Abstraction

and Other Tales of Art and Impropriety

£10.00

In Abstraction and Other Tales of Art and Impropriety Nick de Ville offers seven short-story distillations of art world happenstance and conceit based on his own experiences. He introduces an entertaining cast of characters who find themselves in situations foregrounding some of the many nuances that impact the definitions of what constitutes a work of art. The collection comprises art world insights, career aspirations, chance encounters and the impact of timing on how these elements determine the way life plays out.

Abstraction is a tale of the power of painting to turn legacy into liability, while Ideology finds a scholarly dispute leading to a questionable death. Verity tells how appreciation of Andrea del Sarto causes a delightful confusion, and Song Cycle recounts a petty criminal’s redemption through art. Rom-Com charts a scriptwriter’s despair at having to pen a sentimental comedy in a time of cynicism and strife. California Cars proposes that an automobile, like a dog, is sometimes an intensification of the character of its owner, something that can cause awkward consequences, while The Racist is the chronicle of a refugee’s contact with Western connoisseurship.

Published on 17 November in a strictly limited edition of 200, each copy of Abstraction and Other Tales of Art and Impropriety is hand-signed by the author.

Cover image: Nick de Ville Display II (Ghery), 2022 © the artist

About the author

Nick de Ville is Emeritus Professor of Visual Art, Goldsmiths, University of London. Being an artist who places art at the centre of things he is naturally disappointed by the state of the world, yet remains hopeful, a hope leavened by the aspirations of his many students who have proved themselves capable of wonderful things.