Two books
I don't read biographies very often. I have a hard time remembering names. When at their beginnings, there is talk about the family, possibly going back to...
Advice For The Young Artist
I've been involved in photoland for a while now, wearing a number of different hats. I'm am educator, a photographer, a writer. I'm listing these in...
"One hell of a photograph"
A little while ago, I decided to change the brand of toothpaste I was using. I had used the old brand for ages, but its price kept going up. At some stage,...
The Beauty of the Written Word
I finished reading Louis Menand's exhausting The Free World a little while ago. I gained much insight into the connections between a variety of artists,...
Don't be afraid to take that path (and look down every once in a while)
Even though I finished work on my new book, ideas are still swirling around in my head. This morning, I thought about how it all had started: the review I...
To Write Is To Be Sisyphus
It's hardly an original observation to compare the task of writing with Sisyphus'. Any writer will know to what extent they are Sisyphus, performing a...
Illusions and Other Afflictions
“Since the 2008 recession, profit-making from art as an asset class has only continued to consolidate within a remote strata of the ultra-wealthy.” If you...
Does GPT-3 Dream of Electric Artists?
Earlier this year, I received a copy of Stephan Keppel's Soft Copy Hard Copy in the mail. At around the same time, Nelis Franken, a student of mine, told me...
You're My Favourite Meme
This is not something I could remotely claim, and anyway, this email's subject line might confuse you -- until you watch this video. I don't know how much...
I Will Not Write Any More Boring Newsletters
I don't know whether you've ever seen this short documentary about John Baldessari. If you haven't watch it. If you have, watch it again. Whenever I feel...
Online Hate
Some time last year, I read a book about Japan that I really enjoyed. It was written by Anna Sherman who had been born in the US and who had moved to Japan...
RIP Christian Boltanski
"One thing that really irritates me is that a large portion of art today doesn't talk about life, butinstead talks about art. A whole segment of what's being...
Reconstructing One's Life
There's the idea that we are familiar with our lives. I don't think that's actually the case. We are only familiar with what we're familiar with --...
Leaving a Place
Over the years, I've lived in a number of places. When I grew up, I never imagined that there would be any other location I could call home. But then I went...
No More Beuys
I finally finished reading the Joseph Beuys biography that I mentioned in one of my earlier emails. I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much. But I felt I...
RIP Janet Malcolm, Philosophers on the very mundane, and a little advertising
This past week, Janet Malcolm died. "Everyone has their favorite Janet Malcolm." writes Corey Robin (here). Mine is Forty-one False Starts, a book of essays...
Time Is Some Form of Money
I have been photographing the small town I live in because I feel that my time here has come to an end -- if not literally (yet), then for sure mentally. I...
Araki's Terminal Boredom
I discover a lot of Japanese literature (or books about Japan) through the Twitter account Asian Review of Books. That's how I came across Izumi Suzuki's...
Nothing Exciting
Maybe before continuing to read this email click on the video above and watch. It's a little less than four minutes, and you'll be glad you found the time to...
The Black Hole
I've been thinking of myself as someone rather critical of social media. At the same time, I am active on some, fueled by the idea that it makes professionl...