Bianca Bosker with Julie Curtiss and Robert Dimin: Get the Picture

​Award-winning journalist and author Bianca Bosker joins us for a conversation about her new book, Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See, with artist Julie Curtiss and gallery owner Robert Dimin. 

This event will take place in person at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor.

An award-winning journalist obsessed with obsession, Bianca Bosker’s existence was upended when she wandered into the art world—and couldn’t look away. Intrigued by artists who hyperventilate around their favorite colors and art fiends who max out credit cards to show hunks of metal they think can change the world, Bosker grew fixated on understanding why art matters and how she—or any of us—could engage with it more deeply.

In Get the Picture, Bosker throws herself into the nerve center of art and the people who live for it: gallerists, collectors, curators, and, of course, artists themselves—the kind who work multiple jobs to afford their studios while scrabbling to get eyes on their art. As she stretches canvases until her fingers blister, talks her way into A-list parties full of billionaire collectors, has her face sat on by a nearly-naked performance artist, and forces herself to stare at a single sculpture for hours on end while working as a museum security guard, she discovers not only the inner workings of the art-canonization machine but also a more expansive way of living.

Probing everything from cave paintings to Instagram, and from the science of sight to the importance of beauty as it examines art’s role in our culture, our economy, and our hearts, Get the Picture is a rollicking adventure that will change the way you see forever.

To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Bianca Bosker is an award-winning journalist and the New York Times bestselling author of Cork Dork: A Wine-FueledAdventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste, which has been praised as the "Kitchen Confidential of wine." In addition to serving as a contributing writer at The Atlantic, Bosker has written for publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Food & Wine, The Guardian, and The New Republic. Her writing has been anthologized in the Best American Travel Writing  and recognized with awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Association of Food Journalists, and the MFK Fisher Awards, as well as shortlisted for The Gerald Loeb Awards, the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, the Deadline Club Awards, among others.

Julie Curtiss was born in 1982 in Paris, France and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris, during which time she undertook two exchange programmes; one at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden and the other at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Curtiss graduated in 2006 with a BA and MFA. Recent solo exhibitions include White Cube Mason’s Yard, London (2021); Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2019); Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (2018); and 106 Green, Brooklyn, New York (2017). Group exhibitions include Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2022); Biennale des Arts de Nice (2022); The Shed, New York (2021); La Patinoire Royale – Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels (2020); Deitch Gallery, New York (2020); Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York (2019); Perrotin, Seoul (2019); Clearing, New York (2019); White Cube Bermondsey, London (2017). She has been the recipient of a number of fellowships and awards, including Youkobo Art Space Returnee Residency Program, Tokyo (2019); Fellow of the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, New York (2018); Saltonstall Arts Colony Residency, New York (2017); Contemporary Art Center at Woodside Residency Program, New York (2013); VAN LIER Fellowship, New York (2012); Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy’s Young Artists Award (2004); and Erasmus European Exchange Program Grant, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden (2003). Curtiss’ work is represented in a number of museum collections, among which are Bronx Museum, New York; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; High Museum, Atlanta; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Maki Collection, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Yuz Museum, Shanghai.

Robert Dimin was born in 1980 and currently lives in Ridgewood, Queens. He studied Art History, Fine Art, and Poetry at the New School University and has an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Before launching DIMIN, a Tribeca based contemporary art gallery in 2023, Robert Dimin worked for over fifteen years throughout the art industry. Starting out as an artist, working for a year at Creative Time and eventually finding a home in the gallery world.  Exhibitions Dimin has organized have been featured in publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Interview Magazine. He has helped place art works in museums around the US and abroad including, LACMA, The Perez and The Parrish.

Benjamin Lorr is the author of The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket and Hell-Bent, a critically acclaimed exploration of the Bikram Yoga community that first detailed patterns of abuse and sexual misconduct by guru Bikram Choudhury. Lorr is a graduate of Montgomery County public schools and Columbia University. He lives in New York City.

GET THE BOOK

• Borrow: NYPL Catalog


• E-Book app: SimplyE, available on iOS and Android

Don't have a New York Public Library card? Get one here!

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

• Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue.


• You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.


• This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

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Please submit all press inquiries to Amy Geduldig at least 48 hours before the event: email amygeduldig@nypl.org.

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All programs are subject to change or cancellation.

The 7 Stories Up Series at SNFL is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).