Ben Luke, What is art for? Contemporary artists on their influences, inspirations and disciplines. HENI Publishing, 2025 As I read What is Art For?, which is due out in September, I kept thinking about the title of Raymond Carver's short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Because the book could have easily been called What We Talk About When We Talk About Art. That's what it is: people talking about art.
Art critic and podcaster Ben Luke singled out 25 contemporary artists and had conversations with them. He asked each of them certain core questions, like who was the first artist whose work they loved, what do they have pinned to their studio walls, what museum or gallery do they most frequently visit … But while each subject was asked the main questions, Luke allowed the discussions to veer off into whatever tangents and detours they naturally took. But he always concluded the chats with the ultimate query, what is art for?
The artists represented come from all over the globe. Between all of them, they work in a wide variety of media and disciplines: painting, sculpture, photography, collage, mixed media, installations, videography, sound pieces, found art, and more. Before launching into each of the conversations, Luke offers a brief yet thorough biographical and artistic sketch of each of the subjects. The book also includes a generous sampling of all of their works.
It's interesting to follow the discussions, to hear what motivates these different artists. One common theme that emerges is how many of them use art to make sociopolitical statements about world events around them, particularly instances where some groups of people are being or have been unfairly persecuted by oppressive wrongdoers. I especially enjoyed the parts of the chats where Luke asked all of them what works in media besides the fine arts engage them; I liked hearing about the music they listen to, the books they read, the films they watch, etc. And their answers to that key question of what they see art as being for are eye-opening.
The book is an excellent means by which interested parties can get turned on to the creative output of a group of contemporary artists of whom they may not have otherwise heard. And not just those Luke talked to, because in those chats they all mention other current artists whose output they admire. As one leafs through the 400-page tome, they might feel inclined to make a list of artists they want to check out further or follow on social media.
The primary criticism I have of What is Art For? is that it's a bit of a slog to digest. The conversations, while often interesting, go on and on and start to become monotonous. Luke is a practiced podcaster, and these chats would play well as broadcasts one could listen to, one at a time over separate airings. But to sit and read 400 pages of mostly conversations is a grind. For the purpose of the book, Luke would have been well advised to shorten each chat, to make the pages turn a little more fluidly. Of course, as a reviewer I needed to read it from cover to cover, but others don't necessarily need to experience it in that manner. It can work well as a coffee table book one can skip and skim through, pausing to read more intently when they come across an artist to whose work they feel especially drawn.
