Artist Mel Ristau advised me to run to the bookstore and pick up a copy of the July-August issue of Art on Paper. Since not every bookstore is so savvy, I called upon our local favorite, Tattered Cover, which, thankfully, saved me a copy.
The theme: Letters to a Young Artist (inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet”).
“Young Artist” writes a letter to established artists whose work she admires asking for advice.
From John Baldessari: “Don’t go into art for fame and fortune. Do it because you cannot not do it.”
From Gregory Amenoff: “Artists drive the bus.” And “Don’t be afraid to do dumb things in the studio.”
From Mierle Laderman Ukeles: “It is your job to re-invent art itself, through what you create.”
Then there’s a letter from Sol LeWitt, writing to Eva Hesse in 1965. His advice; “DO!”
Good stuff.
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