The Fine Art of Fucking Up

It’s war at the School of Visual Arts, and nobody’s art is safe. Not even Jackson Pollock’s!

A banished professor protests the terms of his restraining order by covertly frying bacon in hidden corners. A boss is so engrossed in romance novels she appears oblivious to everything else, including the once in-
a-century flood threatening the town. A husband is so focused on proving his qualifications for fatherhood, he decides to temporarily adopt a foreign exchange student.

Welcome to the life of Nina Lanning, the lone administrator at the prestigious School of Visual Arts. Her colleagues are pioneers of contemporary art movements, inspirational speakers, and the source of constant headaches as they rail against the authority that Nina represents. When news of a flood suddenly threatens to destroy the SVA, and the priceless Jackson Pollock trapped inside it, Nina and her ragtag band of SVA faculty undertake to save the early work of the splatter master (and perhaps a lot more).

Cate Dicharry’s debut novel proves that Daniel Clowes isn’t the only one that can write about art school - a painfully hysterical examination about what is truly worth saving, while mastering the art of letting go.