“Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service.”
-Wilkie Collins
Words matter. We use them from the moment we wake until we sleep again, often not thinking much about them as they tumble from us. What we say informs the world about who we are and has the power to shape more than just conversation. Our words can betray us, give away things we might not have even known were there. Our words can be the making of us or the undoing of a lifetime of work in a mere instant. Once they are uttered, words can never be taken back. They can build relationships or end them, create peace or incite war.
Joshua Sanchez spoke to us from Brooklyn on the last day of August where, he says, things still feel pretty weird. Despite a looser vibe over the summer, the delta variant put the area back on a sort of self-imposed lockdown. Sanchez is primarily a filmmaker and is working on a feature film titled Feedback which he wrote during COVID. As a screenwriter, he began considering what kind of stories he could tell about time spent in quarantine. The film is the story of two guys who meet at an online sex party and form a romantic relationship during COVID. He has also been at work on a photography ‘zine that uses yearbook-style photography and poetry. To hear more about his work, listen to the complete interview.
Christine Kuan is President and Executive Director at Creative Capital. Prior to this, she was CEO/Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art-New York. Creative Capital was established in 1999 specifically to fund individual artists in response to National Endowment for the Arts discontinuing funding for individuals. The organization helps foster sustainable careers for artists in all disciplines from visual arts to performing arts and more. Sotheby’s, on the other hand, focuses on visual artists only. To hear more from Christine Kuan and get to know Creative Capital, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
Do not discount the power of words. Use them wisely.
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Praxis user Sarah Hatch recommends the books of Wilkie Collins including The Moonstone and Woman in White. Praxis user Denise Laurin recently read Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby.
Deadlines:
In their own words: “YICCA is an international call for artists, open to professionals and not only from any country in the world. All kinds of contemporary artworks are allowed in the art contest: drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, graphics, mix media, video, installations and performances. The competition’s aim is to promote the enrolled artist, giving them chance to join the international market of contemporary art.” For more information, visit the website. Deadline for submissions is November 10.
From 24 June to 20 August 2021, Marian Goodman Gallery and Holt/Smithson Foundation will present the first exhibition of Robert Smithson’s work in the gallery’s New York space. The exhibition, Abstract Cartography, will focus on a crucial five-year period in Smithson’s development: 1966 to 1971, a time when his “inklings of earthworks” began. This careful selection of artworks will trace Smithson’s radical rethinking of what art could be and where it could be found.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius, and Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius. His book, Making it in the Art World, is available now with bonus content here.