NEW RELEASE
Gallery Girl - Wendy Holden (2010)
Alice works in an unfashionable gallery far away from trendy Gold Street, the home of Britain's coolest contemporary artists. Such as Zeb Spaw, whose gold-sprayed prosthetic limbs have just cracked the 20 million pound mark at auction. Siobhan loves painting but has put her artistic ambitions on hold since marrying former boy band member Ciaran. And then there's Dan, who is a struggling portrait painter who teaches life drawing classes. When Alice's gallery closes, she gets a chance to move to Gold Street, working for the diva Angelica. Readers into contemporary art will enjoy this absurb take on their world but as a story it was too long, without enough of a cohesive plot to drive it. If this was an auction item, I'd recommend passing on it unless it was a real bargain price.
Wendy Holden's 10th novel, Gallery Girl, is set in the crazy world of contemporary art. The summary says: "Zeb's the darling of Brit Art; the rock n' roll bad boy artist whose works go for bazillions. But can he keep his end up - in every sense - now that his powerful female patron is losing interest? Alice loves art and the traditional gallery she works in and loves her boyfriend, doctor David. But the hospital hours he keeps are putting a strain on the relationship. Siobhan's pop-star husband was big in the 90s; he's relaunching his boy band with a vengeance. But where does this leave Siobhan and her dreams of being a painter? Dan's a brilliant portrait artist but no one wants his stuff. Why have a picture that actually looks like you when you could have a gold-sprayed prosthetic limb? Disillusioned Dan's reduced to living in the country and holding adult education life classes. But what happened to his life? Then Alice finds herself catapulted into the crazed world of contemporary art. Siobhan walks into Dan's life class. And the picture changes completely." Holden describes it on her website "as a fabulous comedy about the crazy, sexy, money-soaked world of contemporary art. It's a sort of Devil Wears Prada of the art world - The Devil Wears Picasso, if you like." Gallery Girl is out in August.