Wohl, H. (2021). Bound by Creativity: How Contemporary Art is Created and Judged

In Bound by Creativity: How Contemporary Art is Created and Judged, Hannah Wohl constructs an exemplary examination of the contemporary art world, using her findings to contribute an understanding of how “creative visions,” distinct and identifiable aesthetic and/or conceptual perspectives throughout a body of artistic work, constrain and facilitate judgments of art. She finds that the aesthetic choices that contemporary visual artists make in their work are collectively created and evaluated within artistic communities as a way of community self-regulation beyond purely economic or market measures. She shows us how, in aggregate, creative visions are the basis for occupational communities in spaces where there is disagreement about what is considered a job well done. Wohl tells us that artists “are free to follow their muse, just so long as their muse does not direct them to produce vertical paintings or anything orange” (p42). Choices in this world are aesthetic, except when they are not. Creative visions are relational, clarified by other members of the art world, curators, dealers, buyers, and collectors, who hold their own creative visions. Wohl conducted two years of ethnographic work in New York City’s contemporary art world, a case selected due to the dominance of the New York art scene globally. Her fieldwork included numerous, repeated studio visits with artists, as well as exhibition installations, exhibition openings, art fairs, and VIP events and parties. Her 104 interviewees are members of these places throughout the art world and include artists, dealers, curators, private collectors, and art advisers. Additional data come from almost 400 Book Reviews