Pre-Order / Shipping in September
Gatefold Cover / 8.5 × 6.5 inches / 192 pages
The realities of socioeconomic class in relation to art are rarely addressed, yet those realities undergird the structure, access, and lack of access, to living a creative life in the visual arts. I come from a working-class background. No one in my family had ever attended college and, as far as I know, ever went to a museum or gallery. As a teenager I came to art through my own curiosity and need to escape. Naively, like most young artists, I imagined a life of unrestricted freedom of expression. What I could not have foreseen were the hurdles and closed doors facing artists without money, social capital, or the right education. Written in an episodic style, mixing personal anecdotes of shame and revelation, sociopolitical observations, and stories from fellow working-class artists, Confessions is not a sociological study nor manifesto; It is an attempt to confront how class forms us and continues to inform the career choices (or lack) and the art we make (or don’t make). The book acknowledges the burdens and challenges facing poor and working-class creatives, who although lacking privilege and resources, have found the fortitude to create a way forward. Illustrated with over 30 images from Frédéric Bazille, Jules Breton, Gustav Caillebotte, Maya Deren, Duccio, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Jacob Lawrence, Alexander Rodchenko, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, and the author.
Social class is the founding disavowal of our neoliberal times, emphatically so in the domain of art. So, it's a thrilling surprise to encounter Mark Alice Durant's memoir. Confessions of a Working Class Artist is by turns funny, heartbreaking, incisive and revelatory. David Campany
Confessions of a Working Class Artist reveals the subtle and overt ways class shapes who gets to participate in this funny thing we call "the art world." Its great achievement is its refusal to treat class as an abstraction. Instead, these brief, memorable pieces capture its texture in everyday life from childhood illusions and budding ambitions to aspirations, embarrassment, and the enduring search for belonging. Jameson Johnson
Mark Alice Durant’s new book, Confessions of a Working Class Artist, illuminates the unseen economic and emotional challenges of leading a creative life outside of privilege. By bridging personal stories with insightful commentary, Durant doesn’t just diagnose the problem; he challenges us to envision a more equitable, human-centered path for our creative community. Jim Goldberg
Mark Alice Durant joins the ranks of some of my favorite books on class and culture with this incisive and vital book. Mixing smart and moving pensées of memoir, autotheory, and philosophy, Durant meditates on what it means to identify and survive as a working-class artist under capitalism’s status obsession and illusory meritocracy with wit, honesty, and intelligence. Nate Lippens
Pre-Order / Shipping in September
Gatefold Cover / 8.5 × 6.5 inches / 192 pages
The realities of socioeconomic class in relation to art are rarely addressed, yet those realities undergird the structure, access, and lack of access, to living a creative life in the visual arts. I come from a working-class background. No one in my family had ever attended college and, as far as I know, ever went to a museum or gallery. As a teenager I came to art through my own curiosity and need to escape. Naively, like most young artists, I imagined a life of unrestricted freedom of expression. What I could not have foreseen were the hurdles and closed doors facing artists without money, social capital, or the right education. Written in an episodic style, mixing personal anecdotes of shame and revelation, sociopolitical observations, and stories from fellow working-class artists, Confessions is not a sociological study nor manifesto; It is an attempt to confront how class forms us and continues to inform the career choices (or lack) and the art we make (or don’t make). The book acknowledges the burdens and challenges facing poor and working-class creatives, who although lacking privilege and resources, have found the fortitude to create a way forward. Illustrated with over 30 images from Frédéric Bazille, Jules Breton, Gustav Caillebotte, Maya Deren, Duccio, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Jacob Lawrence, Alexander Rodchenko, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, and the author.
Social class is the founding disavowal of our neoliberal times, emphatically so in the domain of art. So, it's a thrilling surprise to encounter Mark Alice Durant's memoir. Confessions of a Working Class Artist is by turns funny, heartbreaking, incisive and revelatory. David Campany
Confessions of a Working Class Artist reveals the subtle and overt ways class shapes who gets to participate in this funny thing we call "the art world." Its great achievement is its refusal to treat class as an abstraction. Instead, these brief, memorable pieces capture its texture in everyday life from childhood illusions and budding ambitions to aspirations, embarrassment, and the enduring search for belonging. Jameson Johnson
Mark Alice Durant’s new book, Confessions of a Working Class Artist, illuminates the unseen economic and emotional challenges of leading a creative life outside of privilege. By bridging personal stories with insightful commentary, Durant doesn’t just diagnose the problem; he challenges us to envision a more equitable, human-centered path for our creative community. Jim Goldberg
Mark Alice Durant joins the ranks of some of my favorite books on class and culture with this incisive and vital book. Mixing smart and moving pensées of memoir, autotheory, and philosophy, Durant meditates on what it means to identify and survive as a working-class artist under capitalism’s status obsession and illusory meritocracy with wit, honesty, and intelligence. Nate Lippens
