Contemporary Art Appreciation 101: How to Understand What's Contemporary Art and What's Snot/Everything You Always Wanted to Ask About Contemporary Art But Were Afraid to Know. Edition of 400.

9 x 11"; 306 pages, heavily illustrated plus inserts (e.g. chewing gum, scratch-n-sniff stickers, air freshener, bumper sticker." In black and white wraps resembling a college student's workbook.

This big hoot (with a lot of owl behind it) is a spoof that takes on contemporary art, art appreciation, art theory, art criticism, and a forest of other things. It's wild, irreverent, abrasive, dismissive, politically incorrect, witty, and fun. For those who crave the full higher education experience, there are a Midterm and Final Exam.

From the introduction: "In June 2005 my first book, "How To Become A Famous Contemporary Artist" was published. Reader reaction has been just short of amazing. In little more than seven months, I was able to give away 127 copies.

So, in February 2006, I felt compelled to go back to my computer to start working on a sequel.

Having had an exciting exhibition of my art at O.K. Harris in the summer of '05, I feel even more qualified to pass on my knowledge and understanding of contemporary art to readers who may have experienced difficulty understanding some of the art they have seen exhibited in contemporary museums and galleries.

In this course you will learn once and for all what's contemporary art and what's snot!

To make this course simple, each lesson is devoted to the work of one famous contemporary artist. This book will help you understand why a specific work by a particular artist has been exhibited in museums or galleries, when at first blush you might think it belongs in a garbage dump.

And, as a special feature, I have found a sure-fire way to assess the relative merit of each artist. I have analyzed the prices paid at auction and computed the price paid per square inch. There is no more accurate way to determine the relative merit of each artist.

We'll pay special attention to Artspeak, the gobbledygook some art critics, curators, dealers, and collectors use to explain, "why the emperor has a fine new set of clothes."

-Earl Bronsteen