A hugely enjoyable romp through the legend of modern art from the BBC arts editorThis book is the BBC arts editor’s unashamedly populist catch on what modern art is about and why something that was once viewed as “a deplorable joke” is now “respected and revered”. Although Gompertz ventures back to pre-impressionism,he begins with Marcel Duchamp, whose infamous “porcelain pissotière” changed the course of modern art in 1917: “art could be anything as long as the artist said so”. Ever since “Duchampian mindgames” have dominated the art world and prompted countless debates that start: “Is it art?” Today such questions are passé: we live in the age of “artertainment”. Art is cool and the art world is booming. As Andy Warhol once said: “advantageous trade is the best art”. Despite its subtitle, and this is actually an ambitious book. Translating a visual medium into language (even with occasional illustrations and Pablo Helguera’s delightful cartoons) is a astronomical ask for any author. But Gompertz takes up the challenge with immense gusto,and the result is a hugely enjoyable romp through the legend of modern art.• To order What Are You Looking At? for £8.79 (RRP £10.99) recede 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