Making Secondary Habits Primary

Kevin Hartnett writes about how the writer Murakami deliberately rearranged his life to make writing work. He cites that Murakami knew, as I am figuring out too, that there is only so much writing (or painting) one can accomplish when it's a secondary activity:

He wrote his first novel in the predawn hours after he’d finished tallying receipts and washing down the bar.  His writing sessions sometimes lasted only half an hour, at which point he’d fall asleep.  Even under those conditions Murakami was able to mine the talent that would eventually make him famous.

I've never read Murakami, but he seems very deliberate. He seems very aware of how each day fits within the rest. I've always tried to aim for being so confident that I know the exact place for each day's work. But I'm pretty impatient and tend to let all those "primary" activities overwhelm me. I guess there is still something to be said for working with resistance. Would I even know what to do (yet) if each day was entirely devoted to painting?

Semi-related: Although I can't access the June 2008 New Yorker article, The Running Novelist, that Hartnett mentions... the cover to that same issue pretty nicely sums up my feelings when I see folks at work tapping a book title into Amazon on their iphone.

"Shadowy Existence in the Studio"

Neo Rauch (via Art Info)

The most valuable art books in my studio become the ones with the most words in them. Which is funny because they're usually purchased for the pictures. I get infatuated with someone's work and the monograph becomes a way to possess it or learn it. The artist conversations inside recreate the existence of the work for me long after I first see it.

There is a great studio chat between Wolfgang Buscher and Neo Rauch in the book, Neo Rauch: Schilfland Works on Paper. There is also another interview with Ellen Alpsten. They discuss the hidden prolific drawing practice of a painter who already is known for being "uncommonly productive".

Building an Artist

Proposal for Train Jeff Koons

Greg.org examines Jeff Koon's CV (via C-Monster) and finds that things don't add up. Koon's legacy (perhaps like many large historical figures) seems to be blurred just by virtue of not having kept track of details. It seems Koon's mythological start on Wall Street might not be more than any other working artist's early days: a simple day job filling in the blanks. He didn't give up some million dollar career track.

Towards the end he mentions a fairly common artist trajectory:

...the very familiar arc of an emerging artist's career: art school; crap job at a museum; make crappy work; get a day job; friends with artists; failed starts with some dealers; sell a piece or two; go broke; get another day job; get in some group shows; which leads to a solo show. And the rest, we know.

Just out of school I think I was afraid to be called a painter if I hadn't been painting that morning. I was afraid I'd loose it. The reality, as a professor made clear years before, "You're lucky if you'll get 3 hours a week of painting in at first".

Books: All the Inspirational Self-Help Won't Save Me

The Studio Reader

Today I started The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists. An interesting anthology of interviews, essays and older writings that all think forward. Put together from the Art Institute of Chicago, it has a little bit of old and a little bit of new. A book like this is always neat to pick up because it helps quell my anxiety of my own practice. But it got me thinking of all the odd inspirational books I've read and if they make any difference.

A good example from the book: artist Michael Smith's simple but true list for a perfect studio day:

Wash dishes.
Fresh Coffee.
Window with view.
Quiet.
Plenty of ideas.
Room to pace.

Monograph Bookwerks

Monograph Bookwerks

John Brodie and Blair Saxon-Hill have opened a new art book store: Monograph Bookwerks. John and Blair are both visual artists, so the shop promises to be smart about architecture, design, photography, fashion, biographies and criticism. They will sell both used and rare books, studio objects and artwork! Keep up to date with their Twitter page.

Although I don't know Blair all that well, I do know that John is ceaselessly busy. John recently opened Store For a Month (much to the chatter of PDX). He also had a giant re-appropriated billboard-like art installation at this years Disjecta Biennial. Oh, and he owns Le Happy.

New York Review of Books: The Book as Object

Alberto Moravia's Boredom  in the NYRB edition

 "The series boasts exquisitely presented books—affordable trade paperbacks with a beautiful cover image and wrapped in a dual-tone spine and back cover that form a literary rainbow when shelved together." I owe my interest in Alberto Moravia to NYRB.

Although my interest has waned recently, the series has always been like a beacon. Last year (or longer) I also got hooked on Peter Handke. The NYRB version of Sorrow Beyond Dreams got me scouring shelves for old copies of others like Short Letter, Long Farewell. A few months later, NYRB release a whole bunch. And sometimes that's how it happens for me: seeing the series handpick an author like that highlights them. I may not have given the book a chance otherwise.