Funny Weather ★★★★☆

Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★☆

Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Lang is a collection of essays about resilient artists.

I read this as an audiobook checked out from the library.

Mostly biographical essays, Lang discusses artists throughout history that have struggled in times of crisis. From Jean Basquiat when he was homeless to Agnes Martin who struggled with schizophrenia and Sargy Mann who painted despite the cataracts that blinded him - artists teach us new ways of moving through and looking at the world. Lang discusses artists who lived and died through the AIDS crisis including Derek Jarmon and David Wonjarowicz as well as women writers who were alcoholics including Jean Rhys and Jane Bowles. Finally, Lang ends with Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, who showed us how to be ourselves.

It’s been a hot minute since I read a bunch of essays about art. My bachelor’s degree is in fine art and so it was very nastoligic to read this book, a bit like coming home and reconnecting with old friends. There’s no doubt about art having the power to keep us moving forward especially in times of turbulence and Lang did a wonderful job of collecting essays about artist who do just that. I also appreciated how Lang included artists, writers, and musicians - because it’s all art. My favorite new artist that I learned about was John Latham, who was a conceptual artist that used books as his medium! Check him out, I think yal will love it :)

If you liked Funny Weather, I also recommend Dear Theo by Vincent Van Gogh, Diane Arbus by Patricia Bosworth, I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews Edited by Kenneth Goldsmith, and The Daybooks of Edward Weston by Edward Weston.

Happy reading -

Ms.Bjork