Letters to a Young Artist
Darte Publishing/Art on Paper
96 pages, Color cover/BW inside
$15

A painter friend of mine came by to discuss a project/eat dinner and left me this pocket-sized book for dessert. Letters to a Young Artist started as a special issue of Art on Paper magazine and expanded into this little book of 23 letters from various established artists to a fictional younger artist. Fresh out of art school, our young artist asks his/her heroes this question: "Is it possible to maintain one's integrity and freedom of thought and still participate in the art world?" The answers are varied, some are funny (Gregory Amenoff: "Stay away from Art Fairs,"), some are encouraging (Joan Jonas: "The answer is the Work. To Work. To care about the Work.") and some are critical (From great photographer/known crankypants Stephen Shore: "..you may be using your moral dilemma as an excuse for not engaging in your work... Cut it out!"). Each artist approaches the question differently and it seems to me that you get a sense of who they are and how they work. For example, Adrien Piper cautions, "You will develop a reputation for being "difficult," "uncooperative," "inflexible," even "self-destructive;" and treated (or mistreated, ostracized, or blacklisted) accordingly." Nevertheless, I enjoyed and was inspired by this book. I get a strong feeling of community and support in these letters--several of them explicitly instruct our young artist to find and support like-minded fellow artists. "Good luck to us!" says Jimmie Durham. "I love you!" says Yoko Ono.

Buy directly from Art on Paper or your local cool bookstore.

I have two equally powerful aspects to my personality: the helpful optimist and the pissed-off cynic. As an artist I want to make the world less ugly, express what is in my heart, and what needs to be said. Making a living is the secondary motivation for working in the arts. Art is primarily about learning and discovery - the final product isn't the most important thing.

I can't really divide my thoughts on art, and my thoughts on the workings of the world, so bear with me. When I look around at how fucked up the world is, I want to do what I can to make the world a better place, and what that first means is to be true to myself and actually do what I believe. 'Making a living' can never supersede the reasons for making art. When I look at a magazine, for instance, what I love to see is an honest passion for the subject presented - not an excuse to sell advertising. Also, as you can see, I consider making magazines an art form - and if the creators of a magazine don't think of it as an art form and just a job they do - it really shows in the magazine. I am not interested in a world that just does its job - not interested in just surviving. Life has to mean more than that.

Recently, the relaunch of Interview really depressed me, because it accurately express the state of the arts - which is crass, unimaginative, formulaic, devoid of inquisitiveness, and most importantly-completely dishonest. I definitely think this sad state of the arts is directly correlated to the selfish state of our country, which is obsessed with celebrity and spectacle more than with issues, where people care more about buying things than with helping people. It makes me angry, it makes me frustrated and it makes me want to give up.

But.

I don't even know how to describe what I felt last night. The lack of empathy, the selfishness, the hatred, ignorance and greed that I see and feel has made me angry, has made me hopeless - but when I heard them announce Obama winner, it smacked my cynicism away like a red-headed stepchild. I could not stop crying. Reason, judgement and compassion has triumphed over hatred and greed. It is the most monumental example of this in my lifetime so far.

So all you zinesters, discount fashionistas, ranters, photographers, drawers and shit-talkers: None of us has any excuses. Keep doing what you believe. Don't give up. All things are possible. Make it happen.

Thursday, November 6: Bruce of Los Angeles show at Wessel + O'Connor Fine Art in DUMBO. Amazing 1950s beefcake photography from a Nebraskan chemistry teacher turned pin up photographer. There is also a limited edition book and DVD which includes digitally restored versions of Bruce's rare films. November 6 - December 20 with opening party on Thurs. 111 Front St. Ste. 200. 6-8pm.

Our friend DrunknSailor has organized a reading at Capricious Space tonight called "The Way Out is the Way In." 103 Broadway in Brooklyn. 7:30pm.

Tiny Vices - TV Books exhibition and catalog viewing at the Hope Gallery in LA. Hosted by Tim Barber, RVCA and the Hope Gallery. 1547 Echo Park Ave., LA, 6-9pm.

Saturday, November 8: I wish I could be in SF for this show, so if you are, go to it for me. AUTOPORTRAIT: from the Reconsidered Archive of Michelle du Bois, a solo show by Zoe Crosher at Eleanor Harwood gallery. 1295 Alabama Street, SF. 7-10pm.

Hexedjournal.com and WORD presents the second installment of Vol. 1, a unique event that pairs live music with readings. The readers include Jesse Sposato, co-editor of Sadie Magazine and Zachary Lipez. At Bar Matchless, 557 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn. 8pm-2am.

cover designed by Fletcher/Forbes/Gill

Someone ran up to Ms. Keough in the street and said, "Here, you'll love this..." and handed her this amazing 1965 issue of the Swiss design magazine, Graphis (It became an American magazine in 1986). I promptly stole it from her.

This issue is an amazing time capsule of design - when conceptual thought was king, creating 'art' was a major motivation in commercial work and illustration was prevalent. Even in black and white, the work depicted is striking and colorful. Wow.

a LOT of images after the jump...

Hey, New Orleans is a city (despite Jim Jarmusch's scenes of OPP in the swamp) - people do stuff there besides drinking, practicing voodoo and being the subjects of more spooky songs than any other city in the world. This weekend is The 7th Annual New Orleans Bookfair, The New Orleans Fringe Festival AND North America's BIGGEST ever contemporary art biennial, Prospect 1 (although snooty New York and LA artists, names withheld, not only don't know about it, but question if I'm telling the truth - but still don't google it) is continuing through December.

The 7th Annual New Orleans Bookfair
Saturday, November 15th 2008
New Orleans. LA
500 & 600 Blocks on Frenchman Street
10AM-6PM

M/M (Paris) are one of my favorites... they don't define themselves specifically as designers, photographers, artists or illustrators or whatever, they just create. Check out this interview at PingMag

Flickr Finds: Duckage's Rock Poster collection

Girls Like Us #8 has DJ/Hercules and Love Affair singer/jewelry maker/always amazing haircut haver Kim Ann Foxman on its cover. She and various balls were photographed by Melanie Bonajo and Anne De Vries. Gaze upon their amusing and sexy centerfold:

The interviews in this issue are particularly good--sexy, funny, educational! We get stories about the Beijing art scene from DJ and curator Pauline Doutreluingne, the women's movement and a life story from political scientist Marjan Sax, sex and food from chef Kanki Fernandez, and more.

From Melanie Bonajo's Fumble in the Jungle in GLU #8.

Ever since Mr. Mcginnis told me Ms. Grace Jones would be gracing the cover of this issue of Dazed & Confused, I've been waiting impatiently to rush out and buy it. And may I just say OMG. Chris Cunningham's photographic collaboration with Jones is weird and wonderful. A sample:

You can see some more images on Dazed Digital. This is the "Art Without Limits" issue and inside curators and artists take over. They, including Gillian Wearing, Terence Koh and Agathe Snow, celebrate Maison Martin Margiela's 20th birthday by interpreting its current collection in interesting ways. Also in there: curators Kathy Grayson and Paul Peroni, Hanna Liden photographing Gang Gang Dance, David Altmejd, Steve McQueen's horrifying/riveting feature film Hunger, and tons more. This is a pretty great issue.

Gillian Wearing's interpretation of Martin Margiela's current couture collection from Dazed & Confused Vol II, #67.

I love reading each issue of Cabinet Magazine in its entirety. And as a total spazzer, that is rare for me. This issue's theme is shame and everyone's favorite genital obscurer, the fig leaf, adorns the cover. On page 4 they have an amazing alternate cover image from a 1986 calendar featuring rats in anthropomorphic poses. This particular image is a white rat as Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Despite being a rat, she is still shameful of her "business" and without clothing or convenient hair, our rat venus covers up with her tail. Essay topics include Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Adam and Eve, the disapproving gaze of the Other, gross things we can't tell anyone but our physicians, and so much more.

Various painted genital coverings from Alan Jacobs' Adam and Eve essay in Cabinet #31.