Over the past 50 years, British-born David Elliott has been the head of four museums in Europe and Asia; director of biennials in Sydney, Kiev, Moscow, and Belgrade; and organizer of some of the era’s most revelatory regional-focus exhibitions.

In this compendium mixing new and previously published essays, he weaves an account of his own nomadic career into a wide-ranging survey of contemporary Asian art, based on the playful premise that Asia’s 20th-century adoption of Western garb heralded the assimilation of modern social and aesthetic principles across the world’s largest and most culturally diverse continent.

Examining both global art stars and lesser-known artists and movements, Elliott wrangles intensely (and sometimes humorously) with colonialism’s exploitive vs. liberatory dialectic. —Richard Vine

Why ‘Art & Trousers’…

When we read The Art and Trousers by David Elliot as a group, we can enjoy the wit and humor that fills the pages, making our discussions lively and fun. The book’s exploration of themes like identity, fashion, and societal expectations gives us a chance to reflect on how these issues relate to our own experiences and the world around us. We can dive into character analysis, sharing our differing views on their motivations and development, which enriches our understanding of the story.

Elliot’s unique writing style invites multiple interpretations, and discussing it together helps reveal nuances we might miss on our own. We also get to talk about the intersections of fashion and art, and how the book uses them to explore self-expression and societal norms.

Reading The Art and Trousers as a group turns the experience into an interactive one, where we deepen our engagement with the text through shared reflections and diverse perspectives.

-

To encourage group discussion and foster a sense of community while reading the book, we consider asking the following questions..

How do the themes of identity and self-expression resonate with our own experiences?

Are there moments where we’ve used clothing or art to express who we are?

What did you think about the way the characters interact with societal expectations?

Do you think their actions reflect any of our group’s shared values or beliefs?

In what ways did the humour in the book help us connect with the characters or the themes?

Did it change how we viewed serious topics like identity or self-perception?

If we had to choose one character from the book to be a part of our book club, who would it be and why?

The book explores fashion and art as forms of personal expression. How do we, as a group, express ourselves through the books we read, the discussions we have, or the way we engage with each other?

What have we learned from one another’s perspectives that we wouldn’t have discovered on our own?

-

These questions encouraged our book club members to reflect on their personal connections to while also fostering a sense of shared experience, encouraging openness and deeper bonds within the book club.