"What happened? Fifteen years ago art seemed solemn and intimidating. Artists were reclusive, elusive and often disdainful of their audience. No one was a celebrity, apart from David Hockney - and he lived abroad. And then..." "In this irreverent, gossipy, questioning and amazingly well-informed inside story, BBC Arts Correspondent Rosie Millard takes a microscope and a microphone to the 'Tastemakers', the movers and shakers who have made visual art the culture of choice in Britain today. Interviewing over one hundred central players with interesting, often conflicting things to say about the state of the British arts, Rosie Millard reveals how art has been taken out of dusty private galleries and into our homes, onto our streets, and into the monumental brave new spaces epitomized by Tate Modern. Her interviewees range from Gavin Turk, Mark Wallinger and Will Alsop to Nicholas Serota, Michael Craig-Martin and Sadie Coles, and from the head of Selfridges to the inventor of Changing Rooms, revealing the impact of the visual arts revolution on a much wider stage. This network of links and influences is itself given creative expression in artist Adam Dant's foldout, The Mystery of British Culture, while fifty specially taken black and white photographs by Geraint Lewis illustrate the key events and figures of the contemporary British art scene."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved