn to the contemporary art world--particularl...

I slogged through this book, feeling like a miner looking for promising veins of gold. Occasionally I saw real gold but mostly saw the glitter of fool's gold. One has to remember that Thornton was working for The Economist when you get exhausted by all the financial details.I think any book about art should be required to reproduce copious amounts of the artist's images. If one, like me, is living in the hinterland with limited access to contemporary art, photos would be both instructive and wel...

Thornton follows the careers of some current art celebrities she considers relevant. The artists are present in an antithetical style, where some big selling well-known names (Jeff Koons, Maurizio Cattelan, Damien Hirst) are contrasted with more critical/political artists, "outsider" artists, or lesser known yet important artist's artists like Andrea Fraser, or Yayoi Kusama. The book is well written, although Thornton regularly tends to use a somewhat juicy tabloid style to present the artists o...

Engaging account of contemporary art world celebrities, including insightful interviews and anecdotes about the art world. I found myself unable to put this book down, and liked the author's 3-part division of the text, with artists revisited under different headings. Sarah Thornton manages ably to maintain a journalist's incisive inquiry whilst giving the impression of being an insider who has, to some extent, the trust of her artist and curator subjects. I particularly enjoyed her ability to '...

It pains me to admit defeat here but ffs I just can't pretend anymore that I want to continue reading this book. I have read Thornton's previous book, 7 Days in the Art World, and found it enjoyable, though shallow.This one has been a slog. And I think the biggest thing that bothers me here is that there's no glaring problem but instead countless little flaws and mediocrity that all add up to not worth it. It is also telling that I have finally put this book aside just before the "scene" on Fran...

I am really looking forward to reading this book and will write a review as soon as I have completed it.

Very captivating reading! My favorite quote: "The art is that you managed to shove as art". So there is no certain criteria: if you manage to persuade people that things you propose is very sophisticated and expensive piece of art, they will buy it for any money you just want. The only thing you need: a large promo campaign and some things. Actually - any things. Want to sell your excrements? Sorry, you are late! A lot of artists have done it before you.

Fantastic book. I don't follow contemporary fine art, and was partly in the "emperor's clothes" camp until now, but 33 Artists in 3 Acts did a great job of walking me through this world and introducing me to a lot of inspiring new artists (and a few that lived up to my old bias of them as con artists). My favorites were the chapters on Gabriel Orozco (I love his piece "Horses Run Endlessly," a chess board where the only pieces are knights), Tammy Rae Carland (whose name I recognized from her sho...

Although there are a good number of fantastic artists discussed here, the book happens to be weighted towards those I find least interesting: far too many chapters spent on Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Lena Dunham's entire family (sister Grace, father Carroll, and mother Laurie Simmons).What's more, the insight that Thornton seems to see in many of the quotes often fails to seem particularly brilliant. You end up spending far more time learning about artists' mannerisms and commercial processes

I liked this book more in the beginning when I felt privileged to be eavesdropping on conversations I would never hear from worlds I will never visit. Toward the end it just started to feel like so much gossip about people I don't know and it got tedious. However, I learned some things and I learned about some artists that I would like to look into more on my own. CW: Lena Dunham

I am currently very curious about the art world so this was a great survey of global contemporary artists and also of a variety opinions on what being an artist ~~ means ~~ also super well written I think. Here are my pulls. A bit hard to follow because of the number of different artist mentioned though. "The artist is an enemy of... ah... general sensibilities" - Ai Wei Wei"Everyone personal history is a creatively edited story""Art that goes forward can take a long time to be understood, where...

As with 7 Days In The Art World, Sarah Thornton again hits new and seldom seen heights regarding the art world in this book. While providing intimate recountings of personal interviews, she manages to keep a mostly unbiased attitude towards her subjects. Thoroughly researched and eloquently relayed, the book offers glimpses into the lives and practices of the highest level living artists in the world. Sincere thanks to Ms Thornton for continuing to share these stories with aspiring artists such

Some years ago, Lynn Barber wrote a particularly spiteful review of Dr Thornton's previous book, Seven Days in the Art World, for The Telegraph. Thornton described her interview process as collaborative: Barber suggested that this was just a fancy description for copy approval. Unsurprisingly, Thornton sued, and won. The review was needlessly unpleasant, I think. Reading Thornton's new book though – and I'm treading very carefully here – I sort of see where Barber was coming from, even if I disa...

Having read 7 Days in the Art World, a tabloid-like yet informative book about the focal points around which the art market is revolving, I bought 33 Artists in 3 Acts not expecting much in terms of style or form, but clearly hoping to learn something. Unfortunately, the book reveals nothing, which is particularly upsetting if you think how much access the author had had as The Economist art critic (she no longer holds the job). She sets out to discuss the meaning of being an artist with artists...

This book has been quite insightful on various levels. It widened my knowledge on contemporary artists and how they work, what they think of their art and how the art world reacts to it. I have come to know many important art works, such as Ai Wei Wei's Sunflower Seeds or Damien Hirsts formaldehyde containers. These have not just been added to the repertoire - or mental archive - but have also been portrayed in their context and effects. Thornton has done a good job on simply reflecting the sele...

It's a waste of resources, she actually interviewed 130 artists, and in an unethical gesture left out the majority of them to make more space for multiple apparitions of the big names. It's mirroring how the artworld works, sick obsession with the usual suspects over and over, when very good artists are neglected. Dull repeated re-apparitions of Jeff Koons, Ai Weiwei and the rest, like there is not too much focus on them already. I'm convinced that the left out artists had more interesting thing...

Not as good as 7 Days in the Art World, but it was good none the less. Took me way longer than expected, even though, some chapters are just there to fill in the blank spaces in between spaces of time.

I've realized recently that nonfiction is my beach reads - I can read nonfiction without paying manic attention to structure, sentences, and all that other nonsense that makes short stories straight up homework. On the one hand, this was an excellent breezy read, because I learned a lot, I looked up even more, and I underlined plenty. But! This is also so insular and self-contained that it's kind of distressing. I appreciate Sarah Thornton's reportage, but there were more than a few instances wh...

Many of the art books that I have read have been fairly dryly written, despite the subject matter. Sarah Thornton’s book is anything but. As suggested by the title it’s structured like a play with each scene featuring an artist. Some artists get more than one scene and sometimes scenes are shared by multiple artists. These scenes are conversations between author and artist and they give a wonderful glimpse into the minds of those working in contemporary art. If you’re looking for an introduction...

33 Artists in 3 Acts is a fascinating look at contemporary high profile international artists (and a dealer or two). Through interviews (which amazingly avoid most artspeak), Sarah Thornton is able to capture both the individual expressions of what it means to be an artist and the nature of the contemporary art world (particularly in its relationship to money and fame). Her juxtaposition of distinctly different artists (different particularly in general attitude, self-importance and relationship...