Dear Young Artist,

Thanks for the lucid note. I am envious of your age and your handwriting…nothing I can do about the former or the latter, hence the typed response. Rather than frame my reply to you in poetic terms, I have constructed a list of things you might want to remember as you continue on your chosen path in visual art. As you read them, imagine me yelling them at you with urgency!

First and foremost you must remember that ARTISTS DRIVE THE BUS. It is an easy thing to forget. We sometimes feel we are at the bottom of the heap (artist as victim). But for an artist in his/her studio, working in relative isolation and producing objects from imagination, there is nothing of what we call the art world – no critics, no curators, no art historians or art history departments, no museums, no art books or art libraries, no magazines, no auction houses, and, finally , no galleries. The entire enterprise is built on one central event: the creative act in the studio. I mean no arrogance here, but it is simply true. I don’t know whether we are plankton or the whale, but we are indispensable.

That said, LET YOUR STUDIO BE YOUR SANCTUARY. Have no illusions…the art business, despite the pretension that surrounds “cultural products”, has more in common with other businesses than it does with art. When your work leaves your studio and moves into the world, its character changes. One doesn’t need to consult a Marxist to understand that art is a luxury commodity. You learn to live with this fact (and find ways of justifying it), but in the studio things are different. Within that space you create and take chances, destroy, and create again. If the marketplace finds its way (spiritually) into that studio you have abdicated your essential power. Keep your studio clear from concerns of the marketplace. You might have to dance with the wolves but you can still keep them near the door.

Speaking of work in the studio – DON’T BE AFRAID TO DO DUMB THINGS IN THE STUDIO. Artists can’t get anywhere beyond the familiar and the pre validated without risking being ridiculous. We would not have Guston’s late work had he not willingly risked “dumbness.”

A quick one – KEEP AWAY FROM ART FAIRS. Instead visit a museum and spend time in a wing housing art from centuries past. You will be rejuvenated not demoralized.

SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW ARTISTS AS THEY SUPPORT YOU. Your best community is your peer group of fellow artists. Openings are wonderful events, when artists come together to celebrate one another. Sure, they are great places to extend your network, but they are primarily events to extend community beyond the studio. We live in a country where culture is marginalized…all the more reason we should support our own efforts. Artists like Joan Mitchell, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andy Warhol all set up foundations to help artists in perpetuity. What a testament to their generosity!

READ BIOGRAPHIES OF ARTISTS. The lives of other artists can illuminate various ways to approach your own life as an artist, and those narratives can also help you see beyond the conditions of our particular time.

It’s great to have lots of shows and sell lots of work but that alone will not fulfill you. To paraphrase the late, wise painter Harvey Quaytman – A LIFE IN ART IS A LONG RACE NOT A SHORT SPRINT. Can you imagine a rich shape for your creative life beyond the standard measures of fame and financial success? If you begin to answer that question when you are young, you will have a leg up when you find yourself in your mid and late career.

All the best,

Gregory Amenoff

New York