Art Monsters

“The book like the body is teaching us how to read it.” Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art is a strange beast of a book, in which Lauren Elkin so seamlessly threads together a whole host of complex and disparate ideas about art and bodies and feminism, blending art criticism with literary criticism, and interpolating some art history and personal memoir elements for good measure. It is a work, like many of the ones Elkin explores within, that should not work but absolutely does. Having only read Elkin’s (truly excellent) bus diaries, and the occasional short piece, I had no idea what to expect — maybe a more straightforward, neat little narrative, a chronological arrow about representations and uses of the body, mostly female, in art made by women. Instead, Elkin is elliptical, unafraid to see how contemporary filmmakers and twentieth century writers and seventeenth century artists are all working in conversation with one another, consciously or otherwise. This is the first, but I hope not the last, book where I have seen Lady Gaga’s name printed next to Susan Sontag’s, not far from Simone Weil, a thrill that may be unique to me, but still reveals Elkin’s eclectic, irreverent approach to the subject at hand. She also plays on the multiplicity of the titular ‘monsters’ as both noun and verb: to monster. Herein lies a great achievement of Elkin’s work, putting the work before the artist, itself a monstrous thing, overthrowing old narratives: “monstrosity, […] in its broadest, most marvellous form, dwells more in the surprise of the work, than the personal life of the artist making it”. Rather than answers, questions are offered like windows, letting light in by which to read, to view; to paint, to write.

Wow! Lauren Elkin has delivered with this fascinating deep dive into feminist art and its use of the female body. From Simone Weil to Lady Gaga, Elkin has woven such an eclectic mix of female art Monsters bookended by Virginia Woolfs musings from her bath. Ultimately the book is ‘ a pointed reminder that whether we’re loved for our bodies or our brains, we are nothing but meat’ within the patriarchal society we live.

This was such an incredible book. As someone who studies feminist art history and also communication theory, many of the concepts brought up in these pages were very familiar, and unsurprising, but seeing it in a mainstream book like this is beautiful. Usually this kind of theory work is locked inside of academia, so I'm glad texts like this exist outside of graduate programs and universities.

This is my favorite non-fiction book I've read all year, and I cannot wait for it to come out to purchase a physical copy! This book was so informative and truly exciting! I took more notes than I have while reading any book, maybe ever. I think Lauren Elkin is a wonderful writer and I was delighted to see that the title, Art Monsters, was inspired by Jenny Offill's Dept. of Speculation, which is a beloved book of mine. Thank you Lauren for this amazing book!