Installation View of Georg Karl Pfahler, Hard Edge | 1963 -1984, February 18 - March 19, 2022
Georg Karl Pfahler, German, 1926–2002
Pfahler dedicated his entire career to the investigation of the relationship between colour, shape and space, an objective he steadfastly pursued.
‘Colour has a value of its own, colour is weight, colour is quality, colour possesses an inherent limitation, of itself, through itself, through other colours, colour creates space, colour is form and space’ – Georg Karl Pfahler, 1968.
Rising to prominence in the early 1960s as one of the first hard edge painters in Europe, known for his vibrant and colourful works, Georg Karl Pfahler was an internationally recognised artist who represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1970 alongside Günther Uecker, Heinz Mack, and Thomas Lenk; and at the São Paulo Biennale in 1981. Pfahler dedicated his entire career to the investigation of the relationship between colour, shape and space, an objective he steadfastly pursued until his death in 2002. In doing so he was—and remains to this day—at the forefront of the colour field painting movement.
Pfahler was born in 1926 and studied at the Kunstakademie Stuttgart under Willi Baumeister, graduating in 1954. Influenced by the tradition of European Art Informel, he quickly adopted an innovative abstract geometric painting style, with block-like forms on crisp backgrounds appearing on his canvasses as early as 1962. It was then that Pfahler continued to reduce his style even further to exclusively focus on the dynamic between shapes, and to examine the deeper relationships between space and colour. In doing so Pfahler became a thought leader and one of the first European artists to simultaneously work in action, colour field, and hard edge painting—styles that his American contemporaries like Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland and Leon Polk Smith, among others, explored as well.
In the late 1970s Pfahler’s work began to take increasingly gestural forms, introducing sweeping blocks of coloured shapes set against minimalistic black or white backgrounds, a stylistic preoccupation that continued to influence his work throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. By the late 1990s Pfahler’s compositions had progressed into a new and final direction, where a greater number of forms, layered on top of each other almost like a collage of coloured shapes are distributed across the surface of the canvas, adding a new and never before seen spatial dimension to his paintings.
Georg Karl Pfahler was a leading German painter known for his Hard-Edge abstractions. The artist dedicated his entire career to the investigation of the relationship between color, shape, and space, and was considered at the forefront of the Color Field movement. “In Pfahler’s painting the color has both a displacing and a constitutive function, which bewilders and stimulates the observer to critical reflection,” Peter Beye once wrote of his work. Born in 1926, Pfahler studied at the Kunstakademie Stuttgart under Willi Baumeister, graduating in 1954. Initially working as a sculptor, it was Baumeister who encouraged Pfahler to focus on painting. Influenced by the tradition of European Art Informel, he quickly began to adopt an innovative abstract geometric painting style by the early 1960s. Pfahler continued to reduce his style even further to exclusively focus on the dynamic between shapes, and to examine the deeper relationships between space and color. By the mid 1960s, Pfahler had exhibited alongside artists such as Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, and Kenneth Noland in shows such as “Signale” at the Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland. In 1966, Pfahler had his first show in the United States at Fischbach Gallery, curated by Barnett Newman. Pfahler went on to represent Germany alongside Gunther Uecker, Heinz Mack, and Kaspar Thomas Lenk at the Venice Biennale in 1970. In the decades that followed, Pfahler continued to experiment with the constraints and boundaries of painting. He died on January 6, 2002 in Emetzheim, Germany. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, among others.
BIOGRAPHY
Rising to prominence in the early 1960s as one of the first hard edge painters in Europe, known for his vibrant and colorful works, Georg Karl Pfahler was an internationally recognized artist who represented Germany at the Venice Biennale in 1970 alongside Günther Uecker, Heinz Mack, and Thomas Lenk; and at the São Paulo Biennale in 1981.
Pfahler was born in 1926 and studied at the Kunstakademie Stuttgart under Willi Baumeister, graduating in 1954. Initially working as a sculptor, it was Baumeister who encouraged Pfahler to focus on painting. Influenced by the tradition of European Art Informel, he quickly simplified his paintings to adopt an innovative abstract geometric painting style, with block-like forms on crisp backgrounds appearing on his canvasses as early as 1962.
It was then that Pfahler continued to reduce his style even further to exclusively focus on the dynamic between shapes, and to examine the deeper relationships between space and color. In doing so Pfahler became a thought leader and one of the first European artists to simultaneously work in action, color field, and hard edge painting—styles that his American contemporaries like Frank Stella, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, and Leon Polk Smith, among others, explored as well.
By the mid 1960s Pfahler had arrived on the international stage. Exhibitions such as “Signale” in Basel, Switzerland in 1965 contrasted color field artists from Europe and the United States. Pfahler showed his work alongside Al Held, Elsworth Kelly, Ken Noland, and Jules Olitski, and the critically acclaimed show cemented his status as a leading European artist of his generation. In 1966 Pfahler had his first show in the United States, where Barnett Newman curated his exhibition at Fischbach Gallery in New York. Then, at the Venice Biennale in 1970, Pfahler created one of the highlights of his career to much acclaim; a walkable structure that allowed visitors to physically experience the shape, color and spacial context that is central to his work.
In the late 1970s Pfahler’s work began to take increasingly gestural forms, introducing sweeping blocks of colored shapes set against minimalistic black or white backgrounds, a stylistic preoccupation that continued to influence his work throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. By the late 1990s Pfahler’s compositions had progressed into a new and final direction, where a greater number of forms, layered on top of each other almost like a collage of colored shapes are distributed across the surface of the canvas, adding a new and never before seen spacial dimension to his paintings.
Pfahler dedicated his entire career to the investigation of the relationship between color, shape and space, an objective he steadfastly pursued until his death in 2002. In doing so he was—and remains to this day—at the forefront of the color field painting movement, creating an impressive depth of work that is represeneted in several important private and public collections around the world.
“If you want to do something, to stay alive, you have to think of something radical.”
Minimalist Abstract Art
Imi Knoebel, purist explorations of form, color, space, material and support have made him an important and formative voice in 20th-century Minimalist abstract art.
Knoebel was born in Dessau, Germany, in 1940. Minimalist hybrids of painting and sculpture explore relationships between color and structure. Knoebel’s nonrepresentational works innovate on the modernist ideas and styles of Joseph Beuys, Kazimir Malevich, and the Bauhaus; the artist is interested in seriality, spare geometries, reductive color, and the use of industrial materials such as Masonite. Knoebel studied under Beuys at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and under László Moholy-Nagy at the Werkkunstschule Darmstadt; he has exhibited in Berlin, New York, Paris, Zürich, Tokyo, London, Vienna, and Rome. His work belongs in the collections of the Essl Museum, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Museo Reina Sofía, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art. While Knoebel is best known for his sculptural paintings, his practice also involves drawing, photography, projections, and installation. His work has sold for six figures at auction.
I thought: everything has been done already. Yves Klein has painted his canvas blue, Lucia Fontana has cut slashes into his. What’s left? If you want to do something, to stay alive, you have to think of something at least as radical.
Knoebel employs a pared-down, formal vocabulary, his artistic practice is remarkably varied, encompassing painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, projections and installations. Knoebel’s oeuvre is dominated by large-scale, modular shapes and commanding color relationships, devoid of metaphor and allusion. Although Knoebel employs a pared-down, formal vocabulary, his artistic practice is remarkably varied, encompassing painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, projections and installations.
Imi Knoebel
Imi Knoebel drew formative influence from early Modernism in his consistent return to the notion of pure perception through the exploration of form and color. While his early pieces were black and white, as in the series “Linienbildern” (Line Paintings) (1966-69), he began to explore vibrant, saturated color in 1974 with his friend and classmate Blinky Palermo, to whom he would dedicate “24 Farben für Blinky” (“24 Colors for Blinky”) (1977), a series of brightly colored irregular shapes.
Imi Knoebel lives and works in Düsseldorf. He was the subject of solo museum exhibitions at Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland (2018); Museum Haus Lange und Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany (2015); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, K21, Düsseldorf, Germany (2015); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2014); Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany (2011); Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (2010); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2009); Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2009); Dia:Beacon, New York (2008); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany (2004); Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany (2002); Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (1997); Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (1997); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (1996); and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1996). His work has been collected by prestigious public and private collections worldwide.
From 1962 to 1964, Knoebel attended the Werkkunstschule in Darmstadt, where he took courses in structural design and constructive composition, according to the ideas of the Bauhaus artists Johannes Itten (Swiss, 1888–1967) and Lászlo Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian, 1885–1946). There, he met Imi Giese in 1964. Together, the two transferred to the Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie, where they both took a class with Joseph Beuys (German, 1921–1986). Knoebel began to create analytical works, with an interplay of colors and forms. Together with a few fellow students, he formed a Minimalist Art movement.
Knoebel initially dealt mainly with line images, light projections, and white images, and took a strong reductionist position. Beginning in 1974, he began to use color. In the same decade, he experimented with superimposed colored wood and aluminum panels and slats, which he used in certain spatial relations to each other, creating scale sculptures.
Knoebel was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena in 2006. In 2011, he created several stained glass windows for the Reims Cathedral. He is the recipient of numerous art awards, and his works can be seen in exhibitions around the world.
Imi Knoebel Face 2 Ed (2002–2013 Photo: courtesy Galerie Thomas Modern
Countering romanticism, the central tradition of German art, Knoebel revives the purity of utopian modernism, using pared down forms of constructivism to take his painting to a zero point. He attempts expression without representation or the restrictions of ideological painting programs. The goal is to purify and cleanse the present from the past and to start again, relying on new materials and aesthetic forms to move forward. Painters who came of age in the postwar era dealt with a fresh cultural memory of the ascendency and fall of German nationalism, West Germany’s rapid economic recovery and expansion after the demise of fascism, and the division and subsequent union of East and West Germany during the communist era. Knoebel’s approach was to look for the basic roots of art, which he felt were not in rhetoric but in things, in the simple interaction between humans and the essential conditions of their world
The Latinists series, 1987, clearly shows many of Knoebel’s concerns and interests. The forms, like those of American minimalism, are rudimentary (squares, rectangles, parallelograms) as are the materials of fiberboard, unused stretcher bars, and flat industrial white paint. Unlike American minimalism, however, Knoebel’s intention has nothing to do with finding a rational, positivist center by which to make art. Instead, his spare starting points become the criteria from which Knoebel’s intuitions take over, leading him to arrange his humble materials in ways that appeal to his aesthetic experiences and his perceptions of beautiful composition. The results are paintings that play into the realm of sculpture, retaining the basic figure/ground and picture plane conditions of a painting but extending off the wall and into the space, activating the room.
Biography
Knoebel has exhibited widely throughout his career, including solo shows at Haus Der Kunst in Munich (1996), Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1996) and Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2009). In 2011, the historic Reims Cathedral inaugurated a series of six monumental stained glass panes created by Knoebel on the occasion of its 800th anniversary. His work can also be found in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Dia:Beacon in Beacon, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, and the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris. Knoebel currently lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Education
1964 – 1971 Academy of Arts, Düsseldorf, Germany
Awards
2016 Officier des Arts et des Lettres, Haus der Stiftungen, Düsseldorf, Germany
2011 Kythera-Prize, Düsseldorf, Germany
2008 Glass Windows, Cathedral Reims, France
2006 Honorary doctor of the Friedrich Schiller Universität, Jena, Germany
Solo Exhibitions
2022
Galerie Jochen Hempel, Leipzig, Germany
2021
Dia:Beacon, New York, NY, USA
Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2020
Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyWhite Cube, London, UK
2019
Galerie Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid, Spain
Jahn und Jahn, Munich, Germany
Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
Galerie Fahneman, Berlin, Germany
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
2018
Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
Galerie Christian Lethert, Cologne, Germany
2017
New Works, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Liaison Astéroïde, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Red Yellow Blue, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
Imi Knoebel – Fernand Léger: une rencontre, Musée National Fernand Léger, Biot, France
2015
Linienbilder 1966-68, Villa Griesebach, Berlin, Germany
Triller, Galerie Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid, Spain Anima Mundi, Galerie Thomas Modern, Munich, Germany Malewitsch zu Ehren, K21 Ständehaus, Düsseldorf, GermanyKernstücke, Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany Linienbilder 1966-68, Villa Grisebach, Düsseldorf, Germany Inside the White Cube, White Cube (Bermondsey), London, UK Recent Works, Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt am Main, GermanyWeiß – Schwarz, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin, Germany
Inauguration of Imi Knoebel’s glass windows for the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Reims (May 11, 2015), Reims, France
2014
Rosa Ort, Galerie Kewenig, Berlin, Germany
Position, Galerie Bernard Jordan, Zürich, Switzerland Arbeiten aus den Jahren 1970-2014, Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin, Germany
Imi Knoebel, Works 1966 – 2014, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany Raum 19 IV, Galerie Christian Lethert, Cologne, Germany
Position, Catherine Putman Galerie, Paris, France
Mahlzeit, Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2013Das und Das, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Galerie von Bartha, S-chanf, Switzerland
LUEB, Barbel Grasslin, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Position, Jordan/Seydoux, Berlin, Germany
Eine Ausstellung, Parkhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Hans Strelow, Düsseldorf
2012
Hirschfaktor, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany
The Third Room, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
Vera Munro Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
Galerie Clemens Fahnemann, Berlin, Germany
Galerie Hans Strelow, Düsseldorf, Germany
24 Colors – For Blinky, Dia:Beacon, Dia Art Foundation, NY, USA
2011
Werke aus der Sammlung Schaufler, Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany
Rosenkranz Kubus X, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
Kartoffelbilder, Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria
Design of the gothic windows for the Cathedral of Reims, Reims, France
Weiss Schwarz, Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt
2010
Weiss – Schwarz, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Der Deutsche, Giacomo Guidi Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
Just love me, MUDAM – Musée d’art moderne grand-duc Jean, Luxembourg
2009
Ich Nicht und Enduros, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
Zu Hilfe, Zu Hilfe…, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Werke aus der Sammlung Siegfried und Jutta Weishaupt, Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm, Germany
Joseph Beuys and His Students – SSM – Sakip Sabanci Müzesi, Istanbul, Turkey
Galerie Fahnemann, Berlin
7 x 14 – Jubiläumsausstellung, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
2008Concept Space, Gunma, Japan
24 Colors – for Blinky, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, New York
Knife Cuts, Dia Art Foundation, The Dan Flavin Art Institute, Bridgehampton, New York
2007
Imi Knoebel – Werke 1966-2006, Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Anthony McCall and Imi Knoebel, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
Galerie St. Johann, Saarbrücken, Germany
Amor intellectualis, Galerie Hans Strelow, Düsseldorf, Germany
Jova Lynne is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in New York City, of Jamaican and Colombian heritage. Lynne is interested in the parallels between fictional, historical and personal archives in identity development. Lynne seeks to subvert anthropological practice in utilizing lens, sculpture and performative practices. She is interested in the cognitive dissonance one experiences when navigating material, text and media-based archive specifically as it relates to Black culture. Lynne completed a Masters of Fine Arts in Photography at Cranbrook Academy of Art in May 2017. Since then Lynne has been based out of Detroit, MI, and has exhibited widely including institutions such as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Detroit Institute of Art and Redbull Arts. Lynne is a grantee from various foundations which has supported her work in media and social practice based projects in Kingston, Jamaica and Berlin, Germany in addition to her work in the United States.
Education Masters of Fine Arts, Photography, Cranbrook Academy of Art, May 2017 Bloomfield Hills, MI Bachelor of Arts, Film/Video, Hampshire College, May 2010 Amherst, MA
Solo Exhibitions 2022 Soon Come, Simone DeSousa Gallery, Video, Photography, Sculpture Detroit, MI 2021 Hopes Garden, Red Bull Arts Detroit , Video, Photography, Sculpture Detroit, MI 2020 The Tourist, Neon Heater, Video Installation Findlay, OH 2019 A Cathartic Exercise in Rage, Vox Populi, Solo Exhibition, Video, Photography and Sculpture Philadelphia, PA 2018 Soft Thrones, University of Toledo Art Museum, Solo Exhibition, Video and Sculpture Toledo, OH 2018 Paradise Travel Company, Pops Packing, Solo Exhibition, Performative Installation Detroit, MI 2015 CONVERGE, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Performance San Francisco, CA
Group Exhibitions 2023 State of the Art II, Currier Museum of Art Keen, New Hampshire 2022 State of the Art II, MOCA Jacksonville Jacksonville, FL 2022 State of the Art II, Art Museum of South Texas Corpus Christi, TX 2022 Friction, SOIL Seattle, WA 2022 Untitled, Blanc Gallery Chicago, IL 2021 Queering Cream City, SAVE ART SPACE Milwaukee, WI 2021 With Eyes Open, Cranbrook Art Museum Bloomfield Hills, MI 2021 Unraveled. Restructured. Revealed, Trout Museum of Art Appleton, WI 2020 State of the Art II, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Bentonville, AR 2019 Breaching the Margins, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Sculpture Grand Rapids, MI 2019 BEACON, Torrance Art Museum, Video Torrance, CA 2019 MIND BODY, Petcoke Gallery, Video, Detroit, MI 2019 To Bring You My Love, The Neon Heater, Video and Photography Findlay, OH 2018 Tourists Coconut, Stroboskop Art Space, Video Warsaw, Poland 2018 Provisions, Caribbeing House, Sculpture Brooklyn, NY 2018 A Welcoming, Brooklyn Museum, Sculpture Brooklyn, NY 2018 Remedios The Beauty, G-CAAD Gallery, Video St.Louis, MO 2018 Sugar Sugar, Public Pool, Video and Sculpture Detroit, MI 2017 SIDEWALK Performing Arts Festival, Collaborative Performance Detroit, MI 2017 BEACON, Beacon Sacramento, Video Projection Sacramento, CA 2017 Graduate Degree Show, Cranbrook Museum of Art, Photo Installation Bloomfield Hills, MI 2017 Walking With Serpents, Forum Gallery, Sculptural Installation Bloomfield Hills, MI 2017 Stick it to the WALL, Forum Gallery, Photography Bloomfield Hills, MI 2016 CONTEXT, Rocks Box Contemporary Art, Sculpture Pontiac, MI 2016 FOUR WOMEN, Studio 14, Sculpture Bloomfield Hills, MI 2015 B.U.F.U, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Video Installation Bloomfield Hills, MI
Workshops and Residencies 2022 Anderson Ranch Arts Center Artist Fellow Snowmass Village, CO 2020 Halcyon Arts Lab Fellow Washington, DC 2020 Mass MoCA, Artist-in-Residence North Adams, MA 2020 Vermont Studio Center, Artist-in-Residence Johnson, VT 2019 ACRE, Artist-in-Residence Wisconsin, USA 2019 The Pennsylvania State University School of Visual Arts, Artist-in-Residence University Park, PA 2017 Ox-Bow School of Arts and Artist Residency, Fall Artist-in-Residence Saugatuck, MI 2016 SO((U))L HQ, Artist-in-Residence Kingston, Jamaica 2016 Talking Dolls, Artist-in-Residence Detroit, MI 2015 Advanced Mold Making II, The Crucible Oakland, CA 2014 Adobe, Media Professionals Development Training San Francisco, CA
Fair Presentations 2021 Printed Matter Art Book Fair 2021 New Art Dealers Alliance, Miami Art Week, Simone Desousa Gallery, Photography 2020 New Art Dealers Alliance Presents, Simone Desousa Gallery, Photography and Video Installation International Presentation
Selected Presentations 2021 University of Illinois, Photograph as Archive Ann Arbor, MI 2020 University of Michigan, Unlearning Failure in Photographic and Performance Practice Ann Arbor, MI 2020 Six Feet Apart, Lens Based Performance with Jova Lynne Johnson, VT 2019 Wayne State University, Enduring Archives with Jova Lynne Detroit, M 2019 Cranbrook Academy of Art, Enduring the body-Enduring Performance with Jova Lynne Detroit, MI 2019 Conversations with the Curator Detroit, MI 2018 New Art Dealers Alliance, In Conversation with Tyree Guyton Miami, FL 2018 Sculpture X, Notions of Disruption Toledo, OH 2018 Wayne State University, Performing Identities Detroit, MI 2018 Sculpture Center, Navigating the Art World Cleveland, OH 2018 College of Creative Studies, TALK: JOVA LYNNE Detroit, MI 2016 Detroit Institute of Arts, In Conversation with Jova Lynne and Njia Kai Detroit, MI 2013-16 Allied Media Conference, The Black Survival Mixtape, Artivism as Power Detroit, MI 2015 Market Street Prototyping Festival, Intersections Between Art and Activism San Francisco, CA 2014 Institute for the Future, Open Cities Festival, Youth Cities for the Future San Francisco, CA 2013 Next is Now, Video Art and Cultural Exploration San Francisco, CA
Selected Grants and Awards 2019 Knight Foundation, Knight Arts Challenge, Grant Recipient Detroit, MI 2017 Global Arts Fund, Astraea Foundation, Grant Recipient New York, NY 2016 Detroit Narrative Agency, Grant Recipient Detroit, MI 2016 American Association of University Women, Grant Recipient Washington D.C 2015 Cranbrook Academy of Art Merit Scholarship Bloomfield Hills, MI 2013 Center for Cultural Innovation, Next Generation Art Professionals, Grant Recipient San Francisco, CA 2011 The New York Foundation, Grant Recipient New York, NY
Bibliography 2020 Jova Lynne’s Majestic Portraits, October 2020 Published by The Detroit News 2020 Highlighting Detroit’s Invisible Artists: Art Workers, August 2020 Published by HyperAllergic 2020 Hour Detroit, A weekend with Artist Jova Lynne, February 2020 Published by HOUR DETROIT Editors 2019 ArtForum, Top 6 Artists to Watch November 2019 Published by ArtForum Editors 2019 New York Times Magazine, Tyree Guyton Turned a Detroit Street Into a Museum, Why is he taking it down?, Published by M.H Miller 2019 Contemporary& Magazine, How to Give Space, Published by Olivia Gilmore 2018 HyperAllergic, Booking a Trip to the Elusive Land Called Paradise, published by Sarah Rose Sharp 2018 Document Journal, The Class and Racial Complexities of Leisure, Published by Megan Wray 2017 Refigural, Featured Artist, Issue 12. 2016 BLAC Detroit, Renaissance Before Revival, published by Taylor Renee Aldridge 2015 Mask Magazine, Premiering SUCKA FREE – Queer Visibility in Music by Anjum Aska
Memberships and Collectives 2017 BULK SPACE, Co-Founder 2016 Black Artists Meet-Up–Detroit, Co-Founder/Facilitator 2016 POST M.O.V.E Cranbrook 2015 Diversity Club-Facilitator 2015 Black Survival Mixtape, Collaborator 2014 WOAH Collective, Co-Founder – Video and Film
Selected Collections Wedge Collection Progressive Art Collection Detroit Institute of Arts Cranbrook Art Museum Private Collections*
Selected Curated Exhibitions 2020 Forethought DarkRoom Detroit, Detroit, MI 2020 ArtWORK Art Mile, Detroit, MI 2020 With or Without You: America Shylo Arts, Detroit, MI 2020 Distant Future Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT 2019 Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI 2019 Useless Utility Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI 2018 Process Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI 2018 2+2=8: Thirty Years Heidelberg Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI 2017 FOUR WOMEN Studio 14, Bloomfield Hills, MI 2015 Emergent (Eco)nomy Yerba buena Center for the Arts , San Francisco, CA 2014 Visions of An Abolitionist Future Yerba buena Center for the Arts , San Francisco, CA
Selected Professional Experience 2019-Present Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Susanne Feld Hillberry Senior Curator Detroit, MI 2017-2019 Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Ford Foundation Curatorial Fellow Detroit, MI 2017-18 Allied Media Projects, People In Arts and Education, Program Coordinator Detroit, MI 2015-16 Cranbrook Academy of Art, Department Assistant, Visiting Artist/Public Programs Bloomfield Hills, MI 2015-16 Detroit Future Schools, Teaching Artist Detroit, MI 2012-15 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Youth Arts and Education Manager San Francisco, CA 2012-13 Oakland Leaf, Teaching Artist Oakland, CA
Por Eduardo Planchart Licea, curador y crítico de arte
En ellas se expresa la falsa solidez de la materia, y la existencia de un tiempo relativo que se transforma según la velocidad, verdades que el desarrollo de la física se encargaría de reafirmar.
Dentro de la concepción de arte experimental que delimitaré no entenderemos únicamente aquellas manifestaciones que adhieran a sus obras materiales o técnicas industriales, pues consideramos a este un criterio excesivamente limitante que dejaría afuera tendencias netamente vanguardistas como el cubismos, futurismo, el expresionismos y el surrealismo,etc..
Por ello, asumimos dentro de la experimentalidad tendencias o artistas que develan un nuevo sentido, y una búsqueda constante que abra nuevos caminos al arte y se enfrentan a concepciones diferentes del objeto plástico, que pueden llegar incluso a liberarse del soporte material o desmaterializarlo.
No debemos dejar de lado que en el desarrollo del arte moderno y contemporáneo no se hallan eliminado elementos de la pintura:“En la pintura moderna se han difundido y practicado tanto las técnicas operativas de la línea, del claroscuro y del color que han condicionado la casi totalidad de las corrientes artísticas. Basta con pensar que muchos de los surrealistas han continuado valiéndose de ellos y que hasta la pintura informalista ha seguido siendo pintura sobre lienzo. Además muchos indicios recientes demuestran que también en el terreno del llamado arte pobre se da un revival de la pintura hecha con pincel, casi como una rebelión del hombre marcusiano contra el empleo masivo de las técnicas condicionadas por nuestra sociedad de consumo”. [1]
Este vínculo de las vanguardias artísticas con la pintura de pincel tiene una significación que se puede interpretar como expresión de una dimensión ética del arte, que se niega a perder su carácter artesanal como una forma de evitar su deshumanización, lo cual expresa algunos investigadores enfáticamente: “A pesar de las sensacionales novedades que han renovado por completo el comportamiento técnico de muchas corrientes artísticas de las últimas décadas de siglo, son muchos los artistas individuales o los movimientos pictóricos que continúan utilizando una pintura de línea, claroscuro y color.., tenemos que reconocer que incluso en el momento del triunfo de la tecnología, y en plena sociedad de consumo, sobrevive la fe humanista que espera del homo faber, del hombre artesano, la recuperación ética de la humanidad.”[2] .
Los criterios de experimentalidad que nacen con el Constructivismo Ruso y la Bauhaus se manifiesta idealmente en una conciliación entre lo artesanal y la técnica industrial que busca dar nacimiento a un nuevo humanismo e incluso la búsqueda de un arte liberado del gusto y de los criterios clásicos de belleza como se plantea en las obras de Marcel Duchamp, realizadas con técnicas artesanales.
A medida que se entre en el siglo XX, el arte empieza asumir las técnicas e instrumentos industriales, pero con criterios artesanales y humanizadores tal como se manifiesta en los Relieves y Contrarrelieves,la creación de la Bauhaus, la soldadura en las esculturas de J.V. González.
Acercarnos a todos estos movimientos nos permitirá poner en duda las afirmaciones de la posmodernidad como ruptura de un paradigma que logro trascender las barreras de la modernidad.
Estas tensiones entre se manifiestan en Pollock, su obra puede ser considerada como el límite de la pintura hecha con color, plena de humanidad, revelando visiones donde el artista a través de elementos propios de la pintura de caballete como son el óleo y el lienzo crea una nueva manera de hacer pintura dándole un nuevo giro con su “action painting”, acentuando un concepto del hacer artístico que deja en la obra la impronta del acto creativo a través de la revalorización de lo casual y lo accidental, planteando la obra como proceso, lo cual tiene sus raíces en las propuestas de Marcel Duchamp.
Podríamos afirmar que el arte se ha ido revolucionando a sí mismo, al fusionar artes diversas como la pintura la escultura, y la arquitectura en la Bahaus y el constructivismo, la fotografía en los fotomontajes y la rayografia, la acumulación de desperdicios en los ensamblajes o Mertz de K. Schwitter, los readymade dentro de la esfera del dadaísmo.
Asumen maneras diferentes de hacer arte, rompen con la bidimensionalidad incorporando la realidad a la obra creando un espacio plástico que trasciende tanto la ilusión de origen renacentista como de las multiperspectivas cubistas, disolviendo el formato rectangular, incorporando elementos y materias dispares dentro de una misma propuesta como son los desperdicios tecnológicos liberándose de las composiciones bellas y armónicas, asumir lo cotidiano al hacer artístico, son estos pasos en parte responsables de los criterios de la experimentalidad actual que surgieron desde principios de siglo.
Por tanto, entenderemos como al arte experimental asociado a la búsqueda de nuevas formas de expresión y comunicación que no se estabilizan o congelan en una convención o códigos visuales, sino que sus rasgos dominantes son la búsqueda constante e implacable que intenta plasmar una nueva concepción de la realidad y del objeto plástico.
Y entre estas categorías son de interés particular: la fusión de las artes y técnicas, incorporación de nuevas maneras de percibir y sentir la creación, lo cual está íntimamente entrelazado a roles diferentes que asume el artista y las diversas concepciones del hacer creativo que se enfatizan en la investigación con materiales y técnicas extrapictóricas que dan nacimiento a nuevos conceptos del objeto plástico y del espacio-tiempo.
Entre los movimientos que plantean un acercamiento entre estas dimensiones, creando una plástica experimental entendida como una búsqueda de nuevas formas de expresión que comunicaran un nuevo horizonte plástico, el futurismo(1909-1919), sin dudas ocupa un lugar especial.
Desde esta perspectiva lo que determinó en parte la su experimentalidad guiada por la búsqueda que se lanzó al encuentro del dinamismo de la máquina, del tiempo y el espacio mecánico -que fue negado por los antimecanismo del dadaísmo- reconciliando así el arte con la ciencia y la concepción de belleza que subyace en lo tecnológico.
Esto se manifiesta a través de diversas propuestas (Bocciono, Carrà, Balla, etc..,) y ámbitos de la cultura, este movimiento tenía una concepción de arte integral, acentuado por un nihilismo y una ruptura con el sentido común que antecedió al dadaísmo.
Y se explicita en una manifiesto literario publicado el 20 de Febrero de 1909 en el periódico parisino “Le Fígaro”, firmado por el poeta y dramaturgo italiano Marinetti, quien provenía del ambiente de los poetas simbolistas franceses, defensores y divulgadores de las ideas anarquistas.
A este se continuaron otros textos como el Manifiesto de Pintores Futuristas (1910), Manifiesto Técnico (1910), Manifiesto de Escultura Futurista (1911).
Los aportes del futurismo rebasaron el terreno de lo plástico, habiendo determinado un estilo poético, musical, teatral y arquitectónico, involucrándose pasionalmente también en la política, de ahí su desvalorización, debido al trágico acercamiento del movimiento al fascismos y al belicismo, nconsecuencia de la irreverente agresiva que demostraron en sus manifiestos y acciones.
Como consecuencia de estas posiciones dos de sus más prometedores exponentes Umberto Boccioni y Antonio Sant´Elia murieron en la Primera Guerra Mundial. Esta exigencia demoledora y angustiosa por destruir el pasado y la tradición, no puede ser comprendida sino se contextualiza el movimiento en el momento histórico en que se desarrolló la cultura italiana que había sido dominada completamente por el culto al glorioso pasado, pero a pesar de la irreverencia del futurismo la negación no fue total.
La amplitud en terreno cultural de este movimiento lo señalan casi todos los investigadores del tema. Esta integración de las artes creando tendencias artística en diversos ámbitos culturales es una clara evidencia de las implicaciones de la experimentalidad futurista y de su actualidad, en el sentido de que muchos de sus logros aún tienen vigencia.
Se demuestra en este movimiento lo fructífero de una vanguardia que se plantea problemas concretos, intentando llevarlos a sus últimas consecuencias. Es este un sentido que es necesario destacar: la experimentalidad como el desarrollo de una problemática abierta que evita el cerramiento la cosificación de los lenguajes plásticos.
Tras esta búsqueda se desvelaba una visión del mundo que desmaterializó el objeto al indagar en la modificaciones generadas en los cuerpos por el movimientos y su dinámica interrelación con el ambiente, esto se manifiesta en obras de Boccioni como “Estados de Ánimo: las Despedida”, 1911; “La Fuerza de la Calle”, 1911, ambas en tela sobre óleo.
En ellas se expresa la falsa solidez de la materia, y la existencia de un tiempo relativo que se transforma según la velocidad, verdades que el desarrollo de la física se encargaría de reafirmar.
Las Vanguardias Artísticas del Siglo XX, define al futurismo como un movimiento polémico, de batalla cultural; fue un movimiento sintomático de una situación histórica; un acervo de ideas y de instintos, dentro del cual, si bien no claramente se expresan algunas exigencias reales de la nueva época: la necesidad de ser modernos, de aferrar la verdad de una vida transformada por la era técnica, la necesidad de hallar una expresión adecuada a los tiempos de la revolución industrial. El error profundo del futurismo fue no considerar la suerte del hombre en el engranaje mecánico. Sólo Boccioni, e inicialmente Carrà, se dieron cuenta de este problema.
Tuvo la influencia este movimiento del Constructivismo Ruso, lo cual es algo más que una suposición, pues Marinetti viajó a Rusia a dar varias conferencias en 1913, pero no fue bien recibido su nacionalismo belicista. En el estilo irreverente, negador y contradictorio de exponer sus postulados el futurismo se anticipo a Dada. Se establecieron los fundamentos de esta nueva estética, y de su íntima relación con la tecnología en sus manifiestos:
“4.- Nosotros afirmamos que la magnificencia del mundo se ha enriquecido con una belleza nueva: la belleza de la velocidad. Un automóvil de carreras con su capó adornado de gruesos tubos semejantes a serpientes de hálito explosivo…, un automóvil rugientes que parece correr sobre la metralla es más bello que la Victoria de Samotracia…, nosotros debemos inspirarnos en los milagros tangibles de la vida contemporánea, en la férrea red de velocidad que abraza la Tierra, en los transatlánticos, en los acorazados, en los vuelos maravillosos que surcan los cielos, en la audacia tenebrosa de los audaces submarinos, en la lucha espasmódica por la conquista de lo desconocido.”
Uno de los rasgos comunes del futurismo con otros movimientos es la idea de captar la esencia de la realidad, y Es Boccioni uno de sus máximos exponentes a la “búsqueda intuitiva de la forma única que dé continuidad en el espacio, es decir, de la forma única del infinito sucederse.”
[3] A la vez plantea una relación religante con la realidad, y con el cosmos, lo cual se desprende de la afirmaciones de Boccioni:“Para nosotros el cuadro es la vida misma intuida en sus transformaciones dentro del objeto y no fuera de él.., daremos su expansión, su fuerza, su manifestarse, que crearán su relación simultánea con el ambiente.»”
[4] Introduce Boccioni la idea de que la realidad es resultado de la interrelación del objeto y el espacio, lo cual determina la compenetración de planos y lo que llama líneas fuerzas, enriqueciendo de esta manera la relación del ambiente sobre el objeto plástico propia del impresionismo:“Por primera vez un objeto vive y se completa en el ambiente, influyéndose recíprocamente…, nuestros cuerpos entran en los divanes en que nos sentamos, y los divanes entran en nosotros, del mismo que el tranvía que pasa entra en las casas, las cuales, a su vez, se arrojan sobre el tranvía que pasa y se amalgama con él».” [5]
Este dinamismo y ritmo que es develado por la velocidad de la máquina, determina un nuevo tema dentro del arte, una manera de percibir la realidad, una creencia en los milagros tangibles de la ciencia y en categorías inexistentes hasta ese momento en la historia del arte como son la inmaterialidad de la realidad, la interrelación del objeto con el entorno, la simultaneidad, la continuidad, la compenetración de planos que conducen a la desmaterialización del espacio pictórico y a una nueva concepción del espacio y el tiempo, determinando los rasgos generales de la manera de representar el objeto plástico.
Auspician el triunfo indiscriminado del maquisnismo en el mundo del futuro, su técnica no es en modo alguna racional ni científica, pues la unidad de lo real en el movimiento se consigue esencialmente a través de la intuición que excluye de por sí un proceso racional. Se trata de un hecho que, con el tiempo, se revelará mistificante, y así principalmente desde los comienzos del futurismo, la mayoría de los artistas de vanguardia estarán dispuestos asumir únicamente los ropajes de la técnica.
Los aportes del futurismo en torno al problema del espacio y la desmaterialización son de interés: “Lo que intentan superar los futuristas es un espacio apriorística y euclidiano, el espacio como algo absoluto, sustituyéndolo por un espacio relativo consecuencia de la incidencia en él de los factores externos, los cuales en ciertos modo provocan la desmaterialización concreta del espacio pictórico. Esta desmaterialización según el propio Boccioni, llevó a los futuristas a un trascendentalismo físico. Es también de gran importancia la distinción entre movimiento absoluto y relativo para la comprensión de la concepción futuristas del dinamismo”.
Boccioni en su libro Pittura, Scultura Futurista distingue dos tipos de movimiento: el absoluto y el relativo. El absoluto es aquel que es propio del objeto que se mueve; el relativo es aquel que surge de la transformación que sufre el objeto al moverse tanto en relación a un espacio móvil como a un entorno inmóvil. El dinamismo es entonces la acción simultánea del movimiento absoluto y el relativo.
El movimiento absoluto del que habla es propiamente un movimiento cinematográfico e incluso fotográfico ya conseguido por la técnica de la época; recuérdese en tal sentido las fotografías estroboscópicas o las cronofotografías: el problema se resume en ir captando las distintas posiciones de un cuerpo u objeto que se desplaza de un punto A a un punto B. Giacomo Balla sin duda, con sus obras “Dinamismo de un Perro”, “Perro con Traílla”, “Muchacha Corriendo en una Galería” o su “Ritmo de un Violinista”, representó este tipo de movimiento.´
Para dimensionar la importancia que tal concepción supone dentro del arte moderno debemos acercarnos tanto al impresionismo como al cubismo, pues en cierto modo el futurismo intentó reunirlos en una irreconciliable síntesis. Se valió así de los aportes plásticos de ambos movimientos para poder plasmar su visión de la realidad, esto determina otro rasgo de este experimentalismo: el sintetizar los diversos lenguajes plásticos de la época en sus propuestas, lo cual sigue siendo un rasgos de las vanguardias estéticas.
Entre los aportes de mayor importancia por tanto del futurismo, debemos señalar sintetizando lo dicho su acercamiento a lo industrial y a la máquina en particular, establecer por tanto una nueva relación entre el objeto esto plantea la creación de un nuevo arte con nuevos temas y maneras diferentes de plantearlo. Es una ruptura total con la tradición cultural dominante, creando uno de los primeros esbozos de una visión sintética de las artes al integrar la pintura, la arquitectura, la escultura, la literatura, el diseño y la música en un movimiento.
38 Artist Interview Questions (With Sample Answers)
Author: Jamie Birt
Jamie Birt is a career coach with 5+ years of experience helping job seekers navigate the job search through one-to-one coaching, webinars and events. She’s motivated by the mission to help people find fulfillment and belonging in their careers.
Interviews are an important part of the hiring process for many art-related jobs, including teaching, working at a gallery or creating art for products and merchandise. Although each of these jobs may have different duties and require varied qualifications, many potential employers ask similar questions to artists who want to practice professionally. If you’re interested in a career as an artist, understanding some of the common interview questions for this field can help you prepare to speak with employers.
In this article, we discuss 38 artist interview questions and provide sample answers for a few of them to prepare you for interviews and increase your chances of getting hired.
General artist interview questions
Interviewers may ask the following general artist interview questions to learn more about who you are and why you’re interested in a career as an artist:
Where are you from and how does that affect your work?
Who are your biggest artistic influences?
Tell me about your favorite medium.
Where do you find inspiration?
When is your favorite time of day to create?
Describe how art is important to society.
What motivates you to create?
How do you define success as an artist?
Does art help you in other areas of your life?
How do you develop your art skills?
Questions about experience and background
Since employers want to know more about your past work history and the path you’ve taken to become an artist, they make ask questions like these:
Have you worked as a professional artist before?
What’s the purpose or goal of your work?
How can your work affect societal issues?
How do you navigate the professional art industry?
Which art trends inspire your current work?
How has your style changed over time?
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of professional art?
Do you have a network of other artists, and how do they support you?
What have critics and collectors said about your work?
Is there a specific environment or material that’s integral to your work?
In-depth questions
Depending on the role for which you’re applying, you may have to answer in-depth questions like these about how you might fit into a specific position:
Do you have an existing customer base?
What factors influence the price of your work?
How can this job help you improve your art skills?
What are your ultimate career goals?
How do you manage a work-life balance as an artist?
Describe your ideal working environment.
How can you benefit this workplace?
Do you plan to sell your work anywhere besides here?
Are you currently employed elsewhere?
Describe how we can encourage your career growth.
Artist interview questions with sample answers
Here are some common artist interview questions you might encounter during your job search, plus explanations of what employers expect from an answer and sample answers to help you prepare:
1. Tell me how you’ve developed your art career so far
Potential employers may ask about your career development to learn more about your previous experiences in the art industry and the knowledge you gained from various roles. This is an important question for employers to get to know your background because, for many art roles, there’s no definitive path that candidates must follow to reach a certain point in their career. To answer this question, consider the decisions you’ve made since you decided to become an artist to reach your current position. Then, explain some ways you’ve developed your career, like by taking art classes or expanding your network.
Example:“I’ve developed my career as an art instructor by doing commissions for custom ink drawings and working as a preschool teaching assistant. Each of these experiences and practices allowed me to become a better and more patient artist who can connect deeply with those attending my classes and teach them the basics of pen and ink drawing.”
2. Why do you want to make and sell art?
Questions about why you want to be an artist or make and sell art allow interviewers to understand your passion for this industry, your motivation and your goals. Often, people join this career because they enjoy creating and sharing their work, but you may also want to be a professional artist for other reasons, like making money from something at which you’re talented or working outside of an office. A good way to answer this is to consider what art means to you and what you want to accomplish as a professional artist.
Example:“My motivation for making and selling art is to illustrate my experience as a child growing up close to nature. Most recently, my art features many topics related to nature, like climate change and sustainability, and I use my digital drawings to start discussions about these important topics. Selling my art simply helps me have the funds to work fewer hours at my part-time job so I can focus on my art.”
3. Describe your dream project
When a potential employer asks about your dream art project, they may want to know whether your skills and desires match the role they’re filling. It’s important to answer this truthfully to ensure you get a job that you enjoy, but it’s also useful for employers who want to help you work on something like your dream project in the future. You can answer this question by describing a project that would be fulfilling, engaging and fun for you. If you don’t currently have a project you want to complete, you can simply describe one that you’d enjoy.
Example:“My dream art project would be if I could work on a community-designed mural to display on a building in town. Being able to connect with people in my community and show the diversity of ideas and cultures to visitors would be fulfilling and challenging, but I would greatly enjoy it. I also love working outdoors, so a project like that would make me very happy.”
4. How do you collaborate with other artists?
While each artist’s role may differ slightly, there are often times when you have the opportunity to work with other artists, so interviewers like to know how you typically collaborate. Collaborating can be useful in many art jobs because it allows you to incorporate other artists’ styles and ideas into your work and, on projects like murals or large sculptures, can improve efficiency. In your answer, describe a time you worked successfully with another artist. If you haven’t worked directly with other artists, you can explain how you’d share duties and how you might inspire one another’s creative process.
Example:“I love collaborating with artists like dancers and musicians when I have a gallery show because these mutually beneficial projects give audience members a deeper understanding of our art. When a gallery allows it, I present many of my sculptures with accompanying performative dance and music from various genres to set the mood and tell a deeper story. Lately, I’ve been collaborating with a local dance company to create a series of sculptures based on their dancers and help create choreography to present with my pieces.”
5. Do your other interests influence your art?
Employers may want to know if you have other interests, whether they’re different types of hobbies, study topics or recreational activities, that influence your art style, the topics about which you create art and your opinion of art. For example, if you enjoy gardening, you may see the colors and arrangement of your garden as a form of art, and describing this to employers can show your creativity and perspective. When answering this question, try to choose one or two other interests that may affect how you make art and detail those connections for the interviewer.
Example:“As the child of a chef, I’ve always been interested in how food can influence my art. My most recent projects use pigments from produce, herbs and edible flowers as watercolor paint. I think food waste is an important topic to discuss, so many of my pieces focus on showing the life cycle of produce and still-life paintings of people cooking real recipes with these products.”
6. Describe the best piece of art you’ve created
An interviewer may ask you about the best piece of art you’ve created to determine what you define as a successful art piece, how confident you are in your abilities and whether you can accurately describe the positive characteristics of a work to someone else. This information is valuable for most art positions, but it’s especially important to describe your work to potential buyers. Consider a recent artwork and detail a few aspects that made it unique, technically masterful and visually appealing.
Example:“My best piece of art is a ceramic tea set that took me months to perfect as I studied classic tea-set shapes worldwide and combined them to represent my cultural heritage. The teapot, each cup and each dish are white clay formed on a kiln and by hand, and the pieces all show a roundness from far away that matches well with the smooth, shiny glaze. I also colored each piece in pale blue and dark orange to represent my contrasting heritage, which increases visual interest.”
7. How has your education helped you in your career?
Because some artist roles don’t require specific educational credentials, employers are often interested in how artists use advanced degrees to improve their skills and careers. If you have a college degree, describe any way that it’s helped you establish a career as an artist. Some potential ways your educational experience may have helped you include introducing you to people who helped you get art jobs, teaching you important skills for your field or if your degree isn’t art-related, providing you with knowledge about other interests that influence your art.
Example:“While pursuing my degree in art history, I learned many medieval art techniques and found inspiration from those sources that still motivate my work today. My education also introduced me to art historian seminars, during which I met a medieval art specialist and children’s book illustrator who helped me get an internship as a graphic designer for their employer. This led me to combine my graphic design talent with my university knowledge to create and illustrate a series of historical fiction comics.”
8. Tell me about your techniques for overcoming creative blocks
Creative blocks are common for people in creative careers, and potential employers like to know how their employees overcome those types of challenges. Questions like this one help employers ensure candidates understand they must often submit work despite these challenges and show interviewers you understand yourself and your process well enough to find solutions to creative blocks. Try to answer this question with two or three techniques for overcoming creative obstacles that work best for you and help you stay on track for meeting work goals with your art.
Example:“When I encounter creative blocks with my work, I often switch between projects or take a timed break before attempting to continue a piece. If I feel very challenged by a piece, I might change something about it or work on it a few minutes at a time to ensure I finish it by my deadlines.”
Art in The Loop will celebrate its sixth year in east Memphis, near Poplar & I-240, on Ridgeway Loop Road. This unique site is situated in between 1.5 million square feet of high level offices and one of Memphis’ most exclusive residential areas. Our Sponsors include: WKNO TV & FM, the local PBS & NPR Affiliates & Memphis Magazine. Promotional efforts also include: outdoor advertising and an extensive direct mail effort (more than 11K on our list), as well as a vigorous campaigns involving press placements and social media.
Application Deadline: January 5, 2023Artist Notification: January 17, 2023Booth Fee Due: February 28, 2023 IIf you have any questions, please contact Greg Belz at [email protected] or call 901-327-4019 For more about ArtWorks Foundation go to – https://www.artworks.foundation
EVENT INFORMATION
Art Works Foundation announces its sixth annual edition of Art in The Loop, an Art Festival in Memphis, TN, Friday, April 14th – Sunday, April 16, 2023. Art in The Loop will be staged in east Memphis, near Poplar & I-240, on Ridgeway Loop Road. This unique site is situated in between 1.5 million square feet of high level offices and one of Memphis’ most exclusive residential areas (the founders of FedEx & AutoZone live right around the corner). In addition to offices, the area boasts several hotels (including the Memphis Hilton) and a 4 screen Cinema dedicated to films attractive to the over 45 audiences; there are also two Mega-Churches in view of our festival site, which bring additional traffic on Sunday. Our Sponsors include: WKNO TV & FM, the local PBS & NPR Affiliates & Memphis Magazine.
“Art in The Loop was one of the best to participate in for being the most thoughtful, and on top of that, one of the most profitable! This is a magic unicorn show!” Yvonne Miller, Mixed Media Artist Atlanta GA.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Art Works Foundation announces its fifth annual edition of Art in The Loop, an Art Festival in Memphis, TN, Friday, April 14th – Sunday, April 16, 2023. Art in The Loop will feature – and focus on the sale of – stellar works of art in metal, glass, clay, wood, fiber, jewelry, sculpture, paintings & photography, and more. We limit the number of artists by category, and are more concerned about the quality of work presented than the number of spaces we sell: from 60 to 75 artists will be admitted in 2022. The Booth Fee is $325.
We cannot know what we cannot know, but if our show should be cancelled all booth fees will be fully refunded. We hope it will not come to that, and it will be another great show. So, if you are comfortable resuming shows, please consider applying to Art in The Loop, April 14 – April 16, 2023, in Memphis TN.
Art in The Loop invites artists working in glass, metal, fiber, clay, wood, as well as found objects, and 2-D media to apply for acceptance.
Art in The Loop offers easy move-in, and lots of free parking (for both artists and festival-goers), as well as proximity to high-income households. Art in The Loop also offers visitors FREE Admission and amenities including cash bars, specialty food trucks, and – if health directives then permit – performances of Classical Music by area youth ensembles.
Up to 75 positions will be available for artists to participate. The show will be heavily advertised; public attendance will be encouraged via: direct mail; outdoor advertising; print and broadcast media; as well as through social media outlets. There will be also vigorous Public Relations support for the show.
Fine Craft and Fine Art are the focus of this event. Categories include the various disciplines for working in glass, metal, wood, clay & fiber, as well as Jewelry (NO stringers!!). Art in The Loop also invites artists working 2-D media including print-making, painting & photography to apply.
The show will be a juried selection with four judges. Standards of high quality and skill will be strictly maintained. Artists who wish to be considered should submit five (5) photos of representative work (including one booth shot), and complete the Zapplication entry module, according to the instructions therein.
The jury process will take place between January 8 & 14, 2023. Final Notification of application status will be sent out via email by January 17, 2023.
The Wait-List will not be used to fill space randomly; rather, those on the wait list will be called upon to fill spaces by category (i.e., if cancellations leave 5 spaces open, and everyone on the waitlist is a photographer, no one on the list will be added, unless we have openings in that category: we will not sell space for the sake of selling space).
There will be cash prizes awarded.
Artists will staff their own display throughout the show, handling all sales of their work. ArtWorks Foundation will provide Tennessee State Sales Tax remittance Forms to all artists who do not have a Tennessee tax account. (Credentials for up to two assistants will provided: but the artist must also be present.) Booth Sitters will be available as demand permits.
NO price reductions will be permitted during the run of the show; no show “specials;” no “sales.” The show is intended to be perceived as an exhibition of fine craft, NOT as a bargain-basement! Artists are required to make sure a full supply of merchandise is always on hand through the last minutes of the show, and are responsible for restocking their own displays.
Any packaging is the responsibility of the artist.
There is convenient, and plentiful, free onsite parking for guests, as well as LIMITED onsite RV parking (with no-hookups); artists desiring RV space must submit a request via email, these limited spots will be awarded on a first come first served basis).
Numerous hotels, in a variety of price ranges are located nearby.
Art in The Loop is staged by ArtWorks Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to “helping artists grow in their business and their work,” as well as to encouraging public interest in collecting the work of fine-craft artists. We are obsessed with the quality of what we present and how we present it.
If you have any questions, please contact, Greg Belz: phone (901.327.4019), or email [email protected] Thanks for your interest in Art in The Loop. For more about this show, see -http://www.artintheloop.org/ ArtWorks Foundation is a non-profit {501(c)3} dedicated to help artists grow in their business and their work. For more see www.artworks.foundation
RULES/REGULATIONS
Exhibiting artists must be 18 years or older and must be present during show hours. Exhibition is limited to invited artists, selected by our jury. Assistants are welcome, but agents or representatives of the artist do not replace the requirement of the artist to be present during show hours. Booth sitters will be provided as demand permits.
All items offered for sale must be created by the hand of the artist to whom the display space is registered: NO work created by parties other than the artist whose work has been accepted for the show may be displayed.
All designs offered must be original. Work made from commercial molds, kits, patterns or copyrighted designs not owned by the Artist are not permitted. Any commercially made embellishments must be subordinate to the handcrafted work. All work must be for sale. No reproductions may be displayed, except as follows: 2-D artists may offer reproductions of their work {if no more than 20% of their inventory!}; also 3-D artists may offer T-Shirts, or note cards/calendars, etc., embellished with reproductions of their work {if no more than 10% of inventory!}.
No (other) embellished manufactured articles are acceptable; nor may items such as antiques and collectibles be offered for sale.
Jurors will circulate during the show to ensure that all work is in compliance. We reserve the right to remove any items which were not submitted in the jury process, or are found otherwise objectionable.
Violation of any of these directives will result in immediate expulsion from the show. No fees will be refunded.
Additionally, any artist leaving prior to the end of the show, without the authorization of the show’s director, will be unable to exhibit in any ArtWorks Foundation show for at least two (2) years.
Sales: The exhibitor is responsible for remitting Tennessee state sales taxes (9.75%). ArtWorks Foundation will provide “one time only “ tax forms to any artists who do not have a Tennessee Tax account (there is no requirement for artists to have an account).
Conflicts: Artists accepted for Art in The Loop may not participate in any other show or sale in Shelby, Tipton or Fayette counties in Tennessee, or DeSoto County Mississippi, or Crittenden County Arkansas, during the run of the show (this includes, but is not limited to, private house shows).
Security: Armed security will be provided 24 hours a day from the beginning of set up on Friday morning, until breakdown is completed on Sunday evening. However, all exhibitors will display their work at their own risk. It is understood that neither Art in The Loop, nor ArtWorks Foundation, nor the venue, nor our sponsors, shall carry insurance to cover personal property of any exhibitor. Exhibitors are considered to be independent contractors, and it is suggested that exhibitors obtain their own insurance.
Images: Please note that in addition to providing a means to assess your work, any photographs submitted may (upon our acceptance of the artist) be used to promote the show (posters, postcards, etc.).
BOOTH INFORMATION
I. Overview: This three-day show sets up *starting at 9:00am, on Friday, April 14, 2023; the show will open to the public that day at 1:00pm, and run until 6:00pm that evening. Saturday’s hours will run 10:00am to 6:00pm; Sunday’s hours are 11am to 4pm. (Displays may not be removed before 4:05pm on Sunday, April 16).
II. Fees & Space Information: The cost of Exhibition Space is $325 (10’x10’). (Double booth = booth fee x2) All spaces are corners. No extensions may exceed the parameters of the allocated space by more than 2’, and must be removed if found objectionable by the promoter.
Individual display areas are 10’x10’ (with 3’ of storage at rear) and another 15’ to 20’ of open space to the next nearest booth). Artists’ displays will be located on pavement (asphalt roadway).
III. Set up & Standards: Artists selected for the show will be *assigned vehicle access times during set up on Friday, April 14th; artists will off-load immediately and return to install their displays. This same procedure will be followed in reverse during load-out.
All tents must be suitably weighted: at least 50 pounds per corner, suspended from the top of the tent: not sitting on the base). Tents will be on pavement, but may be staked into grass at the rear.
Each artist should display a sign identifying themselves, as well as any business name, & their medium; exhibitors will also receive a sign from the show identifying your name and city of residence.
Electricity must be battery powered.
No sound-amplification of any type will be permitted.
Move-out will begin at 4:05pm, Sunday, April 16. NO exhibitors may begin packing before that time (unless the promoters deem that conditions constitute an emergency which may affect life or property).
IV. Access & Hours On Friday parking is limited to the lots designated by the promoter; any artist who parks in any other lot will be towed and removed from the show. On Saturday and Sunday, however, there is plentiful, free parking surrounding the festival site, and artists will have multiple options for parking.
Limited reserved parking for trailers & RV’s is available (no hook-ups, though); artists must apply for these spaces via email: space will be awarded on a first come, first served basis (on street parking is also available).
The show opens to the public at 1:00pm, Friday (Open Hours: FR 1p to 6p; SA 10a-6p; SU 11a -4p). Move-out will not begin until 4:05pm, Sunday. NO exhibitors may begin packing before that time.
If you are accepted for inclusion in the show, and prefer to pay by check, checks may be mailed and made payable to: ArtWorks Foundation / 60 North Century / Memphis, TN 38111.
JURY DETAILS
Average number of applications submitted each year:
180
Average number of artists selected from the jury to participate in the event:
70
Average number of exempt from jury artists who are invited to participate in the event:
4
How returning artists are selected:
Received an award
Vendors that are excluded/ineligible:
No stringers, or anyone using kits should apply. Our standards are very high. All artists must be present.
How images are viewed by jurors:
Computer monitor
Comments for “Select the method in which images are reviewed at the jury.”
The jury reviews applications seperately and later confers to review scores.
Within a medium category, applications are sorted and viewed by:
Random Order
Jurors score applications using the following scale:
1 – 5
Comments for Scoring System.
1 is lowest 5 is highest
Number of jurors scoring applications:
5
The show organizes the jurors for a:
Single jury panel that scores applications for all medium categories
Jurors score
Separately from various locations
Am I allowed to observe the jury process?
Jury process is closed
The Role We Play
ArtWorks Foundation is a 501{c}3 non-profit focused on helping artists grow, in their business and their work, through programs including exhibitions and education initiatives.
ArtWorks Foundation stages juried shows, ranging from intimate Art Gallery experiences to large Art Festivals featuring the work of Fine-Craft Artists.
Promoting public appreciation for skillfully made utilitarian and decorative objects created by Artists working in 3-D Disciplines, such as glass, metal, clay, fiber, wood, & other media, is our primary focus, but we do from time to time offer programs that include painters, photographers,
and other visual artists.
In addition to providing artists with exhibition opportunities, our programs include scholarship awards to established artists for advanced study workshops at schools for Fine-Craft. We are also working to build a regional center for Fine Craft, as well as an endowment to fund Emergency Relief Grants to help area artists resume careers derailed by disasters or catastrophic illness.
ArtWorks Foundation
Mail: 60 North Century, Memphis TN 38111
Phone: 901.327.4019
Event Agreement
Art in The Loop 2023
ArtWorks Foundation, the show’s sponsors, and the venue, assume no liability for any Exhibitor’s loss through fire, theft or other causes. All exhibitors will display their work at their own risk. It is understood that neither Art in The Loop, nor ArtWorks Foundation, nor the venue, nor event sponsors, carry insurance to cover personal property of any exhibitor. Exhibitors are considered to be independent contractors, and it is strongly suggested that exhibitors obtain their own insurance.
Unless the show is cancelled by the promoters (or government). No refund of fees will be made except in the case of a death in the artists’ immediate family within the two weeks prior to the show (subject to verification suitable to ArtWorks Foundation), or in extreme cases of illness (subject to verification suitable to ArtWorks Foundation), at the sole discretion of Art Works Foundation’s Board of Directors. If refunds are offered, some portion of the fees involved may be retained.
No person will be excluded from participation in or otherwise subjected to discrimination in regard to services, programs and employment provided by ArtWorks Foundation based on color, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, age or religion: we only discriminate against lack of talent and skill.
Power Access announces the full line-up for the 7th Annual South Beach Jazz Festival (SBJF), January 5-8, 2023. Sixteen (16) performances by world-renowned Jazz greats and local Jazz favorites will take place at venues throughout Miami Beach. From an exclusive night with Grammy-nominated legendary Jazz pianist Monty Alexander to Mambo Night with the Big 3 Palladium Orchestra’s first-ever appearance in Miami, the 2023 South Beach Jazz Festival brings a weekend full of fabulous music to our shores. To purchase tickets and view the complete schedule, please visit sobejazzfestival.com/tickets.
OPENING NIGHT: Monty Alexander with Luke Sellick & Jason Brown.
Thursday, January 5 at Faena Theater. Grammy-nominated, legendary pianist Monty Alexander headlines Opening Night at the sumptuous, jewel box Faena Theater. Monty’s style includes a range of Jazz and Jamaican musical experiences — the Great American Songbook, the blues, gospel and bebop, calypso and reggae. His endless melody-making, effervescent grooves and sophisticated voicing always delight a global audience drawn to his vibrant personality and soulful message, making him an American Jazz classic. His recently released album, Love Notes, couples his passion for music with his extraordinary piano playing and the intimacy of his wonderful vocals.
SOCIETY JAZZ NIGHT: South Florida Jazz Orchestradirected by Chuck Bergeron with special guest star Grammy-nominated Nicole Henry.
Friday, January 6 at The Bass.
Enjoy cocktails, mingle and stroll the museum galleries — all while delighting in the sensational big band music of the South Florida Jazz Orchestra led by bassist Dr. Chuck Bergeron. Featuring our own region’s top jazz musicians, the band swings with pulsating energy propelled by outstanding charts and arrangements that showcase brassy instrumentals and scintillating big band Jazz including a guest appearance by Power Access Scholarship winner, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Eva Carizza. Powerhouse Grammy-nominated Jazz vocalist Nicole Henry joins as the special guest star for the evening. Among the Jazz world’s most acclaimed performers, Nicole possesses a potent combination of dynamic vocal abilities, impeccable phrasing, and powerful emotional resonance.
MAMBO NIGHT IN MIAMI BEACH: Big 3 Palladium Orchestra, featuring Tito Puente Jr., Tito Rodriguez Jr., and Machito Jr.
Saturday, January 7 at the Miami Beach Bandshell. In a rare opportunity, The legendary music of Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodriguez comes to the historic Miami Beach Bandshell for the Big 3 Palladium Orchestra’s South Florida premier. Embodying the spirit of the original and performing the electrifying music of these three celebrated bandleaders, composers, and the fathers of Latin Jazz, their sons, second generation, world- class artists, Tito Rodriguez Jr., Machito Jr., and Tito Puente Jr., alternating as band leaders in an exciting and competitive format, with a 17-piece orchestra, including original band members, take you back to the great, renowned Palladium Ballroom in New York City, in a concert infused with the energy of modern day Miami. The Big 3 Palladium Orchestra brings you the best Latin Jazz this side of Havana!
Many of the South Beach Jazz Festival performances are free and held outdoors. The festival is proud to offer two full days of exciting free concerts on Lincoln Road from international Jazz greats to a showcase for the next generation of Jazz talent.
POWER ACCESS MAIN STAGE: Sammy Figueroa, Mike LeDonne’s Groover Quartet, Wendy Pedersen Quintet, Gafieira Rio Miami and More.
Sunday, January 8 on Lincoln Road.
Seven performances jazz up 1100 Lincoln Plaza all day with a series of free performances from Latin Jazz great Sammy Figueroa presenting A Tribute to Cal Trader, world-renowned Jazz pianist, and Hammond organist Mike LeDonne, to South Florida favorite Wendy Pedersen, inspirational locals, to a fabulous festival finale by Gafieira Rio Miami, an authentic Brazilian Big Band that fuses samba, jazz and funk with a powerful 5-piece horn section, plus bass, guitar, drums, percussion, and vocals. The full line-up includes: The Spirit of Goodwill Band, Power Access Scholarship winner Marnel Jean, Inspirational vocalist Aristide Reinoso, Wendy Pedersen Quintet, Sammy Figueroa presents A tribute to Cal Tjader, Mike LeDonne Groover Quartet, and Gafieira Rio Miami.
JAZZ FOR TOMORROW STUDENT STAGE: The Next Generation of Jazz. Talent. Saturday, January 7 at Lincoln Road.
Six of South Florida’s top student Jazz organizations perform all afternoon with free performances in addition to Talk and Q&A and a Kiddos Master Class in the morning for a day of Jazz curated by renowned musician and educator Nicole Yarling. The full lineup includes Bill Pettaway Jr., South Florida Center for Percussive Arts, JECC Jazz Bootcamp Ensemble, Broward College Jazz Combo, Frost Alternative String Ensemble, Miami Beach Senior High School Hi Tide Jazz Band, and Young Musicians Unite Jazz Collective.
In addition to the exceptional musical talent performing, the SBJF is excited to introduce a virtual panel discussion on disability and the arts.
DISABILITY PRIDE IN THE ARTS PANEL DISCUSSION.
Friday, January 6. Virtual Event.
Featuring Mike LeDonne, founder of NYC Disability Pride Parade and R. David New, founder of Power Access and the South Beach Jazz Festival. Moderated by Leticia Latino, host, Back 2 Basics Podcast. Advocates from disability and arts organizations will join Mike, David and Leticia for a fascinating conversation.
David New, Founder & Artistic Director of the South Beach Jazz Festival and
President of the Power Access Board of Directors:
“Unforgettable and internationally renowned talent combined with highly acclaimed local artists will create a diverse musical lineup that features local, regional and global talent. I am excited to see our festival grow and reach new audiences every year.”
Please visit SobeJazzFestival.com/tickets to purchase tickets and more information.
2023 South Beach Jazz Festival Program Schedule:
Thursday January 5, 2023, 9 p.m. -11 p.m. (doors open at 8pm)
“Opening Night”
Monty Alexander with Luke Sellick (bass) and Jason Brown (drums)
Mike LeDonne, founder of NYC Disability Pride Parade, R. David New, founder of Power Access and the South Beach Jazz Festival, and advocates from disability and arts organizations. Moderated by Leticia Latino, host, Back 2 Basics Podcast.
Location/Address: Virtual
Friday January 6, 2023, 8 p.m – 10 p.m. (doors open at 7pm)
“Society Jazz Night “
South Florida Jazz Orchestra directed by Dr. Chuck Bergeron with guest Power Access Scholarship winner, Eva Carizza, and special guest star Nicole Henry.
Location/Address: The Bass, 2100 Collins Avenue
Saturday January 7, 2023, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
“Jazz For Tomorrow Student Stage ”
Coffee, Talk, and Q&A with veteran composer, producer and performer, Bill Pettaway Jr. moderated by Zach Larmer, Young Musicians Unite.
Kiddos Master Class – South Florida Center for Percussive Arts with Brandon Cruz
Broward College Jazz Combo
JECC Jazz Bootcamp Ensemble (Jazz Education Community Coalition)
FASE – Frost Alternative String Ensemble with special guest Power Access Scholarship winner Eva Carizza.
Young Musicians Unite Jazz Collective with special guest Power Access Scholarship winner, Jeremiah Martial
Location/Address: Lincoln Road Oval, 700 Lincoln Road at Euclid Avenue
Saturday January 7, 2023, 8 p.m. – 11 p.m. (doors open at 7pm)
“Mambo Night in Miami Beach”
Big 3 Palladium Orchestra, South Florida premier, featuring Tito Puente Jr., Tito Rodriguez Jr.,and Machito Jr.
Location/Address: 1100 Lincoln Plaza. 1100 Lincoln Road at Alton Road
About The South Beach Jazz Festival The South Beach Jazz Festivalis produced by Power Access, a 501(c)3 non-profit humanitarian organization. The festival takes place in multiple venues throughout Miami Beach over four days in January. The mission of disability awareness, access, and inclusion is celebrated through a festival that takes pride in presenting world-renowned artists from the entire spectrum of jazz including traditional, contemporary and Latin as well as cutting edge acts. Many of the performances are free and outdoors. All are open to the public. The sounds of jazz enliven the city all weekend long providing residents and guests to Miami Beach a time to enjoy, listen and learn. “From Disability to Serendipity.”
The South Beach Jazz Festival is made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor, Board of County Commissioners, City of Miami Beach, the Cultural Affairs Program and the Cultural Arts Council. This project is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture (Section 286.25, Florida Statutes).
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestselleris the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature.
The 48 Laws of Power By Robert Greene
In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.
Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.
ABOUT ROBERT GREENE
Robert Greene has a degree in classical studies and is the author of several bestselling books, including The 48 Laws of Power, The 33 Strategies of War, The Art of Seduction, Mastery, and The 50th Law (with rapper 50 Cent). He lives in Los Angeles.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Machiavelli has a new rival. And Sun Tzu had better watch his back. Greene . . . has put together a checklist of ambitious behavior. Just reading the table of contents is enough to stir a little corner-office lust.”—New York magazine
“Beguiling . . . literate . . . fascinating. A wry primer for people who desperately want to be on top.”—People magazine
“An heir to Machiavelli’s Prince . . . gentler souls will find this book frightening, those whose moral compass is oriented solely to power will have a perfect vade mecum.” —Publishers Weekly
“Satisfyingly dense and . . . literary, with fantastic examples of genius power-game players. It’s The Rules meets In Pursuit of Wow! with a degree in comparative literature.”—Allure
From the Back Cover
THE BESTSELLING BOOK FOR THOSE WHO WANT POWER, WATCH POWER, OR WANT TO ARM THEMSELVES AGAINST POWER . . .
A moral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills three thousand years of the history of power into forty-eight well-explicated laws. As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers. Some laws require prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), some stealth (“Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions”), and some the total absence of mercy (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”) but like it or not, all have applications in real-life situations. Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P. T. Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded — or been victimized by — power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
Joost Elffers is the packaging genius behind Viking Studio’s Secret Language series, Play with Your Food, and How Are You Peeling?. He lives in New York City.
Your Dark Side and Control Over Your Life @RobertGreene @JordanBPeterson
Summary Notes
Law 1:Never outshine the master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite—inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power
When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.
Never take your position for granted and never let any favors you receive go to your head.
Law 2:Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies
They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.
Friends often conceal things in order to avoid conflict; this can be dangerous.
Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.
Whenever you can, bury the hatchet with an enemy, and make a point of putting him in your service.
Use enemies to define your cause more clearly to the public, even framing it as a struggle of good against evil.
It is better off to know who and where your opponents are than to not know where your real enemies lie.
To have a good enemy, choose a friend: He knows where to strike.
Be wary of friends—they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrranical.
But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them
Since honesty rarely strengthens friendship, you may never know how a friend truly feels. Friends will say that they love your poetry, adore your music, envy your taste in clothes— maybe they mean it, often they do not.
The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.
Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions
Use decoyed objects and desires and red herrings to throw people off the scent
Hide your intentions not by closing up (with the risk of appearing secretive, and making people suspicious) but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals— just not your real ones. You will kill three birds with one stone: You appear friendly, open, and trusting; you conceal your intentions; and you send your rivals on time-consuming wild-goose chases.
Use smoke screens to disguise your actions. This derives from a simple truth: people can only focus on one thing at a time. It is really too difficult for them to imagine that the bland and harmless person they are dealing with is simultaneously setting up something else
As Kierkegaard wrote, “The world wants to be deceived.”
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.
I: Use decoyed objects of desire and red herrings to throw people off the scent:
If at any point in the deception you practice people have the slightest suspicions to your intentions, all is lost. Do not give them the chance to sense what you are up to: Throw them off the scent by dragging red herrings across the path. Use false sincerity, send ambiguous signals, set up misleading objects of desire. Unable to distinguish the genuine from the false, they cannot pick out your real goal.
Hide your intentions not by closing up, but by talking endlessly about your desires and goals – just false ones.
II: Use smoke screens to disguise your actions:
Deception is always the best strategy, but the best deceptions require a screen of smoke to distract people attention from your real purpose. The bland exterior—like the unreadable poker face—is often the perfect smoke screen, hiding your intentions behind the comfortable and familiar. If you lead the sucker down a familiar path, he won’t catch on when you lead him into a trap.
A helpful or honest gesture can divert from a deception.
Patterns will also help mask a deception.
Often the key to deception is being bland and acting with humility.
Law 4: Alwayssay less than necessary
One oft-told tale about Kissinger… involved a report that Winston Lord had worked on for days. After giving it to Kissinger, he got it back with the notation, “Is this the best you can do?” Lord rewrote and polished and finally resubmitted it; back it came with the same curt question. After redrafting it one more time— and once again getting the same question from Kissinger-Lord snapped, “Damn it, yes, it’s the best I can do. ” To which Kissinger replied: “Fine, then I guess I’ll read it this time. ”
Persons who cannot control his words shows that he cannot control himself, and is unworthy of respect. But the human tongue is a beast that few can master. It strains constantly to break out of its cage, and if it is not tamed, it will run wild and cause you grief. Power cannot accrue to those who squander their treasure of words.
Power is in many ways a game of appearances, and when you say less than necessary, you inevitably appear greater and more powerful than you are.
Learn the lesson: Once the words are out, you cannot take them back. Keep them under control. Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
Silence generally makes people uncomfortable – they will jump in and nervously fill the silence.
Generally saying less makes you appear more profound and mysterious.
Be particularly careful with sarcasm – rarely is it valuable.
Be careful with arousing suspicion or insecurity by being silent. At times it is easier to blend by playing the jester.
Law 5: So much depends onreputation, guard it with your life
Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.
Doubt is a powerful weapon: Once you let it out of the bag with insidious rumors, your opponents are in a horrible dilemma.
Once you have a solid base of respect, ridiculing your opponent both puts him on the defensive and draws more attention to you, enhancing your own reputation.
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.
Work to establish a reputation of outstanding quality, whether generosity or honesty or cunning.
A good reputation can save you much – a lot of work is done in advance by your reputation.
Once established, always take the high road when attacked.
Law 6: Court attention at all costs
Surround your name with the sensational and the scandalous.
Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.
Every crowd has a silver lining.
At the start of your career, you must attach your name and reputation to a quality, an image, that sets you apart from other people.
Create an air of mystery.
Remember: Most people are upfront, can be read like an open book, take little care to control their words or image, and are hopelessly predictable. By simply holding back, keeping silent, occasionally uttering ambiguous phrases, deliberately appearing inconsistent, and acting odd in the subtlest of ways, you will emanate an aura of mystery. The people around you will then magnify that aura by constantly trying to interpret you
Do something that cannot be easily explained or interpreted.
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious than the bland and timid masses.
I: Surround your name with the sensational and scandalous
Draw attention to yourself by creating an unforgettable, even controversial image. Court scandal. Do anything to make yourself seem larger than life and shine more brightly than those around you. Make no distinction between kinds of attention—notoriety of any sort will bring you power. Better to be slandered and attacked than ignored.
At the beginning of your rise, spend all your energy on attracting attention. The quality of attention is irrelevant.
II: Create an air of mystery
In a world growing increasingly banal and familiar, what seems enigmatic instantly draws attention. Never make it too clear what you are doing or about to do. Do not show all your cards. An air of mystery heightens your presence; it also creates anticipation—everyone will be watching you to see what happens next. Use mystery to beguile, seduce, even frighten.
Remember: Most people are upfront, can be read like an open book, take little care to control their words or image, and are hopelessly predictable. By simply holding back, keeping silent, occasionally uttering ambiguous phrases, deliberately appearing inconsistent, and acting odd in the subtlest of ways, you will emanate an aura of mystery.
Do not let mystery turn to an air of deceit; it must always seem a game, playful, unthreatening.
Law 7:Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.
You must secure the credit for yourself.
Learn to take advantage of others work to further your own cause.
Use the past, a vast storehouse of knowledge and wisdom. Learn this and you will look like a genius.
Note: be sure to know when letting other people share the credit furthers your cause.
Law 8: Make other people come to you, use bait if necessary
For negotiations or meetings, it is always wise to lure others into your territory, or the territory of your choice. You have your bearings, while they see nothing familiar and are subtly placed on the defensive.
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains—then attack. You hold the cards.
The essence of power is keeping the initiative and forcing others to react, keeping them on the defensive.
Master your anger yet play on people’s natural tendency to react angrily when pushed and baited.
Law 9:Win through your actions, never through argument
Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.
When aiming for power, always look for the indirect route.
Verbal argument has one use: deception when covering tracks or caught in a lie.
Law 10: Infection:Avoid the unhappy or the unlucky
When you suspect you are in the presence of an infector, don’t argue, don’t try to help, don’t pass the person on to your friends, or you will become enmeshed. Flee the infector’s presence or suffer the consequences.
You can die from someone else’s misery—emotional states are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.
The most important person to avoid: the sufferer of chronic dissatisfaction.
Examine someone’s history to recognize these people: turbulence, a long line of broken relationships, etc.
The other side of infection is equally valid: there are those who attract happiness by their good cheer, natural buoyancy, and intelligence.
Use this rule to counteract your own undesirable or weak qualities.
Law 11: Learn tokeep people dependent on you
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.
Do not mistake independence for power; power requires a relationship.
To cultivate this: possess a talent and creative skill that simply cannot be replaced.
Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift—a Trojan horse—will serve the same purpose.
Learn to give before you take – an actual gift, a generous act, a kind favour, an “honest” admission – whatever it takes.
Selective honesty is best employed on your first encounter with someone.
A history of deceit will cause any act of generosity to be viewed with suspicion. Counter by embracing your reputation for dishonesty openly.
Law 13: When asking for help,appeal to people’s self interest, never their mercy or gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.
Do not be subtle: you have valuable knowledge to share, you can make him rich, you can make him live longer and happier.
Train yourself to see inside other’s needs and interests and desires.
Distinguish differences among powerful people and figure out what makes them tick. When they ooze greed, do not appeal to charity; when they want to look charitable and noble, do not appeal to their greed.
Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy
Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.
During social gatherings and innocuous encounters, pay attention. This is when people’s guards are down, and they will reveal things.
Give a false confession, and someone else will give you a real one.
Contradict others to stir them to emotion and lose control of their words.
Law 15: Crush your enemy totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.
Recognize that you will accumulate enemies who you cannot bring over to your side, and that to leave them any escape will mean you are never secure. Crush them completely.
Law 16: Use absence to increase strength and honor
The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.
At the start of an affair, you need to heighten your presence in the eyes of the other. If you absent yourself too early, you may be forgotten. But once your lover’s emotions are engaged, and the feeling of love has crystallized, absence inflames and excites. Giving no reason for your absence excites even more.
Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.
The truth of this law can most easily be appreciated in matters of love and seduction.
Another example of this law exists in economics – scarcity increases value.
Note: this law only applies once a certain level of power has been attained. Leave too early and you do not increase respect, you are simply forgotten. Similarly, absence is only effective in love and seduction once you have surrounded the other with your image.
In the beginning, make yourself not scarce but omnipresent.
Law 17: Keep others in suspended terror,cultivate an air of unpredictability
Too much unpredictability will be seen as a sign of indecisiveness, or even of some more serious psychic problem. Patterns are powerful, and you can terrify people by disrupting them. Such power should only be used judiciously.
Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.
Unsettle those around you and keep the initiative by being unpredictable.
Predictability and patterns can be used as a tool when deceiving.
Law 18: Do not build a fortress to protect yourself,isolation is dangerous
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere—everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it Protects you from—it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.
Retreat to a fortress and you lose contact with your sources of power, and your knowledge of what is going on.
If you need time to think, then choose isolation as a last resort, and only in small doses.
Law 19: Know who you’re dealing with,do not offend the wrong person
There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then—never offend or deceive the wrong person.
Being able to recognize the type of person you’re dealing with is critical. Here are the five most dangerous:
The Arrogant and Proud Man: any perceived slight will invite vengeance. Flee these people.
The Hopelessly Insecure Man: similar to the proud man, but will take revenge in smaller bites over time. Do not stay around him if you have harmed or deceived him.
Mr. Suspicion: sees the worst in others and imagines that everyone is after him. Easy to deceive – get him to turn on others.
The Serpent with a Long Memory: if hurt, he will show no anger, but will calculate and wait. Recognize by his calculation and cunning in other areas of life – he is usually cold and unaffectionate. Crush him completely or flee.
The Plain, Unassuming, and Often Unintelligent Man: this man will not take the bait because he does not recognize it. Do not waste your resources trying to deceive him. Have a test ready for a mark – a joke, a story. If reaction is literal, this is the type you are dealing with.
Never rely on instincts when judging someone; instead gather concrete knowledge. Also never trust appearances.
Law 20: Do not commit to anyone
Do not commit to anyone, butbe courted by all.
When you hold yourself back, you incur not anger but a kind of respect. You instantly seem powerful because you make yourself ungraspable, rather than succumbing to the group, or to the relationship, as most people do.
People who rush to the support of others tend to gain little respect in the process, for their help is so easily obtained, while those who stand back find themselves besieged with supplicants.
Do not commit to anyone, stay above the fray.
Remember: You have only so much energy and so much time. Every moment wasted on the affairs of others subtracts from your strength.
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others—playing people against one another, making them pursue you.
Part 1: Do not commit to anyone, but be courted by all.
Stay aloof and gain the power that comes from attention and frustrated desire.
Part 2: Do not commit to anyone – stay above the fray.
Do not let others drag you into their fights. Seem interested and supportive, but neutral.
Staying neutral allows you to keep initiative, and take advantage of the situation when one side starts to lose.
You only have so much time and energy – every moment wasted on affairs of others subtracts from your strength.
Make sure to maintain emotional objectivity in the affairs of others.
Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker,seem dumber than your mark
Given how important the idea of intelligence is to most people’s vanity, it is critical never inadvertently to insult or impugn a person’s brain power.
No one likes feeling stupider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart—and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.
Intelligence, taste and sophistication are all things you should downplay, or reassure others that they are more advanced than you.
Law 22: Use the surrender tactic:transform weakness into power
People trying to make a show of their authority are easily deceived by the surrender tactic.
It is always our first instinct to react, to meet aggression with some other kind of aggression. But the next time someone pushes you and you find yourself starting to react, try this: Do not resist or fight back, but yield, turn the other cheek, bend.
When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you—surrender first. By turning the other cheek you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.
The essence of the surrender tactic: inwardly you stay firm, but outwardly you bend. Your enemy will be bewildered when properly executed, as they will be expecting retaliation.
If you surrender instead, you have an opportunity to coil around your enemy and strike with your fangs from close up.
Law 23: Concentrate your forces
intensity defeats extensity every time.
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another—intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.
Concentrate on a single goal, a single task, and beat it into submission.
Note: when fighting a stronger enemy, you must be prepared to dissolve your forces and be elusive.
Law 24: Play the perfect courtier
The laws of court politics:
Avoid ostentation Practice nonchalance Be frugal with flattery Arrange to be noticed Alter your style and language according to the person ou are dealing with Never be the bearer of bad news Never affect friendliness and intimacy with your master Never criticize those above you directly Be frugal in asking those above you for favors Never joke about appearances of tastes Do not be the court cynic Be self observant Master your emotions Fit the spirits of the times Be the source of pleasure.
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the most oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.
The Laws of Court Politics
Avoid Ostentation: modesty is always preferable.
Practice Nonchalance: never appear to be working too hard; your talent must appear to flow naturally, with ease. Showing your blood and toil is a form of ostentation.
Be Frugal with Flattery: flatter indirectly by being modest.
Arrange to be Noticed: pay attention to your appearance, and find a way to create a subtly distinctive style and image.
Alter Your Style and Language According to the Person You’re Dealing With: acting the same with all will be seen as condescension by those below you, and offend those above you.
Never Be the Bearer of Bad News: the messenger is always killed. Bring only glad news.
Never Affect Friendliness and Intimacy with Your Master: he does not want a friend for a subordinate.
Never Criticize Those Above You Directly: err on the side of subtlety and gentleness.
Be Frugal in Asking Those Above You for Favours: it is always better to earn your favours. Do not ask for favours on another person’s behalf.
Never Joke About Appearances or Taste
Do Not Be the Court Cynic: express admiration for the good work of others.
Be Self-Observant: you must train yourself to evaluate your own actions.
Master Your Emotions
Fit the Spirit of the Times: your spirit and way of thinking must keep up with the times, even if the times offend your sensibilities.
Be a Source of Pleasure: if you cannot be the life of the party, at least obscure your less desirable qualities.
Law 25:Re-Create Yourself
Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you.
The world wants to assign you a role in life. And once you accept that role you are doomed.
Remake yourself into a character of power. Working on yourself like clay should be one of your greatest and most pleasurable life tasks.
The first step in the process of self-creation is self-consciousness— being aware of yourself as an actor and taking control of your appearance and emotions.
The second step in the process of self-creation is a variation on the George Sand strategy: the creation of a memorable character, one that compels attention, that stands out above the other players on the stage.
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define it for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions—your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.
The first step in the process of self-creation is being aware of yourself and taking control of your appearances and emotions.
The second step is the creation of a memorable character that compels attention and stands above the others on the stage.
Rhythm, timing and tempo over time also contribute greatly to the creation of a character.
Appreciate the importance of stage entrances and exits.
Law 26: Keep your hands clean
Conceal your mistakes, have a scapegoat around to blame.
Make use of the cats paw.
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.
Part 1: Conceal your mistakes – have a scapegoat to take the blame.
It is often wise to choose the most innocent victim possible as a sacrificial goat. Be careful, however, not to create a martyr.
A close associate is often the best choice – the “fall of the favourite”.
Part 2: Make use of the cat’s-paw.
Use those around you to complete dirty tasks to hide your intentions and accomplish your goals while keeping your hands clean.
An essential element in this strategy is concealing your goal.
Devices like this are best for approaching those in power, or planting information.
You may also offer yourself as the cat’s-paw to gain power.
Note: you must be very careful in using this tactic, as being revealed would be disastrous.
Law 27: Play on people’s need to believe to create a cult like following
Five rules of cult making
Keep it vague, keep it simple Emphasize the visual and sensational over the intellectualBorrow the forms of organized religion to structure the group Disguise your source of income Set up an us vs them dynamic.
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise ; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.
How to create a cult in 5 easy steps:
Keep It Vague, Keep it Simple: use words to attract attention, with great enthusiasm. Fancy titles for simple things are helpful, as are the use of numbers and the creation of new words for vague concepts. All of these create the impression of specialized knowledge. People want to hear there is a simple solution to their problems.
Emphasize the Visual and the Sensual over the Intellectual: Boredom and skepticism are two dangers you must counter. The best way to do this is through theatre, creating a spectacle. Appeal to all the senses, and use the exotic.
Borrow the Forms of Organized Religion to Structure the Group: create rituals, organize followers into hierarchy, rank them in grades of sanctity, give them names and titles, ask them for sacrifices that fill your coffers and increase your power. Talk and act like a prophet.
Disguise Your Source of Income: make your wealth seem to come from the truth of your methods.
Set Up an Us-Versus-Them Dynamic: first make sure your followers believe they are part of an exclusive club, unified by common goals. Then, manufacture the notion of a devious enemy out to ruin you.
People are not interested in the truth about change – that it requires hard work – but rather they are dying to believe something romantic, otherworldly.
The most effective cults mix religion with science.
Law 28:Enter action with boldness
The bolder lie the better.
Lions circle the hesitant prey.
Boldness strikes fear, fear creates authority.
Going halfway with half a heart digs a deeper grave.
When you are as small and obscure as David was, you must find a Goliath to attack. The larger the target, the more attention you gain.
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.
Some of the most pronounced psychological effects of boldness and timidity:
The Bolder the Lie the Better: the sheer audacity of a bold lie makes the story more credible, distracting from its inconsistencies. When entering a negotiation, ask for the moon and you’ll be surprised how often you get it.
Lions Circle the Hesitant Prey: everything depends on perception, and if on a first encounter you demonstrate a willingness to compromise, back down, and retreat, you will be pushed around without mercy.
Boldness Strikes Fear; Fear Creates Authority: the bold move makes you seem larger and more powerful than you are. If it comes suddenly, with stealth and swiftness, it inspires much more than fear – you will be intimidating, and people will be on the defensive in future.
Going Halfway with Half a Heart Digs the Deeper Grave: if you enter action with less than total confidence, problems will cause you to grow confused rather than pushing through.
Hesitation Creates Gaps, Boldness Obliterates Them: when you take time to think, you create a gap that allows others time to think as well. Boldness leaves others no space to doubt and worry.
Audacity Separates You from the Herd: the bold draw attention, and seem larger than life. We cannot keep our eyes off the audacious.
Most of us are timid. We want to avoid tension and conflict and be liked by all. We are terrified of consequences, what others might think of us, and the hostility we will stir up if we dare go beyond our usual place.
You must practice and develop your boldness. The place to begin is in negotiations. How often we ask too little.
Remember: the problems created by an audacious move can be disguised, even remedied, by more and greater audacity.
Law 29: Plan all the way to the end
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.
The ending is everything – it is the end of action that determines who gets the glory, the money, the prize. Your conclusion must be crystal clear, and you must keep it constantly in mind.
Law 30:Make your accomplishments seem effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work—it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.
Some think exposure to how hard they work and practice demonstrates diligence and honesty, but really it just shows weakness.
Sprezzatura: the capacity to make the difficult seem easy.
What is understandable is not awe-inspiring. The more mystery surrounds your actions, the more awesome your power seems.
You appear to be the only one who can do what you do, and because you achieve accomplishments with grace and ease, people believe that you can always do more.
Law 31: Control the options, get others to play with the cards you deal
You give people a sense of how things will fall apart without you, and you offer them a “choice”: I stay away and you suffer the consequences, or I return under circumstances that I dictate.
Color the choices, propose three or four choices of action for each situation, and would present them in such a way that the one he preferred always seemed the best solution compared to the others.
Force the resister. Push them to “choose” what you want them to do by appearing to advocate the opposite.
Alter the playing field.
The shrinking options: A variation on this technique is to raise the price every time the buyer hesitates and another day goes by. This is an excellent negotiating ploy to use on the chronically indecisive, who will fall for the idea that they are getting a better deal today than if they wait till tomorrow.
The weak man on the precipice: This tactic is similar to “Color the Choices,” but with the weak you have to be more aggressive. Work on their emotions— use fear and terror to propel them into action. Try reason and they will always find a way to procrastinate.
Brothers in Crime: You attract your victims to some criminal scheme, creating a bond of blood and guilt between you.
The horns of a dilemma: The lawyer leads the witnesses to decide between two possible explanations of an event, both of which poke a hole in their story. They have to answer the lawyer’s questions, but whatever they say they hurt themselves. The key to this move is to strike quickly: Deny the victim the time to think of an escape. As they wriggle between the horns of the dilemma, they dig their own grave.
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.
Withdrawal and disappearance are classic ways of controlling the options. You give people a sense of how things will fall apart without you, and you offer them the choice: I stay away and you suffer, or I return under my conditions.
We actually find choices between a small number of alternatives more desirable than complete freedom of options.
Law 32: Play to people’s fantasies
People rarely believe that their problems arise from their own misdeeds and stupidity. Someone or something out there is to blame— the other, the world, the gods— and so salvation comes from the outside as well.
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes from disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.
Never promise a gradual improvement through hard work; rather, promise the moon, the great and sudden transformation, the pot of gold.
The key to fantasy is distance – the distance has allure and promise, seems simple and problem free. What you are offering, then, should be ungraspable. Never let it become oppressively familiar.
Law 33: Discover each man’s thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.
Finding the thumbscrews
Pay attention to gestures and unconscious signalsFind the helpless child, look to their childhoodLook for contrasts, an overt trait often reveals its oppositeFind the weak link,Fill their emotional voidFeed on their uncontrollable emotion
Always look for passions and obsessions that cannot be controlled. What people cannot control, you can control for them.
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usually an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.
How to find weaknesses:
Pay Attention to Gestures and Unconscious Signals: everyday conversation is a great place to look. Start by always seeming interested. Offer a revelation of your own if needed. Probe for suspected weaknesses indirectly. Train your eyes for details.
Find the Helpless Child: knowing about a childhood can often reveal weaknesses, or when they revert to acting like a child.
Look for Contrasts: an overt trait often conceals its opposite. The shy crave attention, the uptight want adventure, etc.
Find the Weak Link: find the person who will bend under pressure, or the one who pulls strings behind the scenes.
Fill the Void: the two main emotional voids are insecurity and unhappiness.
Feed on Uncontrollable Emotions: the uncontrollable emotion can be a paranoid fear or any base motive such as lust, greed, vanity or hatred.
Always look for passions and obsessions that cannot be controlled. The stronger the passion, the more vulnerable the person.
People’s need for validation and recognition, their need to feel important, is the best kind of weakness to exploit. To do so, all you need to do is find ways to make people feel better about their taste, their social standing, their intelligence.
Timidity can be exploited by pushing them into bold actions that serve your needs while also making them dependent on you.
Law 34: Be royal in your own fashion.Act like a king to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated: In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.
How you carry yourself reflects what you think of yourself.
Use The Strategy of the Crown – if we believe we are destined for great things, our belief will radiate outward, just as a crown creates an aura around a king.
The trick is simple: be overcome by your self-belief.
This may separate you from people, but that’s the point. You must always act with dignity, though this should not be confused with arrogance.
Dignity is the mask you assume that makes it as if nothing can affect you, and you have all the time in the world to respond.
There are other strategies to help:
The Columbus Strategy: always make a bold demand. Set your price high and do not waver.
The David and Goliath Strategy: go after the highest person in the building. This immediately puts you on the same plane as the chief executive you are attacking.
The Patron Strategy: give a gift of some sort to those above you.
Law 35: Master the art of timing
Never seem to be in a hurry-hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.
Three types of time and how to deal with them:
Long Time: be patient, control your emotions, and take advantage of opportunities when they arise. You will gain long-term perspective and see further in the future.
Forced Time: the trick in forcing time is to upset the timing of others – to make them hurry, make them wait, make them abandon their own pace. Use the deadline, apply sudden pressure, change pace to use this.
End Time: patience is useless unless combined with a willingness to act decisively at the right moment. Use speed to paralyze your opponents, cover any mistakes, and impress people with your aura of authority and finality.
Law 36: Disdain things you cannot have, ignoring them is the best revenge
Remember: You choose to let things bother you. You can just as easily choose not to notice the irritating offender, to consider the matter trivial and unworthy of your interest. That is the powerful move.
Desire often creates paradoxical effects: The more you want something, the more you chase after it, the more it eludes you. The more interest you show, the more you repel the object of your desire. This is because your interest is too strong— it makes people awkward, even fearful. Uncontrollable desire makes you seem weak, unworthy, pathetic.
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.
Desire creates paradoxical effects: the more you want something, the more you chase after it, the more it eludes you. You need to do the reverse: turn your back on what you want, show your contempt and disdain to create desire.
Instead of focusing attention on a problem, it is often better not to acknowledge it’s existence:
Sour-grapes approach: act as if something never really interested you in the first place.
When attacked, look away, answer sweetly, and show how little the attack concerns you.
Treat it lightly if you have committed a blunder.
Note: make sure to show the above publicly, but to monitor the problem privately, making sure it is remedied.
Law 37: Create compelling spectacles
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power—everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then, full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.
Words often go astray, but symbols and the visual strike with emotional power and immediacy.
Find an associate yourself with powerful images and symbols to gain power.
Most effective of all is a new combination – a fusion of images and symbols that have not been seen together before, but that clearly demonstrate your new idea, message, religion.
Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.
If Machiavelli had had a prince for disciple, the first thing he would have recommended him to do would have been to write a book against Machiavellism.
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.
Flaunting your pleasure in alien ways of thinking and acting will reveal a different motive – to demonstrate your superiority over your fellows.
Wise and clever people learn early on that they can display conventional behavior and mouth conventional ideas without having to believe in them. The power these people gain from blending in is that of being left alone to have the thoughts they want to have, and to express them to the people they want to express them to, without suffering isolation or ostracism.
The only time it is worth standing out is when you already stand out—when you have achieved an unshakable position of power, and can display your difference from others as a sign of the distance between you.
Law 39:Stir up waters to catch fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.
This is the essence of the Law: When the waters are still, your opponents have the time and space to plot actions that they will initiate and control. So stir the waters, force the fish to the surface, get them to act before they are ready, steal the initiative. The best way to do this is to play on uncontrollable emotions—pride, vanity, love, hate.
Angry people end up looking ridiculous. It is comical how much they take personally, and more comical how they belief that outbursts signify power.
We should not repress our angry or emotional responses, but rather that realize in the social realm, and the game of power, nothing is personal.
Reveal an apparent weakness to lure your opponent into action.
In the face of someone angry, nothing is more infuriating than someone who keeps his cool while others are losing theirs.
Note: do not provoke those who are too powerful.
There are times when a burst of anger can do good, but it must be manufactured and under your control.
Law 40: Despise the free lunch
The worth of money is not in its possession, but in its use.
What is offered for free is dangerous-it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price—there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.
What is offered for free often has a psychological price tag – complicated feelings of obligation, compromises with quality, the insecurity those compromises bring, on and on. By paying the full price, you keep your independence and room to maneuver.
Being open and flexible with money also teaches the value of strategic generosity.
Avoid these people who fail to use money creatively and strategically, or turn their inflexibility to your advantage:
The Greedy Fish. The greedy fish take the human side out of money. Cold and ruthless, they see only the lifeless balance sheet; viewing others solely as either pawns or obstructions in their pursuit of wealth, they trample on people’s sentiments and alienate valuable allies. No one wants to work with the greedy fish, and over the years they end up isolated, which often proves their undoing. Easy to deceive with promise of money.
The Bargain Demon. Powerful people judge everything by what it costs, not just in money but in time, dignity, and peace of mind. And this is exactly what Bargain Demons cannot do. Wasting valuable time digging for bargains, they worry endlessly about what they could have gotten elsewhere for a little less. Just avoid these types.
The Sadist. Financial sadists play vicious power games with money as a way of asserting their power. They believe the money they give you allows them to abuse your time. Accept a financial loss instead of getting entangled.
The Indiscriminate Giver. These people give to everyone, and as a result no one feels special. Appealing as a mark, but you will often feel burdened by their emotional need.
Never let lust for money lure you from true power. Make power your goal and money will find it’s way to you.
Note: bait your deceptions with the possibility of easy money, and many will fall for it.
Law 41: Avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.
If you cannot start materially from ground zero – it would be foolish to renounce an inheritance- you can at least begin from ground zero psychologically.
Never let yourself be seen as following your predecessor’s path. You must physically demonstrate your difference, by establishing a style and symbolism that set you apart.
Repeating actions will not re-create success, because circumstances never repeat themselves exactly.
Success and power make us lazy – you must reset psychologically to counter this laziness.
Law 42: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter
Within any group, trouble can most often be traced to a single source, the unhappy, chronically dissatisfied one who will always stir up dissension and infect the group with his or her ill ease. Before you know what hit you the dissatisfaction spreads. Act before it becomes impossible to disentangle
Once you recognize who the stirrer is, pointing it out to other people will accomplish a great deal.
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual —the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoner of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them—they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.
In every group, power is concentrated in the hands of one or two people.
When troubles arise, find the source, and isolate them – physically, politically or psychologically. Separate them from their power base.
43: Work on the hearts and minds of others
Remember: The key to persuasion is softening people up and breaking them down, gently. Seduce them with a two-pronged approach: Work on their emotions and play on their intellectual weaknesses.
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.
Remember: The key to persuasion is softening people up and breaking them down, gently. Seduce them with a two-pronged approach: Work on their emotions and play on their intellectual weaknesses. Be alert to both what separates them from everyone else (their individual psychology) and what they share with everyone else (their basic emotional responses). Aim at the primary emotions—love, hate, jealousy. Once you move their emotions you have reduced their control, making them more vulnerable to persuasion.
Play on contrasts: push people to despair, then give them relief. If they expect pain and you give them pleasure, you win their hearts.
Symbolic gestures of self-sacrifice can win sympathy and goodwill.
The quickest way to secure people’s minds is by demonstrating, as simply as possible, how an action will benefit them.
44: Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect
When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson.
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of the Mirror Effect.
Mirror Effects can disturb or entrance others, giving you power to manipulate or seduce them.
There are four main Mirror effects:
The Neutralizing Effect: do what your enemies do, following their actions as best you can, and they are blinded. A reverse version is the Shadow – shadow your opponents every move without them seeing you.
The Narcissus Effect: look into the desires, values, tastes, spirit of others, and reflect it back to them.
The Moral Effect: teach others by giving them a taste of their own medicine. They must realize you are doing to them the same thing they did to you.
The Hallucinatory Effect: create a perfect copy of an object, a place, a person, that people take for the real thing, because it has the physical appearance of the real thing.
Understand: Everyone is wrapped up in their own narcissistic shell. When you try to impose your own ego on them, a wall goes up, resistance is increased. By mirroring them, however, you seduce them into a kind of narcissistic rapture: They are gazing at a double of their own soul. This double is actually manufactured in its entirety by you. Once you have used the mirror to seduce them, you have great power over them.
One way to create a mirror for someone is to teach them a lesson through an analogy, avoiding the reactionary increase in resistance you’d encounter if brought up directly.
Note: avoid mirrored situations you don’t understand, as those involved will quickly see through it, and the mirrored situation will not live up to the original.
45: Preach the need to change, but never reform too much at once
If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.
Even while people understand the need for change, knowing how important it is for institutions and individuals to be occasionally renewed, they are also irritated and upset by changes that affect them personally.
Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.
Borrow the weight and legitimacy from the past, however remote, to create a comforting and familiar presence.
Humans desire change in the abstract, or superficial change, but a change that upsets core habits and routines is deeply disturbing to them.
Understand: The fact that the past is dead and buried gives you the freedom to reinterpret it. To support your cause, tinker with the facts. The past is a text in which you can safely insert your own lines.
A simple gesture like using an old title, or keeping the same number for a group, will tie you to the past and support you with the authority of history.
46: Never appear too perfect
Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable.
Do not try to help or do favors for those who envy you; they will think you are condescending to them.
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.
Either dampen your brilliance occasionally, purposefully revealing a defect, weakness, or anxiety, or attributing your success to luck; or simply find yourself new friends. Never underestimate the power of envy.
The envy of the masses can be deflected quite easily – appear as one of them in style and values. Never flaunt your wealth, and carefully conceal the degree to which it has bought influence. Make a display of deferring to others, as if they were more powerful than you.
Use envy to motivate you to greater heights.
Keep a wary eye for envy in those below you as you grow more successful.
Expect that those envious of you will work against you.
Emphasize luck, and do not adopt a false modesty that will be seen through.
Deflect envy of political power by not seeming ambitious.
Disguise your power as a kind of self-sacrifice rather than a source of happiness for you. Emphasize your troubles and you turn potential envy into a source of moral support (pity).
Beware signs of envy: excessive praise, hypercritical people, public slandering.
Note: once envy is present, it is sometimes best to display the utmost disdain for those who envy you.
47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for.In victory, know when to stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.
Understand: In the realm of power, you must be guided by reason. To let a momentary thrill or an emotional victory influence or guide your moves will prove fatal. When you attain success, step back. Be cautious. When you gain victory, understand the part played by the particular circumstances of a situation, and never simply repeat the same actions again and again. History is littered with the ruins of victorious empires and the corpses of leaders who could not learn to stop and consolidate their gains.
The powerful vary their rhythms and patterns, change course, adapt to circumstance, and learn to improvise. They control their emotions, and step back and come to a mental halt when they have attained success.
Good luck is more dangerous than bad luck, because it deludes you into thinking your own brilliance is the reason for your success.
Note: There are some who become more cautious than ever after a victory, which they see as just giving them more possessions to worry about and protect. Your caution after victory should never make you hesitate, or lose momentum, but rather act as a safeguard against rash action. On the other hand, momentum as a phenomenon is greatly overrated. You create your own successes, and if they follow one upon the other, it is your own doing. Belief in momentum will only make you emotional, less prone to act strategically, and more apt to repeat the same methods. Leave momentum for those who have nothing better to rely upon.
48: Assume formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.
The powerful are constantly creating form, and their power comes from the rapidity with which they can change.
The first psychological requirement of formlessness is to train yourself to take nothing personally. Never show any defensiveness.
When you find yourself in conflict with someone stronger and more rigid, allow them a momentary victory. Seem to bow to their superiority. Then, by being formless, slowly insinuate yourself.
The need for formlessness becomes greater as we age, as we become more likely to become set in our ways and assume too rigid a form. As you get older, you must rely even less on the past.
Remember: Formlessness is a tool. Never confuse it with a go-with-the-flow style, or with a religious resignation to the twists of fortune. You use formlessness, not because it creates inner harmony and peace, but because it will increase your power.
Finally, learning to adapt to each new circumstance means seeing events through your own eyes, and often ignoring the advice that people constantly peddle your way. It means that ultimately you must throw out the laws that others preach, and the books they write to tell you what to do, and the sage advice of the elder.
Note: when you do finally engage an enemy, hit them with a powerful, concentrated blow.
Art Basel Names Rising Dealer Bridget Finn as Director of Miami Beach Fair
Art Basel names new director for Miami Beach fair December 8 – 10, 2023 Art Basel is delighted to announce today that Bridget Finn has been appointed Director of its Miami Beach show. In this role, Finn will steer the direction of the Miami Beach edition as it continues to innovate, overseeing the team staging the fair, cultivating and expanding Art Basel’s network of galleries, collectors, and artists in the Americas, and working in concert with Miami and South Florida’s world-class museums, institutions, and cultural partners. Finn will focus on strengthening Art Basel’s position as the premier Modern and contemporary art fair in the Americas and global platform for the dialogue and discovery of new artistic practices and perspectives from the region. Finn will begin her directorship in September 2023 and will be based in New York. She will report to Vincenzo de Bellis, Director, Fairs and Exhibition Platforms, and work closely alongside Maureen Bruckmayr, Head of Business and Management Americas. Finn brings to the role a deep knowledge of the gallery ecosystem. Before joining the eponymous, Detroit based gallery Reyes | Finn, she directed the contemporary art program at Mitchell-Innes & Nash (2013-2017) and held several roles at Anton Kern Gallery (2007-2010) in New York. As part of a gallerist collective, she established the collaborative curatorial project space Cleopatra’s (2008-2018) in New York, which later operated a Berlin location, working collaboratively with hundreds of artists and cultural producers for a decade. Previously, Finn served as the Director of Strategic Planning & Projects at Independent Curators International (ICI) (2010-2013), where she developed unique projects and formats in partnership with leading galleries, museums, auctions houses, corporations, and philanthropic organizations to deliver contemporary art programs to broad public audiences. Finn comes to the position with an intimate understanding of the North and South American art markets and an extensive, established network of galleries, collectors, artists, curators, and institutional leaders across the region, within and outside of the traditional hotspots in the U.S. A Detroit native, Finn cofounded the city-wide exhibition platform Art Mile Detroit in 2020, serving dozens of local galleries, institutional non-profits, museums, and artist-run spaces. In 2022, she established FLOURISH, a platform that employs art to drive advancements and positive transformations for children affected by rare disease. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of Independent Curators International (ICI) and is active on the Advisory Committee of the Progressive Art Studio Collective (PASC). “We are thrilled with Bridget’s appointment and could not have found a better fit to lead our Miami Beach fair,” says Noah Horowitz, CEO, Art Basel. “She is deeply committed to Art Basel’s mission and strategic direction, and to our contributions in shaping and promoting the health and vibrancy of the artworld ecosystem and local art scenes in Miami Beach and beyond. She has vision, ambition, and the requisite skillset in spades to drive forward our team and our many new and longtime partners in Miami Beach. I am immensely proud to welcome her to the Art Basel family.” Vincenzo de Bellis, Director, Fairs and Exhibition Platforms, says: “Our Miami Beach show is absolutely singular – in its history and topography, in its character and spirit, and in the extraordinary community of Miami Beach that continues to shape this landmark fair and cultural experience of unparalleled quality. Bridget is a lifelong partner to and champion of galleries and artists. She brings invaluable leadership experience, a wide network of collectors, galleries, artists, and cultural partners, and unfettered enthusiasm for and conviction in Art Basel’s purpose and vision. I am confident that she will take our show and all that makes it unique into an even stronger, brighter future.” Of being named the Director of the stalwart Americas edition, which in 2022 celebrated its milestone twentieth anniversary, Finn says, “I am deeply honored to assume this role, and to join in the transformative journey of Art Basel Miami Beach since it was launched more than 20 years ago – the global anchor for the North and South American creative community and industry, in the heart of the incredible city of Miami Beach. I look forward to the many collaborations and contributions that lie ahead with our galleries, patrons, and partners, as we look towards the next 20 years with limitless possibilities. We will continue to propel the show to new heights of artistic excellence and profound impact.” Finn will lead the Miami Beach show in 2024. She will attend the 2023 edition in December, which is spearheaded by de Bellis. She joins Art Basel alongside the recently appointed Maike Cruse, Director, Art Basel Basel; Clément Delépine, Director, Paris+ par Art Basel; and Angelle Siyang-Le, Director, Art Basel Hong Kong.
Critic, Curator, Editor-in-chief & Co-founder of Hyperallergic
The editor-in-chief and co-founder of Hyperallergic, Hrag Vartanian is an editor, art critic, curator, and lecturer on contemporary art with an expertise in the intersection of art and politics. Hrag co-founded the publication Hyperallergic in 2009 in response to changes in the art world, the publishing industry, and the distribution of information. Breaking news, award-winning reporting, informed opinions, and quality conversations about art have helped Hyperallergic reach over a million readers and listeners a month. In 2016, Hrag launched the Hyperallergic Podcast, which tells stories from around the world (iTunes). Some notable episodes have delved into the history of Surrealism in Egypt, the story of the largely unknown female Abstract Expressionists, the history of Blackface in Canada, and front-line coverage of the artists taking part in the #StopDAPL action at the Standing Rock reservation in the state of North Dakota. He has also done in-depth interviews with leaders in the contemporary art field, including innovative feminist art historian Linda Nochlin, artist Audrey Flack, key players in the Decolonize This Place activist movement, poet and critic John Yau, artist Michael Rakowitz, and pioneering meme theorist An Xiao Mina. He champions a type of straight-forward online art criticism that believes in the power of journalism, while retaining a sensitivity to the cultural and economic realities that inform the world of art, culture, and politics. In May 2018, art critic Mary-Louise Schumacher wrote about the rise of Hyperallergic for Neiman Reports at Harvard University. His curatorial interests are focused on a constellation of theories and practices clustered around ideas of decolonization. His work is informed by his own experience of being part of a post-genocide diaspora. In 2010, he moved Hyperallergic into a gallery at Outpost in Ridgewood, Queens, to stage #theSocialGraph, the world’s first multi-disciplinary exhibition of social media-related art. In 2015, he orchestrated Jade Townsend’s Crazy Amazing Garage Sale exhibition at Auxiliary Projects, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The three-day liquidation sale of unsold art was an attempt to release the capital trapped in one artist’s storage unit — it liberated over $3,000. In 2017, he kicked off a 10-year project exploring the contemporary legacy of Ottoman studio photography with an exhibition at Minerva Projects in Denver, Colorado. The opening was covered by the Denver Post newspaper. His original blog, simply named “Hrag Vartanian,” was very active between 2006 and 2010 and focused on politics, writing, and mostly art. The art blog had thousands of daily readers and included guest contributors. It was part of the Culture Pundits network. He also wrote the Re:Public column about street art and politics for ArtCat Zine (2007–2009). You can also subscribe to Hyperallergic’s newsletter and he also has a person newsletter, and he promises to send more regular missives at some point but right now it’s pretty infrequent. You can always find him on Twitter. He’s prepared a “30 Things of Mine You Might Want to Read” list of some favorite essays, interviews, articles, reviews, and opinion pieces for those who may have only recently discovered his writing.
Some of his notable essays from the past few years include the forward to The Artist as Culture Producer, which is titled “Imagining the Future Before Us,” his keynote at the American Craft Council’s 2019 national conference, and his criticism of “Tribute in Light.”
He started podcasting regularly in 2016, and in 2018 he launched the Hyperallergic podcast. Notable episodes include: his audio essay on why the female Abstract Expressionists were long overlooked; a three-part series (1, 2, 3) from the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, North Dakota, which explores the role of artists as water protectors and supporters; an audio essay about the Whitney Museum’s David Wojnarowicz retrospective; and an in-depth interview with artist Michael Rakowitz about his withdrawal from the 2019 Whitney Biennial.
In the summer of 2019, he created a four-part podcast series, in conjunction with the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, that explores the use of clay and ceramic in contemporary art and the role of museums in this revival. For the first podcast he spoke to artist Kent Monkman about the role of museums, while the second featured Shary Boyle discussing feminism and class-consciousness in clay, and the third episode explored blackface in Canada through the lens of an 18th-century harlequin figure in the museum’s collection. The final episode talked to four experts about an ancient Maya plate and how it’s connected to the summer’s news headlines.
He has curated exhibitions and published in alternative venues and formats for two decades, and in 2017, he launched his Fixed Point Perspective project as the debut exhibition at Minerva Projects in Denver, Colorado. The 10-year project examines the legacy of Ottoman studio photography in contemporary art and visual culture.
In April 2018, he created a collaborative installation with artist Sharon Louden at the Mary Sharpe and Walentas Studio Program in Brooklyn, New York. Titled Origins, it explored the five-year professional and personal friendship between the pair as a starting point for a bigger conversation about beginnings and ends. The video from the installation is also available on his YouTube channel. A new iteration of the collaboration was on view at Signs and Signals on Manhattan’s Lower East Side (September 4–October 11, 2019).
Keynotes and Public Lectures Keynote at the American Craft Council’s Present Tense: 2019 conference, Philadelphia, PA (October 2019) (audio, concise summary) “What the hell do art critics do?” lecture at the Chautauqua VACI lecture series, Chautauqua, NY (July 8, 2019) “The New Territories of Contemporary Art: Disturbing the Status-quo” lecture presented by East++ Institute for New Artistic Inquiry and Neuberger Museum of Art at SUNY Purchase, NY (October 25, 2018) McKnight Visual Artist Discussion Series at the Minneaspolis Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Friday, June 1, 2018) with Hrag Vartanian in conversation with Erik Benson and Julie Buffalohead Alaska lecture tour with Sharon Louden and Matthew Deleget (April 7–22, 2018), including Anchorage (April 12), Fairbanks (April 20), Juneau (April 10), and Ketchikan (April 8) “Contemporary Armenian Art of the Diaspora” lecture at Hovnanian School’s 9th Annual Art in Fall weekend in New Milford, NJ (November 12, 2017) “We Know What We Like” event for Triangle Arts Workshop with Karen Wilkin and Christina Kee at Yares Gallery in Manhattan, NY (November 9, 2017) “The Artist as Culture Producer” conversation with Sharon Louden at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City, OK (November 6, 2017) Review panel on the 2017 Whitney Biennial with Jessica Bell Brown, Walter Robinson, and David Cohen at the Brooklyn Public Library in Brooklyn, NY (May 5, 2017) Public Discussion on The Artist as Culture Producer at the Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa (March 23, 2017) The Artist as Culture Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life book launch at Strand Bookstore, New York, NY (March 2, 2017) Visiting Artist Lecture Series in Fall 2016 at Health and Social Science Auditorium, Department of Art, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico (November 1, 2016, 6–7pm) Studio VU: The Department of Art Lecture Series 2016-2017 at Wilson Hall, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (September 21, 2016, 6pm) Hopper Visiting Artist at CSU, Chico, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Art and Art History department (September 22, 2016, 5:30pm) Visiting Artist Lecture, Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine (June 27, 2016, 5:30–7pm) Hrag Vartanian at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (March 21, 2016, 6:30-7:30pm) Visiting Artist Lecture, Cleveland Institute of Art (February 5, 2016) Visiting Artist Lecture at UC Davis, Davis, California (January 14, 2016, 4:30–6pm) Visiting Artist Lecture Series, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada (September 10, 2015, 7–8:30pm) “Living and Sustaining a Creative Life” conversation with Sharon Louden at Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN (May 26, 2015, 6–8pm) “Humor and Art Criticism” lecture at Florida International University (FIU) Art + Art History department, Miami, Florida (February 26, 2015, 7–8:30pm) In Conversation with Sharon Louden at Burnet Art Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota (February 4, 2015, 5:30–7pm) Nashville Fine Arts Student Workshop at the Curb Center at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (January 6, 2015, 5pm) Insight? Outta Site! talk at the Nashville Public Library Main Branch, Nashville, Tennessee (January 5, 2015, 12pm) CCS Visitor Talks: Similarly Different or More of the Same (with Hyperallergic and Triple Canopy) at Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York (October 6, 2014, 4:45pm) “Webinar: CONVERSATIONS INSIDE – An Interview with Hrag Vartanian & Matthew Deleget” for Creative Capital, Dumbo, Brooklyn (April 28, 2014, 7pm) “What’s So Funny About Art? Art Criticism and Humor” at New York Studio School, Greenwich Village, Manhattan (October 16, 2013, 6:30pm) “Copyrights, Copywrongs, and Going Viral” at Pratt Department of Digital Arts, Myrtle Hall, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn (October 2, 2013, 12:45pm)
Symposia “Unsettling Narratives” roundtable with Jolene Rickard at Indigenous New York colloquium, Vera List Center, New School, New York City, NY (March 11, 2017) AICAD Symposium roundtable, Sarasota, Florida (March 1–2, 2015) “Who Can Write About Performance Art?” with panelists Claire Bishop, RoseLee Goldberg, Adrian Heathfield, John Rockwell, Hrag Vartanian, and David Velasco, for Performa Performance Art Biennial and Nonprofit Organization (April 24, 2014, 6:30pm) “I Am for an Art Criticism That … ” at the Witte de With in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (November 28–29, 2012)
Panels “Racial Capitalism: Who Benefits from Cultural Appropriation? A Conversation” with Jeff Chang, Wendy Red Star, DJ Rekha, moderated by Hrag Vartanian organized by the Asian American Art Alliance and The Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation (New York) (December 10, 2020) (Facebook video archive) “Conversation between Tania Katan and Hrag Vartanian on Creative Trespassing: How to Flourish in Uncertain Times” as part of the Artists Thrive Virtual Summit (October 1, 2020) American Craft Forum: The Second Series, Three-part series focused on Craft Thinking (May 15, June 12, and June 26 2020 “Things Change: Artists in Society” panel with Sharon Louden and Alexander Tamahn, moderated by Scott Stulen at the Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK (November 3, 2019) “Telling Queer Stories: The Challenges of Unearthing a History” with moderator Hrag Vartanian in conversation with Cathy Renna & Eduardo Ayala Fuentes at Swann Galleries, New York (June 17, 2019) Daylong roundtable about aesthetics and art at the Columbia University Department of Philosophy (March 23, 2018) “Art Criticism and Publishing with Bice Curiger, Hal Foster, Michelle Kuo, and Hrag Vartanian, Moderated by Nikki Columbus” panel, organized by Parkette magazine, Swiss Institute, New York, NY (April 7, 2017) “The #MeToo Age: Power & Gender Equity in the Art World” panel at LACE, Los Angeles, CA (February 21, 2018) “The Artist and the Institution: Contemporary and Future Practices” panel with Sharon Louden and moderated by Steven Evans at CAMH in Houston, TX (January 24, 2018) “The Artist as Culture Producer Tour” event at PAMM in Miami, FL (January 11, 2018) “Living and Sustaining a Creative Life” panel with Wendy Red Star and Sharon Louden at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, OK (November 3, 2017) Art / Protest/ ValueDissolve Inequality: Visual Arts Summit sponsored by the Global Studies and Languages and MIT List Visual Arts Center, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts (March 7, 2017) “Sustaining Creative Energy: A Panel Discussion with Writer Hrag Vartanian, Artist Sharon Louden, and Curator Deana Haggag” panel, which is part of the Seeing Stories: Visualizing Sustainable Citizenship Series, Temple University (March 3, 2017) “CAA 2017 Key Conversation: Hrag Vartanian, Nitasha Dhillon & Amin Husain on Decolonize this Place” at College Art Association 2017 conference in New York City (February 18, 2017) “Queer Conflicts” moderated panel with Alexis De Veaux, James Downs, Sarah Schulman, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, and Timothy Stewart-Winter at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, Brooklyn, New York (September 17, 2016 1:30–3pm) “Beyond Paper: New Media Art,” moderated panel with artists Scorpion Dagger (James Kerr), Dominique Pétrin, and Skawennati, Papier 16 art fair, Montréal, Canada (April 22, 2016, 2pm) “Art and Memory: Looking Back and Moving Forward on the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide,” moderator, with Nancy Kricorian, Silvina Der-Meguerditchian, Diana Markosian, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at NYU, Manhattan, New York (Monday, November 9, 2015, 6–7:30pm) “What Does Activism in the Arts Means Today? The Middle East as a Case Study” panel discussion at the here, without: art, otherness & Israel – Palestine conference at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (January 17, 2015, 11am–12:30pm) Moderator of the Crossing Brooklyn #ArtTalk series with the Brooklyn Museum: November 4, 2014: Alternative Economies with artists Linda Goode Bryant, McKendree Key, William Powhida, and Caroline Woolard at Kickstarter (58 Kent Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn) November 18, 2014: Performance and Activism with artists Nobutaka Aozaki, Christen Clifford, Amin Husain, Matthew Jensen, and Dread Scott at Livestream Public (195 Morgan Avenue, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn) December 11, 2014: Memory and Place with artists Youmna Chlala, Jennifer Dalton, Andrew Ohanesian, and Bryan Zanisnik at BRIC House (647 Fulton St, Downtown Brooklyn) Sharon Louden’s panel discussion between Julie Heffernan, Hrag Vartanian, Tony Ingrisano and Nathan Skiles at Montclair State University in the Finely Seminar Room of the Department of Art, Montclair, New Jersey (April 30, 2014, 5pm) Moderator of “Walking in the Air: Art Criticism in Europe panel discussion about the current state of art criticism in Europe,” organized by AICA-International and EUNIC New York members at Cervantes Institute, Upper East Side, Manhattan (April 27, 2014, 3pm) Christie’s Art Market Online panel at Christie’s Education New York (April 22, 2014, 6pm) Art Review Panel — “January 2014: Christina Kee, Hrag Vartanian and Christian Viveros-Faune,” moderated by David Cohen at the National Academy Museum, Upper East Side, Manhattan (January 24, 2014) “Banksy NYC — Is it Art or Vandalism?” at National Arts Club, with Carlo McCormack (moderator), Michael Holman, Chris Jehly, and Lois Stavsky (National Arts Club, Gramercy, Manhattan, November 1, 2013, 6pm) “Critical Language: A forum on International Art English” at Triple Canopy, with Nathalie Anglès, Wenzel Bilger, Lauren Cornell, Mariam Ghani, Mostafa Heddaya, David Levine, Alexander Provan, Yael Reinharz, Alix Rule, Lumi Tan, and Hrag Vartanian (Triple Canopy, 155 Freeman Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, April 6, 2013) PODCAST “Size Matters,” panel moderator with Gavin Brown, Peter Halley, KAWS, and Roberta Smith (FIT, Chelsea, Manhattan, February 26, 2013) “Street Art,” panel participant with Angelo Madrigale (moderator), Buff Monster, Adam Cost (aka COST), and David Meade (Doyle Auction House, Upper East Side, Manhattan, September 19, 2012) “Flux Death Match: Art & OWS” at Flux Factory, with Paddy Johnson, John Powers, and William Powhida and moderated by Douglas Paulson & Christina Vassallo (Flux Factory, 39–31 29th Street, Long Island City, Queens, March 21, 2012, 8pm)
Visiting Critic Visiting Critic, Graduate Seminar, American University, Washington, DC (March 22, 2016) Visiting critic, Sculpture Class, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, Rhode Island (December 16, 2015) 3 Critics, October visiting critic, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, Rhode Island (October 8, 15, 22, November 7, 2015) Visiting Critic, round-table discussion with graduate students, Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), Minneapolis, MN (February 6, 2015) Experimental live-art class (Professors Angela Dufresne and Jane South) at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island (December 8–9, 2014) Senior sculpture BFA exhibitions (Professors Curtis Mitchell and … ) at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York (May 6, 2014, 5pm)
Juries 2018 Wassaic Project jury Little Syria Percent for Art Public Art Project in lower Manhattan National Art Jurors for the 2017 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards 2016 Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics 2016 New York Studio School Alumni Exhibition, with Phong Bui, Paul Laster, and Paddy Johnson 2016 New York Pulse Prize jury, with Anthony Haden-Guest, Matthew Israel, and Larry Ossei-Mensah 58th Chautauqua Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art, 2015 National Art Jurors for the 2015 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards ArtPrize 2014: Time-based Art category 2014 American Alliance of Museum MUSE “Video, Film, & Computer Animation” category jury 2013 Smack Mellon Studio Program selection committee 2011 American Alliance of Museum MUSE “Video, Film, & Computer Animation” category jury 2010 Dumbo Arts Festival jury