From two seasoned improvisers and listening thinkers comes this duo recording a 1997 session finally making it into the audible spectrum. Giardullo, who has played with the likes of Joe McPhee, Marilyn Crispell, Roy Campbell and Pauline Oliveros is an alto and soprano sax player, also playing bass clarinet and other winds. Berardi is an electric guitarist playing with an effect-drenched sound generally in a spacey rock/jazz vein; his resume includes work with Archie Shepp, Rashied Ali and Eddie Gomez. Both have a long legacy of work, as evidenced by the interplay and thoughtfulness of their playing.

The title of the album is based on the painter Robert Henri's 1923 book The Art Spirit, which Giardullo and Berardi used as inspiration for their improvisations. Art Spirit the album starts as though the players were in the middle of an idea, where Giardullo's plays a seemingly meandering figure in a growling tone over Berardi's circular riffs. With time a conversation becomes evident; this is the basis of many of the pieces, as the interplay shifts subtly from the aggressive to the delicate, from up front to reflective. In the liner notes for the release Giardullo writes "These duets... are paintings and drawings to me. Their subject is sound alone, so the brushstrokes are breaths, picks, sustains, silences."

Giardullo, whose tonal palette ranges from the soaringly beautiful to skronky didgeridoo-like grumbling, is the apparent leader here, while Berardi provides a harmonic launch pad of counter-propulsion and floating figures- even Berardi's occasional solo playing here pays more attention to the atmosphere than seeking its own attention. The overall result is a very dynamic release, an interesting discussion between two accomplished musicians, and an albums that functions well in the back- and foreground.