Ezra Croft

Bill Murray inspires. He inspires fans to different kinds of heights than other film stars. They love him as much for his films as for his real-life antics. In films, he is WC Fields, adlibbing his way to a star turn while remaining in character and respecting the fourth wall. In real life, he is a high school class clown, showing up unexpectedly, gate-crashing, not showing up where he committed to, and thrilling the unsuspecting with his antics. This book is not about that.

The Art of Being Bill is a combination filmography and traveling art exhibit. The art is all Bill Murray, by his fans. It has sculpture, photos, graphics and paintings, all featuring Bill Murray. He can be Yoda or Hamlet or a film character he created along the way. One is a black and white maze of his face. The styles are all over the place, giving the exhibition great character. And the book is organized by moods, not chronology, giving it a different perspective as well. When there is trivia to add to some painting, superfans Ezra Croft and Jennifer Raiser are only too pleased to immortalize it on the page.

The filmography is interspersed, not in its own section. It is chronological, consisting of a page with a poster and a page with a description, but hardly the studio version. There is passion and awe on display in every one. There seems to be nothing Bill Murray has done that isn’t some way superlative in the eyes of Croft and Raiser.

The final section consists of profiles of the numerous fan/artists who think Bill Murray worthy of their efforts.

So The Art of Being Bill is a coffee table book, but one with far more heart and character than your typical museum catalog.

David Wineberg

For images from this book, see this same review at https://medium.com/the-straight-dope/bill-murray-on-display-11969e6210d4… (més)