The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing by Adam Moss

In The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing, Adam Moss interviews people involved in creative endeavors - from writers and painters to chefs and choreographers to architects and photographers - about process. How do they do the work that they do? He is a former newspaper and magazine editor and has since taken up painting and he's struggling with a lot of questions about his art. When will it be done? How will he know when it is good? At first he just asked his friends, but soon the interviews, mostly done during lockdown during the COVID pandemic, began radiating out to people he admired and took on a life of its own.

The complete list of everyone Moss interviewed.

 The book, as a physical artifact, is gorgeous. It has a woven cover and the black letters on the cover are indented a bit. It is filled with ephemera like notes scribbled on napkins, journal pages, and rough drafts. It is fun to turn the page because every page is filled with something delightful and charming. It's also easy to read. Despite sidebars, footnotes, and photos and drawings, it is always clear what you are supposed to be reading and in what order. It definitely felt like a person who has a long history with figuring out magazine layouts was in charge here. 

Example of a page layout

There were some interviews I found much more interesting than others, but what was great about reading this book was the common themes throughout the interviews. I don't really work in a particularly creative field (I mean, to some extent the work I do is creative - designing and giving a lecture is not easy, friends), but I think a lot of these same themes could be lessons about all successful people. When I'm talking "successful," I'm limiting it to success in career fields because a lot of these people's personal lives are a hot mess.

Themes: The importance of mentorship, failure, and tenacity. Starting to learn things as a child. Iterative processes. Endless editing. Being able to take constructive feedback. Grit. Perseverance. Focus. Childlike wonder. Listening. Paying attention. 

I loved this book and if you can get your hands on it, I think it would be fun to just poke around in, even if you don't want to read every single interview.

4.5/5 stars

Lines of note:

Where art comes from is mysterious. I talked to a lot of very rational artists for this book, and to the one, they went fuzzy when trying to describe a cathartic moment, as if they'd gone under anesthesia when the big idea came. It's weird - the mind is weird. (page 12)

I get my best ideas for blog posts, lecture ideas, or whatever when I'm walking the dog. There's entire Notes in my app with snatches of thoughts that I've jotted down while trying to prevent Hannah from chasing robins. 

Along the way, there is making and destroying, self-sabotage, doubt and despair, but the unifying fact of this book is that successful creators do not give up, even when the thwarting seems insurmountable. (page 16)

This is the theme I was jotting down the most. Tenacity plus ability. Perseverance. The ability to accept constructive criticism while remaining true to a vision. Failure. Repeating. See the very next quote.

Persistence, endurance - much of the work we love wouldn't exist if the artist hadn't been spectacularly tenacious; I am certain pretty much anybody else would have moved on when Michael [Cunningham] didn't. But as I was listening to him and reading over his notes, I was struck by another quality as well: a Martian-like ability to be outside and inside himself at the same time. To look at his own work not defensively but critically: to say, nah, this is crap, but somehow (and this is what seemed impossible to me) not to annihilate himself in the process. (page 56-57)

I cannot imagine the level of editing some people go through. I would not have any self-esteem left, but I guess that's what makes them successful artists. 

The gift I have is stubbornness. And patience. And kind of good taste, I guess you could say. - Louise Glück (page 107)

Tenacity again

But "if you make a mistake that's done with energy and commitment, even if it's a chaotic feeling, it changes you. In a way that a lazy mistake doesn't.
"You really do just have to fuck up." - Nico Muhly (page 125)

You do have to make a lot of mistakes to get good at anything that's hard, don't you? 

"It takes just as much work to make a thing that's mediocre as it does to make a good version. And it's really soul draining." - Ira Glass (page 267, footnote 3)

Ha ha. I feel this is my soul. 

"It rarely comes when you're focusing. It's indirect; one thing starts the sparks that connects the other synapses. I wish I knew how it works because I would want to trigger that more often." - Elizabeth Diller (page 301)

It wouldn't be as magical if we could all just summon up wonderful art on a whim, though, would it?

"But generally, puzzles are more popular now, and the reason I think is that more people use their brains as a living. There's less manual labor, more computer programming. And when you're done with your regular work, you can't turn your brain off. It wants to keep going." - Will Shortz (page 333)

Man, I wish I were one of those people who want to keep going. All I want to do is go home and turn my brain off. 

Things I looked up:

osier bed (page 57) - willow bed

Shecky Greene (page 163) - American comedian and actor known for his nightclub performances in Vegas

tummler (page 163) - a person who makes things happen, in particular a professional entertainer or comedian whose function is to encourage an audience, guests at a resort, etc., to participate in the entertainments or activities

I followed both Ian Adelman (he makes sandcastles) and Gerald Lovell (he's a painter) on Instagram after reading this book. 

After Maya's poetry lesson, I've been really trying to find poetry in my life and I found myself in love with the poem "Hurry" by Marie Howe and looked up some more of her work.

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

As I mentioned earlier, he [Stephen Sondheim] wrote two books of his own creative introspection, Finishing the Hat and Look, I made a Hat... (page 92)

...consider this dissection of "Getting Married Today" from Finishing the Hat... (page 96)

"...When I was a little kid, all my T-shirts were striped. It's classic. The Cat in the Hat." - Marc Jacobs (page 324)

"We created a mask, a hidden identity. A hat and hood and a turtleneck, and all you saw was eyes." - Marc Jacobs (page 324)

Four top hats on page 366-367 and a "built the hat."