Most Art Sucks: Coagula Art Journal and the Art of the 1990's

by Walter Robinson and Tom Patchett

Dubbed "the National Enquirer of the Art World" by the New York Post, Coagula Art Journal stands alone among art publications in its iconoclastic, irreverent commentary on the New York and Los Angeles... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889195162
• ISBN13: 9781889195162
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Smart Art Press
• Length: 198 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Most Art Sucks; Five Years of Coagula

As a professional artist I am always studying the art world with it's reknowned and supposedly educated curators, critics and artists. Charlie Finch (ArtNet News) is one of the top critical eyes out there in the trenches. Finally got around to ordering the book "Most Art Sucks; Five Years of Coagula" and thoroughly enjoyed reading the written observations of the blatant nepotism and cronyism in that field that should come as no surprise to anyone who works in that field. Very insightful and worth the small price. Was very happy with the vendor (mayasmarket) that delivered the book in the described condition in a prompt manner. -Craig Cheply [...].

Most contemporary art sucks

Walter Robinson and Charlie Finch are the leanest, meanest critics in the business. If they write that your art sucks, they're not kidding. These guys have seen it all and then some, so poseurs beware. Looking forward to the long overdue, More Art Sucks.

True art history

This book was a gift and what most impressed me was that I easily understood the essays, but none of them sacraficed intelligence (or humor) to make their point. The ease at which the Coagula writers discuss sophisticated art and artists is the true gem of this book, despite its being packaged as a gossip sheet rewind. Nobody here is trying to sound intelligent, they already are and aim their brains at the despicable cretins controlling art careers and museums.

Funny and biting.

This bile-filled indictment of the art world deserves praise for its honesty and its humor. If you know about art, but don't feel like you're part of the world, buy this book.

Mandatory reading to navigate the '90s art world

This book, a "best of" of a magazine called Coagula, is one of those things that tells the horrible, horrible truth in such a funny way that it makes the sad facts of life in the artworld tolerable. The best thing about this book is that it is fearless to expose the art world powerful as the rude snobs they probably are. If you want to know about the inner workings of the art world and the gallery system and the museums, this is the book. If you want a record of the art world in the 1990s, this was written while it was happening, like an eyewitness to train wreck. The title might imply that it is a sarcastic attack on the excesses of art, but it actually is pro-artist and against the powerful art dealers who ruin careers at a whim and only care about money and prestige. If you read Tom Wolfe's Painted Word, this is like a retort, defending the freedom of artists but acknowledging the faults of the system. The art criticism is actually comprehensible and not interested with trying to seem "intelligent" The Coagula Magazine has its roots in the L.A. Punk Scene and it is like a punk "zine" (magazine) for the art world, not afraid to step on toes.Jennifer Wallace Struggling Artist