Contemporary art is a stumper to most people and for good reason. At any given exhibition, one might see a giant cage with wires individually wrapped in faux fur or a crushed oil barrel, two of many examples I saw at Art Basel Miami. At a gallery opening, journalist Bianca Bosker describes a plasticky black seagull dangling near the floor.

It does help if the viewers have context or a willingness to create their own. Bosker says concept is the fundamental issue that determines what is and isn't art. It can also be a cudgel. Jack Barrett of 315 Gallery (now Jack Barrett Gallery) is the first gallerist daring enough to give journalist Bosker a peek into the contemporary art machine. Writers are pariahs in that business, and few would let her in. She said Barrett was down to earth one minute and critical the next, picking on her clothing choices, jewelry, and makeup. As a gallery owner, he is one of the components of context, and he said her very presence lowered his coolness. Apparently, The Aesthetic Self is an unsound Jenga tower, and journalists instinctively know which block to pull.

In defense of context, consider Puryear's Big Phrygian. It might look like a red cedar cone that resembles a drooping garden gnome's hat. With context, we know it is based on the "red cap of liberty" headgear worn by ancient Rome's emancipated slaves. And for that reason, it is a powerful visual.

Puryear's example is a good one for putting in the effort to gain visual literacy, but what about the performance art discussed in this book? While I can't or won't explain what one man considers art, I will say this: if he performed it in any public venue other than a gallery opening, law enforcement would be called, and X/Twitter would burst into a raging fire of anger. Then there's the "butt influencer" whose followers make it clear that their interest in her backside is not of aesthetic origin. Some were hesitant about whether the woman's act constitutes art, but Bosker glommed onto her because she made her wrestle with ideas about life. So does seeing the aftermath of a fatal automobile accident, but that's not art. Bosker's argument is lazy.

With all these headwinds, why bother with contemporary art or art at all? Because rigorous science suggests that engaging in art is central to our identity. Indeed, our predecessors were creating art before they invented the more utilitarian wheel. Humans seem to have a deep connection to the act of creating or viewing visual interpretations of our struggles, values, wants, needs, hopes and aspirations.

The staying power of art is its ability to transcend physical cravings and speak to that part of us that is, as Ernest Becker says, up in the stars, beyond the bounds of our heart-pumping, breath-gasping bodies. Our bodies are with us; the stars are not. An artist's gift is to give them to us.

Many thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Viking and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

If you love the behind the scenes story about how things work, you will thoroughlu enjoy this book. Art isn't always pretty, but it certainly is interesting...