The Map And The Territory
Michel Houellebecq
Knopf, Jan 3 2012, $26.95
ISBN: 978-0307701558
Jed Martin started off as a photographer of industrial artifacts. He turned to taking pictures of Michelin Road maps that became successful as his detached from nature mantra is "The map is more interesting than the territory;" this show brings him Olga in Paris.
The photographer switches to portrait painting focusing on a variety of occupations. He paints his elderly father the retired architect, a bar owner, a duality of Gates and Jobs, and a French author Houellebecq. However as Martin gains fame and fortune, his work is well received as an aloof artist focusing on the captains of capitalism. Over the decades Martin grows increasingly isolated from the world he draws.
With a nod to Voltaire’s Candide, this amusing but dark allegorical biographical fiction satirizes the belief that capitalism is a superior culture in which the market insures “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Timely on several philosophical levels, readers will relish Martin’s sojourn as an artist in a capitalistic culture that encourages the individual to seek unconnected betterment at the cost of other members of society; as Martin’s dad says about capitalist morality, the creator is a hell of a good best-selling author.
Harriet Klausner
Michel Houellebecq
Knopf, Jan 3 2012, $26.95
ISBN: 978-0307701558
Jed Martin started off as a photographer of industrial artifacts. He turned to taking pictures of Michelin Road maps that became successful as his detached from nature mantra is "The map is more interesting than the territory;" this show brings him Olga in Paris.
The photographer switches to portrait painting focusing on a variety of occupations. He paints his elderly father the retired architect, a bar owner, a duality of Gates and Jobs, and a French author Houellebecq. However as Martin gains fame and fortune, his work is well received as an aloof artist focusing on the captains of capitalism. Over the decades Martin grows increasingly isolated from the world he draws.
With a nod to Voltaire’s Candide, this amusing but dark allegorical biographical fiction satirizes the belief that capitalism is a superior culture in which the market insures “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Timely on several philosophical levels, readers will relish Martin’s sojourn as an artist in a capitalistic culture that encourages the individual to seek unconnected betterment at the cost of other members of society; as Martin’s dad says about capitalist morality, the creator is a hell of a good best-selling author.
Harriet Klausner
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