What Artists See

This delightful collection of essays explores the world through the eyes of an artist. Author Quentin Sprague has been immersed in the art world, variously working as a curator, an art coordinator, a researcher and as an artist. He is well known for his art writing and criticism, as a frequent contributor to various Australian publications, such as the Monthly, as well as writing for exhibition catalogues. His first book, The Stranger Artist, won the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Nonfiction.

Sprague’s first essay opens into a scene familiar to many Australians who, like me, have grown up in the country. The long journey home from somewhere bigger and the landmarks that develop through retracing that trip over and over. He talks about the hill his mother named ‘The Birthday Cake’, a name handed down to him and his sister, which became a sign that they had re-entered their home landscape. What might just be a bump in the land for one traveller is a nexus of meaning for another. This beginning builds up the focus on idiosyncrasy across the essay collection, exploring the unique grain of artistic perception that shapes a person’s artistic practice. What does it mean to see the world like an artist?

Sprague is also a talented writer, to say the least. Each of these essays pulls you into a different world. They are grounded in thorough research and interviews with artists. Delightfully, Sprague allows for contradictions and the rough edges to show, the moments of resistance from the artists he interviews, when they refuse the narrative or his framing of them, which creates small but interesting bubbles of tension. I would recommend this book for people interested in the Australian art scene, lovers of biography in general, or even those fascinated by what makes people tick.