How to Write About Contemporary Art by Williams, Gilda -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page About the Author Other titles of Interest Dedication Acknowledgments Contents Introduction

1. There is no single ‘best’ way to write about art 2. ‘International Art English’ 3. Anyone can learn to write competently about art

Section One: The Job: Why Write about Contemporary Art?

1. Explaining v. evaluating 2. Art-words and artworks 3. Artist/dealer/curator/critic/blogger/‘Kunstworker’/journalist/historian 4. Out of the blue: where art-criticism came from 5. Art-writing sans frontières

Section Two: The Practice: How to Write About Contemporary Art

1. ‘Fear is the root of bad writing’

2. How to substantiate your ideas

Provide factual or historical evidence Extract visual evidence Pay attention Follow your thinking

3. The audience: grounding specialists and non-specialists 4. Practical ‘how-to’s

Be specific Do not ‘explain’ a dense, abstract idea with another dense, abstract idea Load your text with solid nouns Adjectives: pick one Gorge on the wildest variety of strong, active verbs ‘The road to hell is paved with adverbs.’ Order information logically Organize your thoughts into complete paragraphs Avoid lists Avoid jargon When in doubt, tell a story When still in doubt, make a comparison Simile and metaphor: use with caution Final tips

Section Three: The Ropes: How to Write Contemporary Art Formats

1. How to write an academic essay

Getting started The research question Structure ‘Do’s and ‘don’t’s Further tips

2. ‘Explaining’ texts

How to write a short news article How to write a short descriptive text How to write a press release How to write an auction catalogue entry

3. ‘Evaluating’ texts

How to write an exhibition review for a magazine or blog How to write a review for a newspaper How to write a book review How to write op-ed art journalism How to write a catalogue essay or magazine article

4. How to write an artist’s statement

The ten most common pitfalls (and how to avoid them) How to write about a single artwork

5. Writing formats compared: one artist, many writers

Conclusion

How to read about contemporary art Notes

Resources

Rules of grammar (and when to break them) Beginning a contemporary art library Bibliography and e-sources List of Source Texts List of figures Index Copyright