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Rating: 
Summary: punk 'zine for the art world
Review: It's not a matter of whether or not you should buy this book; if you're interested in American art world goings-on then you're kind of obligated to--Coagula is the only art criticism that pointedly addresses the art MARKET (and how the art/artists exist within it).You'd think there would be more punks (as in anti-corporate, anti-authority--not as in the most girlish boy in the jailhouse) in the art world, but while there's tons of punk art FANS, there's virtually no punk dealers, writers, or even--surprisingly enough--punk visual ARTISTS (as these guys know, deflating such wanna-bes or once-weres as Chris Burden, Mike Kelley, even Pollock. Granted, it's hard to be punk when your livelihood depends on a certain elitist realm of society embracing you & your work, so it's no surprise that successful anti-establishment [oxymoron?] artists don't stay that way). Dealers, writers, and artists are so intensely dependent on one another that they all allow each other to get away with murder, and it takes a couple punks like these 2 guys to tell it like it is (Peter Schjeldahl does a good job of it, but these guys have nothing to lose and it shows.) This book covers 5 years of Coagula from the mid-90s, but its scope is rather small; it's entirely about LA and NYC (it doesn't profess to address anything more) and is mostly written by one guy in each city, and they do seem to keep coming back to the same artists, dealers, and writers...though that's probably just a reflection of the fact that the NY and LA art worlds are driven by a small and incestuous circle. There's also a weird west-coasty fixation on performance art (Karen Finley's their recently-crowned Artist of The Decade), some curiously violent bile toward some seemingly benign folks (Frank Stella gets it BAD), and lots of bullets at easy targets, but the writing is so consistently smart & funny & ACCURATE! (It's not all negative though--they aggressively, and intelligently, champion the artists and art-world-peeps they like.) Look, though you may admit it to no one but yourself, you're probably intimidated by certain people in the art world, confused by the art magazines, and made to feel dumb for not "getting" certain artists. This book will make you trust yourself--and laugh.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and biting.
Review: This bile-filled indictment of the art world deserves praise for its honesty and its humor. If you know about art, but don't feel like you're part of the world, buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: True art history
Review: This book is somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars, but I bet people will rate it quite differently. Coagula magazine is pretty much Matt Gleason and Charlie "Janet Preston" Finch bitching about the capitalist motives behind the contemporary art world. The emphasis here is on the art WORLD, not really the art. I think if you boiled all their ranting down to one argument it would be something like, "The contemporary art world suffers from compromised objectives and financial self-interest due to art world particpants performing dual duties such as the collector-curator, critic-collector, etc." This book's strong points:
- The articles are short so if you don't like what you're reading, just move along
- Nasty name calling can be funny
- Every so often they make a very good point This book's weak points:
- "L.A., Christopher Knight, L.A., Christopher Knight, L.A., Christopher Knight, L.A., Christopher Knight, L.A., Christopher Knight, L.A., Christopher Knight..." SHUT UP ALREADY!!
- They seem to have rejected theory whole-hog and it brings to mind that baby / bath water saying
- Too much boo-hoo whining, not enough alternative suggestions or action
- Doesn't age well. The articles might be interesting when they're published, but who cares why Bobby-Jo's performance art was too corporate for your liking in 1994?
- They blow their whole "Look, Ma! I'm punk!" act on page 169 when they outright reject the Art Watcher's brilliant suggestions for making art more democratic - that was lame
Rating:
Summary: True art history
Review: This book was a gift and what most impressed me was that I easily understood the essays, but none of them sacraficed intelligence (or humor) to make their point. The ease at which the Coagula writers discuss sophisticated art and artists is the true gem of this book, despite its being packaged as a gossip sheet rewind. Nobody here is trying to sound intelligent, they already are and aim their brains at the despicable cretins controlling art careers and museums.
Rating:
Summary: Mandatory reading to navigate the '90s art world
Review: This book, a "best of" of a magazine called Coagula, is one of those things that tells the horrible, horrible truth in such a funny way that it makes the sad facts of life in the artworld tolerable. The best thing about this book is that it is fearless to expose the art world powerful as the rude snobs they probably are. If you want to know about the inner workings of the art world and the gallery system and the museums, this is the book. If you want a record of the art world in the 1990s, this was written while it was happening, like an eyewitness to train wreck. The title might imply that it is a sarcastic attack on the excesses of art, but it actually is pro-artist and against the powerful art dealers who ruin careers at a whim and only care about money and prestige. If you read Tom Wolfe's Painted Word, this is like a retort, defending the freedom of artists but acknowledging the faults of the system. The art criticism is actually comprehensible and not interested with trying to seem "intelligent" The Coagula Magazine has its roots in the L.A. Punk Scene and it is like a punk "zine" (magazine) for the art world, not afraid to step on toes. Jennifer Wallace Struggling Artist
Rating: 
Summary: Ignore the establishment
Review: Walter wrote the foreword to the book. It is a compilation of many authors and many articles, all from Coagula Art Journal. This book is to let the art world know that the people who it looks down its nose on are looking down on it, through the scope of a loaded rifle!
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