Seven Days in the Art World

I just finished reading Sarah Thornton's Seven Days in the Art World

It is an interesting read for any artists or person interested in the art world.  But it's dogged focus on the commercial side of things prompted me to write this letter to her....

To Sarah Thorton

I have just finished reading your book, Seven Days in the Art World, and I wanted to tell you what an amazing book it was and a great peek into the international art world. But what I felt was a gaping omission from the book was any description of the more alternative side of the art world. The only chapter that didn't revolve in some way around the commercial aspect of the art world was the chapter on the crit.




I run an Artist Run Gallery in Melbourne Australia that is completely run by volunteers and takes no commission on sales. It is this part of the art world that I am most passionate about and try to put my energy into. I recently went to New York, not to see the galleries in Chelsea, or in Soho, but to see the alternative spaces in Brooklyn. Every part of the world must have amazingly talented artists who will never appeared in Artforum or at the Venice biennial or even be represented by a big name commercial gallery. That are working tirelessly out there making interesting things happen and are involved in the creation of work that is a lot more interesting than what is being shown in the main stream.




That said, your book was an amazing glimpse into a world that seems alien to me which is a great thing about it. A chapter about the unsuccessful much larger side of the art world might be a boring experience for the reader any way. I will be following your writing from now on, thank you for a great book.




Regards

Alister Karl