SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE BREAD AND ROSES AWARD FOR RADICAL
PUBLISHING 'Irreverent provocative and funny' Dazed 'This book might change the way you
look at art or change the way you feel it' Daisy Hildyard 'A full-throated defence of the
inherent value of making experiencing and talking about art' Frieze 'Let me stay there let
me paint. Let me go to bed when the sun comes up. I don't want life to sharpen me.' Why make
art? Faced with a capitalist system that has turned art into artwork and creative expression
into cut-throat competition why do so many artists try anyway? In this eye-opening journey
through the bizarre world of contemporary art criticism duo The White Pube tell the story of
art like never before. Poor Artists follows aspiring artist Quest Talukdar through childhood
obsessions art school lessons and her professional debut. In surreal encounters with other
artists Quest learns profound truths about money and power and must decide whether she cares
more about success or staying true to herself. Blending imaginative storytelling with dialogue
from anonymized interviews with real people in the art world who have all had to wrestle with
the same decisions - including a Turner Prize winner or two a few ghosts a Venice Biennale
fraudster and a communist messiah - Poor Artists is a powerful testimony to the emotional
existential and financial experience of artists today.
