Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice..., J.F. Martel
Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice..., J.F. Martel
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Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice
A Treatise, Critique, and Call to Action (Manifesto)

Author: J.F. Martel, Donna Tartt

Narrator: J.F. Martel, Donna Tartt

Unabridged: 4 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 05/21/2024


Synopsis

A compelling call to rediscover the transformative power of art in an age of distraction, coercion, and spectacle – featuring an introduction from Pulitzer Prize–winning author Donna Tartt

In Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, J. F. Martel offers a compelling and incisive meditation on the nature of art in a world dominated by invasive media, rampant consumer culture, and artificial intelligence. Drawing on a wide range of examples, from Paleolithic cave art to contemporary cinema, Martel argues that true art reveals the unseen forces shaping our existence—forces that transcend politics, technology, and even culture. In contrast to artifice, which seeks to manipulate or distract, authentic art calls us back to the essence of things, opening “rifts” onto the sublime and the weird and reconnecting us with the radical mystery at the heart of the world. 
 
Featuring an introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Donna Tartt, this edition also includes a new afterword by the author, reflecting on the continued relevance of art in our increasingly mediated world.

Reviews

Goodreads review by John on May 13, 2015

[This book was in-demand at the library, so I had to take it back before writing a review; hence the lack of quotation below, a defect I have tried to correct with rich re-description of the text.] At the end of the 18th century, with the Enlightenment giving way to Romanticism, German poet and playw......more

Goodreads review by Dominic on February 21, 2015

A must-read thriller of the mind for every artist, or aspiring artist, and a refreshing humanities course wrapped into one humble yet mighty tome. Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice: A Treatise, Critique, and Call to Action Like the astronaut film ‘The Right Stuff,’ 'Reclaiming Art in the Age......more

Goodreads review by Regan on January 22, 2023

This little book has become my studio bible: I open it randomly for beacon and support when the voices of fear and loathing come a bit too close. Martel is eloquent, discerning, discriminating and deliciously specific as he deftly identifies the climate and character of (American? Capitalist) societ......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on January 03, 2019

Entertaining and erudite, this book creates an argument, replete with examples from high and low culture over the millennia and from different regions, for the continuing relevance of Art in our age of Artifice. One finds oneself nodding in unconscious agreement, for the arc of dialogic imagination......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan on July 12, 2024

Provocative, fascinating, and a joy to read (as long as you find words like “imaginal” and phrases like “chaosmos of dream images and correspondences” charming, which I do).......more