The raucous group known as the Young British Artists burst to fame in the nineties by challenging accepted definitions of art. Their ringleader, Damien Hirst, displayed chopped-up calves in formaldehyde and placed a severed cow's head in a fly-infested vitrine. The story of that generation was amusingly told in 2009 by an insider, Gregor Muir, in 'Lucky Kunst.'
Now comes a book from an outsider. Elizabeth Fullerton -- a longtime Reuters correspondent -- brings journalistic rigor and accuracy to her account, 'Artrage,' prizing objectivity and reported speech over opinion and conjecture.
Fullerton describes the YBAs as 'the most significant group to emerge in Britain since the Pre-Raphaelites' (someone else's words, not hers). Yet she also concedes that, as a group, they fell out of fashion, and that some of their art was 'without doubt superficial, sensationalist and over-reliant on irony.'
Still, this generation of artist-provocateurs deserves to be examined, Fullerton writes. And her account of the rise and rise of the now not-so-young British artists is a well-written as well as a necessary book. Students, researchers and curators looking back in years to come will be grateful for a publication that goes beyond cheering and sneering to document that period of British art history, and document it well.
Now comes a book from an outsider. Elizabeth Fullerton -- a longtime Reuters correspondent -- brings journalistic rigor and accuracy to her account, 'Artrage,' prizing objectivity and reported speech over opinion and conjecture.
Fullerton describes the YBAs as 'the most significant group to emerge in Britain since the Pre-Raphaelites' (someone else's words, not hers). Yet she also concedes that, as a group, they fell out of fashion, and that some of their art was 'without doubt superficial, sensationalist and over-reliant on irony.'
Still, this generation of artist-provocateurs deserves to be examined, Fullerton writes. And her account of the rise and rise of the now not-so-young British artists is a well-written as well as a necessary book. Students, researchers and curators looking back in years to come will be grateful for a publication that goes beyond cheering and sneering to document that period of British art history, and document it well.
