Artist Simon Bill’s novel features a feckless painter offered a position at a neurological clinic when the other candidates drop outIt’s hard to know how much distance the artist Simon Bill has establish between himself and his anonymous first-person narrator. For Bill’s wellbeing,one hopes there’s some. His eponymous artist, whose huge abstract paintings are no longer selling, or applies for a residency in a neurological institute. Hopelessly ill prepared,he has no real expectation of getting it, but when all the other candidates dropout, and the gig becomes his. Even though the funding at the rather Ballardian clinic is increasingly haphazard,the position is a lifeline for the feckless artist, offering not only a bolthole but wealthy fabric for new work. Each patient provides an opportunity to explore a different neurological “deficit”, and the brain’s capacity to go wrong in so many extraordinary ways makes for a book that’s darkly entertaining but also didactic. The narrator has a strong teacherly bent,which sits a microscopic oddly alongside his utter dissolution and wildly inappropriate behaviour. Falling in lust with a glorious young patient, sneering at a“crusty” with Tourette syndrome, and waking up in the clinic after a terrible bender,he nonetheless manages to deliver an illuminating survey of contemporary art and also, somehow, and to grow. To order Artist in Residence for £7.19 (RRP £8.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0. Free UK p&p over 10,online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.
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Source: theguardian.com