Average customer rating:
- A flawed book , but an important one
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Why Are Artists Poor?: The Exceptional Economy of the Arts
Hans Abbing
Manufacturer: Amsterdam University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology)
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A Brief History of Neoliberalism
ASIN: 9053565655 |
Book Description
Most artists earn very little. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of aspiring young artists. Do they give to the arts willingly or unknowingly? Governments and other institutions also give to the arts, to raise the low incomes. But their support is ineffective: subsidies only increase the artists' poverty.
The economy of the arts is exceptional. Although the arts operate successfully in the marketplace, their natural affinity is with gift-giving, rather than with commercial exchange. People believe that artists are selflessly dedicated to art, that price does not reflect quality, and that the arts are free. But is it true?
This unconventional multidisciplinary analysis explains the exceptional economy of the arts. Insightful illustrations from the practice of a visual artist support the analysis.
Customer Reviews:
A flawed book , but an important one.......2003-10-14
The author of this book is both an economist and a painter/photographer, and thus highly qualified to write on this subject. His main argument is that art is quasi-sacred, and for that reason both its practitioners and its consumers are loath to think that it is "about" commerce or commodity exchanges. Most money that flows to the arts does so in the form of gifts (not just grants and donations, but family support and even individual artists subsidizing their own art with funds from a day job). Even outright sales are disguised to resemble gifts. The only learned profession with lower incomes than the arts is the clergy, who operate on similar lines, for similar reasons. Artists who make a lot of money become suspect in the eyes of peers and critics (case in point: Salvador Dali).
Artists use grant money to quit their day jobs while remaining as poor as ever. Abbing argues at length that European-style subsidies merely encourage more people to enter the arts, thereby actually increasing the number of poor artists without ameliorating the plight of the profession as a whole. The main value of such subsidies is to the government (prestige, status, and I would add though Abbing doesn't: appeasement of the intelligentsia)
Abbing's basic argument is a persuasive one, at the very least thought-provoking in an area all in and near the arts need to think about more than we have in the past (Abbing argues that young people enter the arts blindly because it is not in the interests of the arts community to inform them of huge unlikelihood of any one of them actually succeeding as an artist). His analysis can be used to answer questions he doesn't even address, such as why the output of musical masterpieces has remained roughly constant for 800 years while the number of composers has increased a thousand fold, and the audience by a factor of
100,000.
Artists can even glean some practical advice here: The person with the money should always be given the oppportunity to look like (s)he's doing you a favor. For success, it is well nigh essential to suck up to power and influence, but be subtle about it.
The flaws in this book? Abbing relies almost entirely on hypothetical examples (by no means all persuasive) to demonstrate his points. His command of English grammar and syntax is a bit dicy. He has a particularly European, maybe even specifically Dutch, outlook that takes him to some peculiar places: he takes it as a matter of course, for instance, that the the films of Werner Herzog are of greater esthetic value than those of Steven Spielberg, and he thinks that Henryk Gorecki lost status when his music became popular. He divides the contemporary "fine" arts into a supposedly prestigious "avant-garde" layer and a less prestigious layer that is merely modernist--a view that will strike most Americans as 30 years out of date. He names several dozen contemporary visual artists during the course of the book, not one of whom have I ever heard.
Architecture, where poverty is much less endemic than in the other arts, is nowhere mentioned.
He repeatedly (and correctly) asserts that artists usually come from the upper strata of society, while failing to notice that they do not often come from the very topmost tier. He fails to address the phenomenon of philistinism, which denies the "sacred" status of art on which the whole arts economy is supposedly based, and which has been a major, structural distorting factor of the US arts discourse since the nation was founded.
Finally, his historical viewpoint is shortsighted. He contends that the conditions he describes have only been in place since the nineteenth century, but there is much evidence to suggest otherwise. Consider Hogarth's "The Distrest Poet" (poets are stereotypically poor, it seems to me, in all cultures). Earlier still, consider Chaucer's Clerke of Oxenford--not an artist, true, but the type is clearly recognizable: a man with a great deal of economically useless education who, when he does get a little money, spends it on yet another book. Throughout Western history, successful composers have usually lived not by composing but by sinecures in other professions: the clergy, then musical household management, then conductor, then college professor.
Despite these and other problems (hugely exasperating at times) Abbing's main thesis is sturdy enough to withstand even the most obtuse misapplication, and for that reason I would recommend this volume to anyone even tangentially connected to the arts community--though it should be taken with a very heavy pinch of salt.
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Rich Rapper, Poor Rapper: Why Less Talented Artists Get Ahead and Everyone Else Is Left Looking for a Record Deal.
Hilary Mujikwa
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1411657217 |
Product Description
Rich Rapper, Poor Rapper is a true story about two artists. Both of them are very talented, yet one of them is making more money than the other in the music business.
After reading this book you'll discover the secrets behind Rich Rappers success and the reasons why Poor rapper isn't making any money with his music.
This book will DESTROY the myth that you need a record deal to become a successful hip hop artist and will explain why chasing the dreams, reality TV shows, which offer record deals could be wasting your time. It's a MUST read for any aspiring hip hop artist looking to make a good living off their music.
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The Art of Bedouin Jewelry: A Saudi Arabian Profile
Heather Colyer Ross
Manufacturer: EPS/Players Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0887346413 |
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Art of Arabian Costume
Ross
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OMQQ4I |
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The Art of Arabian Costume
Heather Colyer Ross
Manufacturer: Kegan Paul International Ltd.
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 071030031X |
Customer Reviews:
Lots of color pictures.......1998-08-13
This book would be a useful resource for middle eastern dancers looking for costume ideas, but is not as helpful for those looking for exact information about how the garments are made. Many of the poses used by the models are very dramatic (or even high fashion) and attractive, but make it difficult to make out the details of the garments. Historical information is sketchy. However, the wide variety of garments shown and the fact that they are shown in color, together with the extensive commentary in the text, makes this a useful book. There are few books covering Bedouin dress this extensively.
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The Art of Arabian Costume
Manufacturer: Arabesque Commercial, Fribourg, Switzerland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I9JO9Q |
Book Description
John McPherson's single-panel comics have appeared in 11 previous books. Nearly 600 daily and Sunday newspapers regularly carry his work, which has been syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate since 1992. A line of McPherson greeting cards, mugs, and calendars has sold well in the United States, and will soon expand to the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the European Union. Still, fans cannot get enough of Close to Home!Now comes Ferociously Close to Home. Like its predecessors, this 144-page volume delivers McPherson's trademark take on the absurdities of everyday life. To say that his solutions to these perplexing situations is 'out there' is an understatement. Consider Gina, who decides a branding iron will be the ideal memory aid for her birthday date-challenged husband. And poor Lanny, whose treadmill session is interrupted when he inadvertently triggers the health club's offensive odor alarm.McPherson has long walked the line between grotesque and goofy. But somehow, his figures with big noses and bulging eyes connect with readers with a surefire magnetic precision. Whether it's health care or parenting, dating or car repairs, Close to Home delivers McPherson's warped world without fail.
Customer Reviews:
History you don't usually get, and good entertainment too!.......2005-12-13
Steve Tally put together a fantastic collection on the men who have served as Vice-President. (The book covers all Vice-Presidents up to Dan Quayle, and even Alexander Stevens the lone Vice-President of the Confederacy).
Its not a textbook, but is very entertaining reading.
The profiles of the Vice-Presidents, each about 4-5 pages are humorous-- pulling no punches. Even those who occupy a prominent place in history (Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman & others) are not spared.
If you want an entertaining read, with good historical value this is a good one.
An irreverent look at the vice presidency.......2005-05-19
Steve Tally looks at America's vice presidents - from John Adams through Dan Quayle and gives us the inside scoop on each of these men's foibles and character flaws. The chapters are short and sweet and hilarious!
Tally introduces us to Vice Presidents who assumed that they were really assistant presidents, vice presidents who never really showed up to work, vice presidents who showed up to work but really shouldn't have bothered and vice presidents who never really grasped the idea that they were supposed to work with their presidents to get things passed through the Congress.
For the researcher paper writers out there, Tally's work would be inappropriate to use as the main source of your information, but it would make a fantastic book to add that little bit of extra to make your paper more interesting to read!
This was truly an enjoyable read. I borrowed mine from the library but I'm adding it to my wish list here because I want to have a copy of my own!
Funny and informative.......2002-12-13
No punches pulled - this is the story of the men behind the men, and how badly they all performed. A very enjoyable read, entertaining, and informative. Short chapters make it (and I say this reluctantly because it's such a good book) a great bathroom reader. HIGHLY recommended.
The Vice-Presidency as a magnet for the bland........1999-11-09
Bland Ambition is an uproariously funny, highly irreverent look at the Vice-Presidents of the United States. The author covers every man who has ever served as "Veep" (ending with Dan Quayle), exposing every foible and gaff. I would not recommend this work as a textbook, but it does make an interesting introduction to the men who are completely invisible in most history books.
Customer Reviews:
Essential.......2001-07-10
Riley's and Rimmer's guide is a must-have for serious comsumers of pornography, covering, as it does, the years when (arguably) porn first skirted the crusted fringe of mainstream pop-culture. True, pornography perhaps first demanded critical scrunity when VHS brought it out of the ... booth in the 80s; but such a demand was, at best, muted. But when "Ass Rage 3" and "Natural Bone Drillers" (both given 5 stars in this guide) hit the shelves we witnessed an artistic reclamation which enabled the soi-disant culturally savvy elite to buff the chubster and bandy about terms like "Gen-X kitsch" and "post-PC irony." This tremendous guide is alive to that seminal shift, and indeed provides video-still evidence of several graphic examples of it. Hats off to the authors for such a perceptive treatment.
it was very interresting and very straight to the point ........1998-10-15
I thought that it was a very good book if you like sex and I tried a few of the suggestions on getting to know your lover with my wife and she seemed to enjoy the new me.So that is why I am interrested in futher videos and books.Please give us new material to enjoy!!!!!!!!!!
Average customer rating:
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Puzzles, Perplexities & Obfuscations
George Hardy
Manufacturer: Sterling Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0806982101 |
Book Description
If yours is among the tens of thousands of organizations for whom six- and seven-figure gifts are unattainable, then Andy Robinson's book, Big Gifts for Small Groups, is just the ticket for you and your board.
The subtitle, A Board Member's 1-Hour Guide to Securing Gifts of $500 to $5,000 says it all.
Robinson is the straightest of shooters - a sort of John McCain of fundraising. There literally isn't one piece of advice in this book that's glib or inauthentic. It has all been earned.
As a result of Robinson's `no bull' style, board members and volunteers will instantly take to Big Gifts for Small Groups, confident the author isn't slinging easy bromides.
They'll learn everything they need to know from this one-hour read: how to get ready for the campaign, who to approach, where to find them, where to conduct the meeting, what to bring with you, how to ask, how to make it easy for the donor to give, what to do once you have the commitment - even how to convey your thanks in a memorable way.
Believing that other books already focus on higher sum gifts, the author wisely targets a range that has been neglected: $500 to $5,000. Why? Here's what Robinson says:
• These gifts are large enough to justify the time it takes to develop a prospect list, prepare a letter, follow up with a phone call and visit the prospective donor.
• They're small enough to include a wide range of prospects.
• They're both modest enough to seem feasible to the novice, but also ambitious enough to make it worth their while.
• Taken in the context of a major gifts campaign, with a team of solicitors working together, gifts of $500 to $5,000 can add up to a lot of money.
Robinson has a penchant for good writing and for using exactly the right example or anecdote to illustrate his point.
By the end of the book, your board members and volunteers just may turn to one another and say, "Hey, we can do this" - and genuinely mean it.
Customer Reviews:
Must Read for Boards and Staff.......2006-01-31
Any small to mid-sized nonprofit that requires funding cannot afford to be without Andy Robinson's book. In a nutshell, he demystifies major donor fundraising and makes it accessible to busy board and staff members. In short, direct chapters he helps remove people's natural fear of the process and instills the sense that asking for money is not only honorable but also incredibly rewarding.
Great book for learning how to fundraise.......2006-01-12
What I like most about this book is that it's so practical and seems so doable. I know that most ordinary citizens would probably choose a root canal over the prospect of having to ask someone for a big ($500 to $5000) donation, even for a cause they really care about. But with the help of this book, you'll feel confident that you could really do the things that the author, Andy Robinson, is suggesting. Why? Because Andy de-mystifies the process of fundraising by breaking it down into easily conceivable steps. And, you feel like you can trust him because he seems like a regular guy, not a superhero. If he's done it, then you can too. I like that he shares what's worked for him. An added benefit -- you can read this enjoyable book in less than an hour. (Of course, you'll want to pick it up again and again for its handy advice.)
Small Book, Big Advice!.......2005-02-04
Robinson has written an excellent and pithy introduction to the art of soliciting gifts - it's a relief to have the advice written in a clear and concise manner that's just right for the board member who has any trepidation at all about asking for money but wants a quick primer on how to make a significant difference in their fundraising skills.
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful Book!
- Five Stars
- Blast from the past with a pilgrim girl
- Pretty Good Look at Pilgrim Life
- A View of the Unexplored Fronteir
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A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620 (Dear America Series)
Kathryn Lasky
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
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Binding: Library Binding
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Similar Items:
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Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, R.M.S. Titanic 1912 (Dear America Series)
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Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847 (Dear America Series)
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I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembly, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony 1691 (Dear America Series)
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Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan (Dear America)
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Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America)
ASIN: 059050214X |
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Book!.......2007-09-23
I've read almost all of the Dear America series! These are excellent books to read to nursing home patients!
These books take you into the past; into the lives of the people of the time period.
Patience Whipple showed profound courage and strength by overcoming heartbreaking odds to survive.
Highly recommend this book!
Five Stars.......2007-08-08
A wonderful beginning to the Dear America Series. Remember Patience Whipple better known as Mem is a twelve year old girl on the Mayflower with her parents and little sister Blessing. Set up in a diary form Mem writes about the voyage, her new friend Hummy and her experiences on the Mayflower and the first couple months at Plymouth Rock. She meets one of the Native Americans Squanto, experiences losing her new friend Hummy, her mother's illness and death, and her father's remarriage. Kathryn Lasky made Mem such a delightful and wonderful girl and paints a vivid picture of life on the Mayflower and at Plymouth Rock.
Blast from the past with a pilgrim girl.......2006-08-05
Remember Patience Whipple is a pilgrim child on the Mayflower. When Remember comes ashore, things get tough. Lots of people are dying, including a member of her family, and it's harder still when her best friend has to go back to Holland. I first saw the movie version of this book, and I just had to read it. After a slow beginning, it gets better and better. This is not quite as good as the other "Dear America" books that I have enjoyed--but like the other books, this one made me feel as though I was back in the past with the characters.
Pretty Good Look at Pilgrim Life.......2006-06-01
This is a pretty good book about a pilgrim girl coming to America in the early 17th century. I give it four stars because even though the writing is descriptive and well-paced, the main character is too headstrong and stereotypical for me. Also, I didn't feel any really strong emotions while reading this book. However, I do recommend it as a beginner for the series because it is set before any of the other books in the series.
A View of the Unexplored Fronteir.......2006-01-20
The book A Journey to the New World is the fictional yet accurate account of the pilgrims' settlement in America, the new world, to be free from the king's religious oppression. The story is told in diary form, through young Remember Patience Whipple, making it easier for younger readers to comprehend but benefit in full. The book is the beginning of a new nation, an unexplored future of pain and suffering, joy and happiness. The book is finly illustrated; another great accomplishment by Kathryn Lasky.
Customer Reviews:
A tremendously original and thought- provoking work .......2004-10-17
This is one of the rare works which seem to explain new realities in a way which no one else before has grasped. It is the kind of work that gives a ' whole new picture of what is happening'. And if for this alone this work would be of great value.
I am by no means a media expert and cannot really comment on many of the claims of the work .
Its virtues are in calling attention to the new media( mainly television) and understanding how it changed our perception of the world, and of ourselves.
The basic MacLuhan distinction between hot and cold media between those which give us a lot of information and those which require our own greater participation in creating the reality , seems to me sensible to a degree. But where MacLuhan lost me was in his celebration of the present reality, the new culture.
I for one have the old- fashioned sense of the superiority of the reading world to the television world- the superiority of the kind of minds it produces.
I too think MacLuhan was over- optimistic in seeing the ' global village' as a kind of positive development for mankind. The fact is our world today is tremendously complex politically, fragmented in not necessarily wonderful ways.
It is possible to argue that this work ' foresaw ' the Internet, but even if this were the case it seems to me that we still have to consider the overall question of the meaning, value and virtue of the Internet.
Mankind's situation I want to suggest is much much more complex than ' the media is the message' in the ' global village' suggests.
I do not again think I have even begun to do justice to the richness and variety of MacLuhan's insights.
I just here would like to register the view that I do not believe that he really has given us ' the key' to understanding our world. I would even go farther and say however rich the understanding he provides about the media, and their relation to each other- he too is far from the last word in this. The questions now raised by the Internet world I think are in many ways outside those he considered.
Like all important thinkers he too is limited by the Time which has come after, bringing developments and problems he could not be expected to foresee.
Books:
- Ziggy, A Rumor In His Own Time
- A Pocket Dictionary of Greek and Roman Gods and Goddesses
- Acts of Engagement: Writings on Art, Criticism, and Institutions, 1993-2002 (Culture and Politics Series)
- Adventures With Rare Coins
- Anthony Quinn's Eye: A Lifetime of Creating and Collecting Art
- Antiquing New York: The Guide to the Antique Dealers of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Upstate New York
- Approaching the Magic Hour: Memories of Walter Anderson
- Art in Small Scale Societies: Contemporary Readings
- Art Market Research: A Guide to Methods and Sources
- Art of Grace and Passion: Antique American Indian Art
Books Index
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