Back in NYC

Today is April 16, 2025

New York City

Upper East Side

1:02 pm

On the Means of Production

I work in a variety of ways.

In many different mediums.

I use the complete range of what I know when I work.

When the work is flowing, it’s almost like there is no conscious thought.

When we create, the product is always a reflection of some aspect or portion of our soul.

And in this sense, the art/film/writing/performance always functions a self-portrait of sorts.

I think the way I work [collage] is inherently subversive. In part because with my studio art I'm destroying books. And often I'm destroying beautiful books. Which as a Jew has a particularly has a particular meaning. I struggle a lot with my chosen modality. With the idea of appropriation. And also with the idea of destroying books. Even if usually, they're used and old and nobody wants them. But in the end, it's how I make my art. And my art is how I live and survive and grow and change. And how I contribute to the world. So, my hope is that it's not an entirely selfish activity. That at some point down the road some of my work will speak to other people. Or even, to one other person. If my work speaks to one person, if it enhances their life by helping them broaden their perspective or have a moment of enjoyment or satisfaction or curiosity, then I feel that it’s been a success. If my work enriches another person’s life in some way, I feel satisfied with the quid pro quo of the whole process.

Speaking of appropriation. On some level I think the whole current societal view of appropriation is just so silly and wrongheaded.

The idea that anybody could create anything without appropriating is just unrealistic.

It’s a view of the creative process that basically eschews reality for me.

Returning to the idea that art or writing of any kind can be done without appropriation.

My own belief is that we always build on existing knowledge to make new work, whether we realize it or not.

And that that is true not only in the creative spheres but in the spheres of science and industry as well.

Nobody starts from scratch.

The important point for me is whether this appropriation is made explicit or whether it’s unspoken because in some way, we’ve made it collectively unsafe to acknowledge as much.

We’ve made reality unmentionable.

I get frustrated, with the frequency I find myself returning to this topic— of the rightness or wrongness of my own artistic process.

In part , because where I’m at in my career, there are no critics.

As I’m writing this, there isn’t yet an audience for my work.

Ergo, there’s no one to criticize it.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t ever be an audience.

Accordingly, I think it’s important for me to address the means of production.

And to explain my own philosophy and thought process around it.