Bucking the Artworld Tide

Today's artists and art lovers who adhere to a traditional view of art are much like the tiny fishermen in Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa, pictured on this book's front cover. Against all odds, they strive not to be totally submerged by the virtual tsunami of anti-traditional work and supporting critical spin generated by the contemporary artworld. This book is written from their perspective.Comprising more than three decades of contrarian writing and speaking, Bucking the Artworld Tide is both a prequel and a sequel to the author's previous work, Who Says That's Art? A Commonsense View of the Visual Arts. Like that book—lauded by Kirkus Reviews as "forceful and persuasive"—this volume offers a keen appreciation of traditional visual art, as well as trenchant critiques of countless unprecedented inventions since the advent of abstract painting and sculpture in the early twentieth century. In the process, it debunks the flawed theories behind those inventions. A key part of the book constitutes a critique of K–12 art education, which has all too readily embraced the artworld's anti-traditional mindset.