A fictional tale that mixes art, commerce and personal ambitions

Steve Martin is a renowned actor, who has won Emmys for his TV writing apart from a couple of Grammys for comedy albums. He regularly writes for the New Yorker. Importantly, he loves and collects art - Seurats, De Koonings, Hoppers. So what could get more logical or natural than to blend his love of fiction with his love of art?

Incidentally, ‘An Object of Beauty’ (Grand Central Publishing; 292 pages, $32.99) is his first full-length novel. It’s an intense examination of how commerce and art intersect in New York (‘Auctions were, and still are, spectator sports, wherein the contestants are money.’). “Providing a peek inside the auction house along with the back rooms of various Chelsea galleries (‘from which new art was mined and trucked into residences of Manhattan’) the novel exposes logic-defying prices and strange rituals of the contemporary art world,” notes The Guardian, a prestigious UK publication

‘An Object of Beauty’ is a curious mix of fact and fiction revolving around the painterly realm and extreme human emotions evoked by the central character of his part real, part fictional tale. The drama begins in the mid 1990s, leading up to the recent recessionary phase wherein author Steve Martin mixes his flair for words an utmost passion for art.

Steve Martin makes nuanced observations about the nature and approach to collecting. The book makes a serious attempt to document the financial and creative ripples largely made possible by Andy Warhol’s self-aware pop art. Largely, it makes an interesting read for the intriguing insight it offers into the world of contemporary art.

Lacey Yeager is little concerned of consequences of her quest; no matter who would get crushed and bruised along the way. Revealing her intriguing persona, an introduction to her fictional account aptly recounts: “Lacey is captivating enough, ambitious of taking the NYC art world by storm. Initially groomed at Sotheby's and keen to keep climbing the social and career ladders fast, she charms old and young, the rich and even richer, men and women with her liveliness.
Her magnetic charisma results in ascension to the highest tiers of the city. It’s a journey parallel to the soaring highs and also the lows of the art world and the country, starting from the late 1990s through today.”