Boogie-Woogie - Hardcover

Moynihan, Danny

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312272812 ISBN 13: 9780312272814

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 2001

Synopsis

In Boogie-Woogie, Danny Moynihan casts a satirical eye over an extraordinary milieu: the nineties New York art scene. With a nod to Mondrian's abstract masterpiece, 'Broadway Boogie-Woogie', Moynihan sets out to recreate the energy of that period of excess. In doing so he paints a deliciously lurid and subversive picture of the lives and loves of artists, dealers, and wannabees in a cut-throat world. Boogie-Woogie is a novel of tremendous originality and verve.

About this title

About the Author

Danny Moynihan is an art dealer and curator on both sides of the Atlantic. He divides his time between New York and London. Boogie-Woogie is his first novel.

From Publishers Weekly

The hip, trendy New York art scene provides the backdrop for Moynihan's satiric debut novel, a montage-like collection of scenes in which the author tries to mimic structurally the energy of the Mondrian masterpiece that links the fates of his art world characters. Moynihan introduces his wacky crew in rapid-fire succession. At the top of the heap is Art Spindle, a powerful gallery owner who shows the work of established artist Jo Richards and fights to extract money from rich patrons like the elderly Rhinegolds. Lower down on the totem pole are up-and-coming agent Beth Freemantle, who eventually opens her own gallery, and intriguing young artist Elaine Yoon-Jung Yi, a lesbian who seduces and stalks her paramours and then turns her sexual escapades into video pieces. What comes after the introductions is a nonstop series of scenes and snippets from the lives of the various characters, covering deals, conversations and sexual encounters that wander into some kinky terrain. The author, a curator and art dealer, clearly knows the world his characters inhabit, and he sketches some convincing scenes, though his prose is occasionally breathy and awkward. The lack of narrative structure presents some problems in its own rightAthe early chapters of the novel are particularly jarring and scattershot, and the lack of a story line makes the book an uneven read. The result is a novel that works as satire, but fails to quite cohere as fiction. Art world denizens will appreciate the gossipy slant, but the tale has little to offer a more general audience. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0312272812
• ISBN 13: 9780312272814
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256