New Book by AICA-USA Member Michelle Kamhi

May 27, 2020

AICA-USA member Michelle Kamhi's new book Bucking the Artworld Tide: Reflections on Art, Pseudo Art, Art Education & Theory was published on May 15, 2020.

According to the author: "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 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. Bucking the Artworld Tide is written from their perspective.

Comprising more than three decades of contrarian writing and speaking, this book 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—which was lauded by Kirkus Reviews as 'forceful and persuasive.' Like that book, this volume offers a solid 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 theoretical assumptions 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."