“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.

A measured and thoughtful book on the reclamation of the body in art. Eschewing the cold formalism of (some) art criticism, this book endeavours to explore the artistic pioneers who re-centred the body as a space for creation.

A smart and provocative history of women and art and women artists. From Virginia Woolf to Ana Mendieta, Elkin draws really interesting lines through history to get to the root of what keeps women from being art monsters. Really enjoyed it!

This was a really interesting read. I think the idea of the monstrous woman in art is a fascination theme to explore. iWhilst I didn’t fully understand all of the connections that Elkin made (partly because of my limited knowledge of art) I really enjoyed how Woolf was a crucial part throughout the text.

Feminist art, beauty and excess? SIGN. ME. UP. Elkin's essay collection is packed with dense info and ponders female physicality in the art world. The title is inspired by Dept. of Speculation, where Jenny Offill uses the term "art monster" - and Elkin now investigates when and why women and their bodies are perceived as monstrous, as abject, as transgressive, and how female artists have claimed and owned their agency in being art monsters. From authors like Kathy Acker and Virginia Woolf over visual artists like Emma Sulkowicz and Eva Hesse to thinkers like Simone de Beauvoir and Julia Kristeva, Elkin ponders the lives and times of various art monsters who have changed their respective fields.

All texts relate to the body, be it young, old, queer, disabled, sick or healthy, and how the body exists in the world and is reflected in art. This is no easy book though: While Elkin is an excellent writer who makes it easy to follow her thoughts, the sheer amount of knowledge and the (smart!) complexity of the arguments presented require a reader who really wants to dive into these topics - and this reader will be richly rewarded with intelligent, transformative ideas about the role of female art monsters in a male-dominated art world.