Author Lecture and Book Signing

Danforth Museum of Art, 123 Union Ave, Framingham, MA | Get Directions »
FREE

Martha Buskirk, author of the book Creative Enterprise: Contemporary Art Between Museum and Marketplace will be speaking and signing her books at the Danforth Museum, Framingham, Mass., at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 10.  The lecture is free with museum admission.

Buskirk is professor of art history and criticism at Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA.  She is also author of The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art (MIT Press, 2003) as well as co-editor of The Duchamp Effect (MIT Press, 1996).

In this book, Buskirk explores the complicated relationship between art and business, and shows that the two cannot remain separate if contemporary art is to reach the public.  Even as art remains an idealized activity, it is also understood as a profession and as a business, particularly as practiced by star artists who preside over branded product lines.

“Buskirk works through individual artists’ motivations with clear descriptions of the art works, and while she listens intently to the makers’ stated intentions she nonetheless enjoys critically examining the works in the context of similar artistic provocations and pushing on their often overlooked conceptual gaps,” says Bill Arning, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. “This is a great primer for both neophytes and arts professionals trying to clearly see the place of nontraditional artworks in today’s museum landscape.”