The Tastemakers: U.K. Art Now [Paperback]

'A lot more than the Berlin Wall has collapsed since 1989. The landscape that you and I were brought up with, where there was subsidized art here, and commercial art there, where art was one place and rock and roll was another place, and film was something else, has collapsed. We live after an earthquake, which was the collapse of these categories. They collapsed because finally they bore next to no relation to the life that most of us live' - Philip Dodd, ICA --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A wickedly entertaining and irreverent survey of the modern British art scene, by the BBC's Arts Correspondent. To the surprise of some and the outrage of many, the winner of the 2001 Turner Prize was Martin Creed's installation 'The Lights Going On and Off -- a room in which, well, the lights go on and off. Rosie Millard, the BBC's Arts Correspondent, concluded her report about the prize-giving to the evening news by observing that one of the interesting things about the work was that it was 'art you could do at home'. As ever, the shop-front for modern art had lived up to its reputation for controversy. But, tellingly, the 2001 award was presented by none other than Madonna. How had a pop-culture icon infiltrated such a high-culture jamboree? Modern British art, Rosie Millard concludes, *is* popular culture. From advertising to pop music, fashion to film, the BritArt/YBA (Young British Artist) phenomenon has moved art into the mainstream as never before. Her assessment of the movers and shakers from self-styled enfants terribles like Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin to gallery bigwigs like Nicholas Serota shows how this has come about, and where it's likely to lead us. Funny and revealing in equal measure, THE TASTEMAKERS is an essential primer for all those who don't know much about art, but who know what they like.

Rosie Millard has been reporting on television and radio as the BBC's Arts Correspondent for five years. She has covered a huge variety of events from the opening of Tate Modern to the Oscars, and also presents a weekly arts round-up programme on Radio 5 Live (wittily entitled "La Vie en Rose"). She has written features and reviews for all the broadsheets, daily and Sunday. THE TASTEMAKERS is her first book.