I find the world unknowable and therefore fascinating, unfamiliar and therefore irresistible. I long for that space where life seems uncertain, where I have to revise or reject the comfortable assumptions and convictions that have structured my life. I used to frequent a local coffee shop where I often saw a particular woman. Whenever she […]
The dismal fact is that self-respect has nothing to do with the approval of others — who are, after all, deceived easily enough; has nothing to do with reputation, which, as Rhett Butler told Scarlett O’Hara, is something people with courage can do without. J. Didion, “On Self-Respect”
The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who don’t share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. J. Didion, “On Keeping a Notebook”
Thumbing through a couple books recently — one a collection of photographs, one a book on improving your photographic skills – made something clear: Photographers commonly feel compelled to draw attention to their cameras and their camera settings, whether or not that information serves any purpose. I remain amused by photographers’ obsession with equipment; it […]
Style has become both a fetish and a marketing device. We read or, more likely in today’s podcast- and YouTube-dominated world, hear and see over and over again that we have to discover our style as if it’s some buried treasure or a form of therapeutic self-realization (the alternative formulation, “we have to find our […]
No, painting is not made to decorate apartments. It’s an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy. P. Picasso in interview with Simone Téry, March 24, 1945.
I often think of photographs in collections or series, linked to a single subject (e.g., an idea, place, time, experience). Given my preference for printed, physical photographs, I increasingly try to imagine a project in the form of an artist’s book. Artist’s books are not restricted by the format of a traditional book, sequential pages […]
But what’s a writer’s “style”?Style is an expression of the interest you take in the making of every sentence.It emerges, almost without intent, from your engagement with each sentence.It’s the discoveries you make in the making of the prose itself. We assume that style is self-expression.It can be, but only in this sense:It’s the fusion […]
The days grow longer, already noticeable in the evenings. I will miss the dark mornings, early sunsets, and the long shadows cast by the pale winter sun. Light this time of year is magical. This woman sat in a small cone of warm light, shifting her gaze from the table in front of her to […]
Art is about the maker. Its aim: to be an expression of who we are. This makes competition absurd. R. Rubin, The Creative Act