Poor Artists

Irreverent, provocative and funny … at some points it reads like a memoir and at others like a wildly surrealist novel … I found it fascinating as someone who knows basically nothing about the art world, but I’d also highly recommend it to anyone who went to art school or works as an artist – I’m sure the experiences it depicts would resonate deeply * Dazed *Excoriating and energising … interweaves impassioned real-world critique with an exuberant narrative that’s by turns satirical and surreal * Telegraph *Reads like a page-turning novel… What I love about this book is that it doesn’t descend into cynicism and despair, instead balancing the more challenging aspects of living a creative life (including, but not limited to, crippling student debt, predatory gallerists and dealing with rejection) with a full-throated defence of the inherent value of making, experiencing and talking about art – Chloe Stead * FRIEZE *An aspiring young artist’s journey makes for a critique of the art world, in novel form … as it gathered pace, I could feel the strength and hopefulness of the authors’ narrative … The book is, at its heart, trying to get at the slippery, eternal problem of what art is – Eliza Goodpasture * Guardian *In a world where art is as much about capital as it is creativity, Poor Artists arrives like a Molotov cocktail in the gallery lobby… the book delivers its most striking message: true artistry can flourish beyond the industry’s broken framework – Dilsah Kondakci * Flux Magazine *A surreal yet gut punching insight into the often foggy world of art – Isaac Muk * Huck Mag *Through striking bathos and playful prose, Poor Artists takes us through the doors of a surreal and sometimes nauseating art world governed by myth, mysticism and strange rituals.. And yet, Poor Artists is not about simple nostalgia or authenticity. It is a story about power and alienation, success and compromise, creative survival and self-preservation – Alexandra Diamond-Rivlin * AnOther Mag *A manifesto for hungry young artists * The Big Ship *A patchwork of myth… Fact and fiction blur, genres bend…If Poor Artists is poison for institutions, it is a tonic for the people. It’s for art students at orientation and computer programmers who can still remember the painting in their grandmother’s bedroom. It’s for job-seekers who wish they could sleep under their old Buffy posters instead of in front of their laptop * Skinny Mag *A scathing yet darkly humorous critique of the contemporary art world… It is not just a book for art world insiders, it’s for anyone who’s ever felt like a creative outsider trying to survive in a system that seems designed to eat you alive * Canvas Magazine *

The White Pube is the collaborative identity of UK-based critics Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad. They have been turning heads since 2015 when the pair began publishing provocative art reviews and essays online from their art school studios and have earned themselves an international cult following due to their innovative writing style, their honesty and irreverence, and their willingness to challenge the pale, male, stale art establishment. Poor Artists is their first book.