Earl Bronsteen ~ Florida

Contemporary Art Appreciation 101:
How to Understand What's Contemporary Art and What's Snot /Everything You Always Wanted to Ask About Contemporary Art But Were Afraid to Know
By Earl Bronsteen
Boca Raton, Florida: Earl Bronsteen, 2007. Edition of 400.

9 x 11"; 306 pages, heavily illustrated plus inserts (e.g. chewing gum, scratch-n-sniff stickers, air freshener, bumper sticker." In black and white wraps resembling a college student's workbook.

This big hoot (with a lot of owl behind it) is a spoof that takes on contemporary art, art appreciation, art theory, art criticism, and a forest of other things. It's wild, irreverent, abrasive, dismissive, politically incorrect, witty, and fun. For those who crave the full higher education experience, there are a Midterm and Final Exam.

Earl Bronsteen: "Having had an exciting exhibition of my art at O.K. Harris in the summer of '05, I feel even more qualified to pass on my knowledge and understanding of contemporary art to readers who may have experienced difficulty understanding some of the art they have seen exhibited in contemporary museums and galleries.

"In this course you will learn once and for all what's contemporary art and what's snot!

"To make this course simple, each lesson is devoted to the work of one famous contemporary artist. This book will help you understand why a specific work by a particular artist has been exhibited in museums or galleries, when at first blush you might think it belongs in a garbage dump."

Judith Hoffberg, Umbrella, March 2008: "Contemporary Art Appreciation 101 by Earl Bronsteen (Boca Raton, FL, 2006, softcover) is a weighty tome housed in covers of your typical Dalmatian (black and white) school notebook, subtitled How to Understand What’s Contemporary Art and What’s Snot, citing that the book contains (on the cover) "Everything You Always Wanted to Ask about Contemporary Art but were afraid to know." It’s a heavy course, covering current trends in contemporary art and individual artists such as John Currin, Lisa Yuskavage, Janine Antoni, Tom Friedman and all those other artists who have made a "name" for themselves in all the art journals and newspapers. But there is tongue in cheek all the way through this amazing book! It’s intense, comprehensive, gossipy, highly illustrated, full of nudes, covering all the bases as indicated in the introduction, where Bronsteen says that"This book will help you understand why a specific work by a particular artist has been exhibited in museums or galleries, when at first blush you might think it belongs in a garbage dump." Indications on the back cover show that the headquarters for the "Earl Bronsteen Online School" is located in delightful, downtown Delhi open 24/7. If Bronsteen didn’t have a crew of elves, then he obviously knows how to create a labor-intensive project with special inserts such as a balloon, chewing gum, air freshener for artists who study abroad, a condom made in India, postcards, Nodoz, stickers, a tintype and so much more. And believe it or not, you do learn a lot about the "art scene" wherever it is. There’s even a bumper sticker that reads "My student is an honor student at Earl Bronsteen’s School of Contemporary Art.

"If for any reason you’re not interested in Contemporary Art, there are plenty of social mores, diversions, style questions, lifestyle details, and so much more. You can smile while even thinking of "taking a class."
$225