33 Artists in 3 Acts

Sarah Thornton

Nov 2014 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

About this audiobook

33 Artists in 3 Acts offers unprecedented access to a dazzling range of artists, from international superstars to unheralded art teachers. Sarah Thornton's beautifully paced, fly-on-the-wall narratives include visits with Ai Weiwei before and after his imprisonment and Jeff Koons as he woos new customers in London, Frankfurt, and Abu Dhabi. She meets Yayoi Kusama in her studio around the corner from the Tokyo asylum that she calls home. She snoops in Cindy Sherman's closet, hears about Andrea Fraser's psychotherapist, and spends quality time with Laurie Simmons, Carroll Dunham, and their daughters Lena and Grace. Through these intimate scenes, 33 Artists in 3 Acts explores what it means to be a real artist in the real world. Divided into three cinematic "acts"-politics, kinship, and craft-it investigates artists' psyches, personas, politics, and social networks. Witnessing their crises and triumphs, Thornton turns a wry, analytical eye on their different answers-and non-answers-to the question, "What is an artist?"

About the author

Sarah Thornton is a writer and sociologist of art. Formerly the chief correspondent on contemporary art for the Economist, she has written for many other publications, including the Guardian and the New Yorker. Sarah holds a BA in art history and a PhD in sociology. She lives in London.

Audie Award finalist Tavia Gilbert is a classical theater and public radio-trained actress who has earned AudioFile Earphones and Parents' Choice awards for her audiobook narrations. Tavia has narrated more than 250 multicast and single-voice audiobooks.