#adam moss

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whee9a.gif - Art By: Adam Moss - Found on his website.

[sweetonsugden]

🥰

[furryartchive]

TanaisAndBadger-ADM.gif (03/1995), Adam Moss (via)

Tanais Fox and Innkeeper Badger playing chess one hot summer's afternoon. Artist: Adam Moss, AKA Aspirin The Fox. Grayscale.

[dk-thrive]

Making art is an ordeal. You may wonder what sort of person would put herself through it.

As Virginia Woolf wrote in this killer description of creative turmoil, “anyone moderately familiar with the rigours of composition will not need to be told the story in detail; how he wrote and it seemed good; read and it seemed vile; corrected and tore up; cut out; put in; was in ecstasy; in despair; had his good nights and bad mornings; snatched at ideas and lost them; saw his book plain before him and it vanished; acted his people’s parts as he ate; mouthed them as he walked; now cried; now laughed; vacillated between this style and that; now preferred the heroic and pompous; next the plain and simple; now the vales of Tempe; then the fields of Kent or Cornwall; and could not decide whether he was the divinest genius or the greatest fool in the world.” In other words, making art is an ordeal. You may wonder what sort of person would put herself through it.

— Adam Moss, “The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing.” (Penguin Publishing Group, April 16, 2024)

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If you were to survey any random 1,000 people and ask them:

In any of your schooling experience, were you ever given substantial instruction about: the definition of creativity; the values of creativity and creative practice; an extended discussion of the differences between high level creativity and everyday creativity; the various psychological aspects of creativity and the inner life of creative work; the creative and intellectual biographies of great artists and creative thinkers; how scientific psychology studies creativity; the relationship between discipline and creativity? (etc.)

I'm willing to bet that hardly anyone could answer in the affirmative.

Just like with a robust concept of critical thinking, we've systematically neglected this vital aspect of ourselves in favor of other educational objectives.

In any case, whatever your creative path, this book might come in handy and even be an inspiration.

The values of creativity are all the more important to promote in this current context of authoritarianism and its demands for conformity, obedience, fear, lies and crushing stupidity.

ENDORSEMENTS

“Gorgeously illustrated . . . Fabulous insights into the artist’s work.” —NBC, "Today in New York"

“Essential and inspirational . . . Throughout, you witness the duality of creation. The ways an artist absorbs and rejects. Allowing in and kicking out. Opening and closing off . . . [Moss] has a delightful rapport with the artists and is a lively, intensely interested listener. You can see why they open up to him and trust him.” —Observer “Very much a museum, the book shows how ideas can be taken from seed to fruition, a skill Moss honed as the editor of New York magazine. Readers will linger in these galleries as they consider the ideas of more than 40 creatives working in art forms that include sculpting, painting, cooking, writing, and even building sandcastles. The artists represented here are an extraordinary group, with such luminaries as Louise Glück, Kara Walker, Stephen Sondheim, and Ira Glass. Visitors to Moss's museum will delight in its visual styling, with every detail—font, layout, design, color—governed by a spare but finely appointed aesthetic. The artifacts that accompany each section prove fascinating . . . Moss strikes the perfect balance with his tone: breezy and conversational but driven by intellectual curiosity . . . Throughout The Work of Art, Moss chases the origin and evolution of creativity, a lofty but highly practical goal, especially to emerging creatives looking for inspiration. He may not solve that elusive puzzle, but readers will love the treasure trove of wisdom he uncovers.” —Shelf Awareness

“A panoply of artists offer a rare peek into the mysteries and mundanities of the creative process in this captivating compendium . . . Moss concludes on a fascinating note, musing that while ‘artists don’t have more interesting dreams than the rest of us,’ they do possess ‘an unusual ability to cross over—to get entrance to that inarticulable place, and then to capture what they can make use of.’ It’s a must-read for creatives of all stripes.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

[longlistshort]

The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing by former New York magazine editor Adam Moss is a fascinating look at the creative processes of several famous artists. Each artist discusses specific works and gives the reader an inside look at how they came about.

The 43 artists included are visual artists, writers, musicians, editors, designers, and many other creative categories. Moss is also an artist and you can see that in his desire to both inform the reader, and to learn for himself, what makes these individuals tick.

Many of the names will be familiar, but these behind the scenes looks are incredibly enlightening. These discussions often also inspired, for me, a deeper dive. I found myself watching videos of Twyla Tharp‘s choreography, reading Guy Talese’s essay and Sheila Heti’s book, listening to Moses Sumney, watching Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, and so on, as I progressed through the book.

While some artists will appeal more than others depending on your interests, all of them had something interesting and valuable to say. This book was one of my favorites of 2024.

[adumbmoss]

New update bois

[void-bee]

another @adumbmoss character as a tribute to my bestie’s birthday :3

happy becoming old Tom ♦

@gober-mouch