Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See

The bestselling author known for her “gonzo élan” (Jennifer Senior, The New York Times) takes readers on another fascinating, hilarious, and revelatory journey—this time burrowing deep inside the impassioned, secretive world of art and artists

In Cork Dork, Bianca Bosker trained her insatiable curiosity, journalist’s knack for infiltrating exclusive circles, and eye for unforgettable characters on the wine world as she trained to become a sommelier, learning a tremendous amount about wine, and the people who love it, in the process. Now she brings her whip-smart yet accessible, “unfailingly funny” (San Francisco Chronicle) sensibility along for a ride through another subculture of elite obsessives.

In Get the Picture, Bosker plunges deep inside the world of art and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators, and, of course, artists themselves—the kind who work multiple jobs and let their paintings sleep soundly in the studio while they wake up covered in cat pee on a friend’s couch. As she stretches canvases until her fingers blister, talks her way into A-list parties full of billionaire collectors, has her face sat on by a nearly naked performance artist, and forces herself to stare at a single sculpture for an hour straight while working as a museum security guard, she discovers not only the inner workings of the art-canonization machine but also a more expansive way of living.

Encompassing everything from color theory to evolutionary biology, and from ancient cave paintings to Instagram as it attempts to discern art’s role in our culture, our economy, and our hearts, Get the Picture is a rollicking adventure that will change the way you see forever.