BOOK REVIEW: Still Lives by Maria Hummel @mariahummel2 @counterpointllc @bookofthemonth #bookofthemonth #botm

A famous and provocative painter goes missing on the night of her latest exhibition’s debut. The subject of her exhibition, Still Lives, depicts paintings of herself posed as famous murder victims from Los Angeles. The museum’s writer, Maggie, finds herself at the center of the investigation as her personal and professional lives become entangled…

A dark and striking commentary on our fixation with the macabre and the sensationalization of famous murder cases, as well as on the lucrative and often twisted web of notoriety and success in the art world. I absolutely loved this thriller!

About the Book

Kim Lord is an avant-garde figure, feminist icon, and agent provocateur in the L.A. art scene. Her groundbreaking new exhibition Still Lives is comprised of self-portraits depicting herself as famous, murdered women—the Black Dahlia, Chandra Levy, Nicole Brown Simpson, among many others—and the works are as compelling as they are disturbing, implicating a culture that is too accustomed to violence against women.

As the city’s richest art patrons pour into the Rocque Museum’s opening night, all the staff, including editor Maggie Richter, hope the event will be enough to save the historic institution’s flailing finances. Except Kim Lord never shows up to her own gala. Fear mounts as the hours and days drag on and Lord remains missing. Suspicion falls on the up-and-coming gallerist Greg Shaw Ferguson, who happens to be Maggie’s ex. A rogue’s gallery of eccentric art world figures could also have motive for the act, and as Maggie gets drawn into her own investigation of Lord’s disappearance, she’ll come to suspect all of those closest to her.

Set against a culture that often fetishizes violence, Still Lives is a page-turning exodus into the art world’s hall of mirrors, and one woman’s journey into the belly of an industry flooded with money and secrets.

Reflection

The famous and enigmatic artist Kim Lord has made a name for herself by shocking her audiences. Her latest exhibition Still Lives really pushes the boundaries of the provocative nature of art. The exhibition features paintings of Kim herself posed as famous photos of LA murder victims (e.g., the Black Dahlia, Nicole Brown Simpson). I thought the play on the term still lives for this purpose was really clever!

Kim was such a mysterious figure in the book, which is narrated by Maggie—a writer for the Roque Museum where Kim’s show is being featured. In a cruel twist, Kim is also the current girlfriend of Maggie’s ex-boyfriend Greg. The woman he left her for. Now, when Kim goes missing on the night of her premiere, Maggie finds herself woven into the investigation. Greg and Maggie are natural sources of interest for the police.

Maggie herself has quite a dark past. I won’t reveal it here, but I loved the way it tied in with the current events in the book. I also really enjoyed the commentary that Hummel makes on the artworld and the tie between investors, the public, and the artist themselves. The whole part about super collectors was fascinating, and I actually slowed down to read it because I was so interested in Hummel’s points.

The ending is one I would never have guessed, and it was also kind of perfect. Both the reveal of what had happened, as well as the aftermath and what it all meant. This was a book with so many layers to it, and I really loved it!

“I hate this artwork,” Maggie thinks, standing in the gallery, fretting about Lord’s disappearance. “I hate the abject powerlessness it projects. I hate it because it reminds me there is an end for women worse than death.”