Art Matters
Awe-inspiring
Artistic
Heartwarming

Art Matters Because Your Imagination Can Change the World

A stunning and timely creative call-to-arms combining four extraordinary written pieces by Neil Gaiman illustrated with the striking four-color artwork of Chris Riddell. “The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.”—Neil Gaiman Drawn from Gaiman’s trove of published speeches, poems, and creative manifestos, Art Matters is an embodiment of this remarkable multi-media artist’s vision—an exploration of how reading, imagining, and creating can transform the world and our lives. Art Matters bring together four of Gaiman’s most beloved writings on creativity and artistry: “Credo,” his remarkably concise and relevant manifesto on free expression, first delivered in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings “Make Good Art,” his famous 2012 commencement address delivered at the Philadelphia University of the Arts “Making a Chair,” a poem about the joys of creating something, even when words won’t come “On Libraries,” an impassioned argument for libraries that illuminates their importance to our future and celebrates how they foster readers and daydreamers Featuring original illustrations by Gaiman’s longtime illustrator, Chris Riddell, Art Matters is a stirring testament to the freedom of ideas that inspires us to make art in the face of adversity, and dares us to choose to be bold.
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Reviews

Photo of Sarah Sammis
Sarah Sammis@pussreboots
3 stars
Apr 4, 2024

** spoiler alert ** The essays, though, weren't the uplift I was hoping for the new year. Gaiman describes a world that no longer exists. He describes the chances he took that got him where he is. These tricks won't work for the majority of the readers. They certainly won't work for marginalized artists at the scale they have worked for him. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm...

Photo of Ryan
Ryan @ryandoesread
5 stars
Jan 19, 2024

i feel the need to buy this book in order to have it on my shelf so that i can pick up and be encouraged by the words of this book. such an inspiring read that is so essential for readers that are pursuing careers in the arts.

Photo of Lara Engle
Lara Engle@bzzlarabzz
5 stars
Aug 23, 2023

This is a sweet little book to pick up any time you need some inspiration. I'm a teacher, and my profession is more frustrating all the time ... and yet it feels full of possibility in this moment because Neil Gaiman told me to make my own rules and to keep creating. I think I will.

Photo of Joy Bush
Joy Bush@aische
5 stars
Jul 5, 2023

Everyone should read this, I'm serious.

Photo of Nour sabrine
Nour sabrine@thebonsaibook
4 stars
Sep 19, 2022

Neil Gaiman never ceases to amaze with his eloquently powerful writing and this book serves as much. In a manifesto on art, all kinds of art but mostly the passion of it, for a writer, for a reader, Gaiman explains how it's not just important but essential and dutiful to make good art and to share it.  I've always believed that the essence of living with passion is to live with art and this book just confirmed it. You may wonder why not pick other books on the matter, right? Maybe other authors said more about it? But Neil Gaiman's style adds to it all the more. And this book can be quoted start to finish without a doubt. The kind of book you'd want to sit in your library and read aloud for others.

Photo of Nour sabrine
Nour sabrine@thebonsaibook
5 stars
Sep 18, 2022

Neil Gaiman never ceases to amaze with his eloquently powerful writing and this book serves as much. In a manifesto on art, all kinds of art but mostly the passion of it, for a writer, for a reader, Gaiman explains how it's not just important but essential and dutiful to make good art and to share it. I've always believed that the essence of living with passion is to live with art and this book just confirmed it. You may wonder why not pick other books on the matter, right? Maybe other authors said more about it? But Neil Gaiman's style adds to it all the more. And this book can be quoted start to finish without a doubt. The kind of book you'd want to sit in your library and read aloud for others.

Photo of Riley
Riley@coldeurydice
5 stars
Sep 11, 2021

This is a very important little book.

Photo of Rebeca Keren Nuñez
Rebeca Keren Nuñez@rebecanunez
3 stars
Jan 6, 2024
Photo of Barbara Guerrero
Barbara Guerrero@oddityMX
5 stars
Dec 3, 2022
+10
Photo of Adine
Adine@axixe
5 stars
Jul 28, 2024
Photo of Kevin Wammer
Kevin Wammer@cliophate
5 stars
Jul 18, 2024
Photo of Ícaro Morbeck
Ícaro Morbeck@icaromorbeck
5 stars
Jun 30, 2024
Photo of Arihant Verma
Arihant Verma@arihant
5 stars
May 13, 2024
Photo of Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld
Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld@rosenfeld
3 stars
Apr 20, 2024
Photo of Erin Darlyn
Erin Darlyn@erindarlyn
5 stars
Jan 25, 2024
Photo of Madhuri Kasam
Madhuri Kasam@madhuri_reads
5 stars
Sep 4, 2023
Photo of Grace Piper
Grace Piper@the_anachronista
5 stars
Jun 8, 2023
Photo of bernard black
bernard black@denca
5 stars
Apr 12, 2023
Photo of manu
manu@manu
5 stars
Feb 25, 2023
Photo of Marisa Ringgold
Marisa Ringgold@marzbooks123
4 stars
Jan 25, 2023
Photo of Ivar K.
Ivar K. @ivar
5 stars
Jan 11, 2023
Photo of Ana Hein
Ana Hein@anahein99
4 stars
Jan 5, 2023
Photo of Caitlin Bohannon
Caitlin Bohannon@waitingforoctober
4 stars
Jan 5, 2023
Photo of Caterina P.
Caterina P.@ourbookishnotes
4 stars
Oct 15, 2022