The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing x Adam Moss (DRC)

432 pages.

First published April 16, 2024 (Penguin Press)

Non-fiction.

It’s a struggle for me not to use superlatives in describing this book. Adam Moss’s background as a magazine editor (New York) shows: he’s collected here a series of interviews with artists of all kinds, many famous and well-known (to me: Kara Walker, Sofia Coppola, Michael Cunningham, Louise Glück, Ira Glass, Max Porter, Sheila Heti, Suzan-Lori Parks), and many others less so. The raison d’être of the book is to delve into the creative process: What makes art? From the initial idea (and how does that happen?), the God-spark, through the process of translating that, to the final work, Moss has tried to get these creatives to break down what happens, with mixed results (spoiler: there’s a lot of mystery involved).

Anyone who does creative work is interested in the processes of others, particularly those who’ve found success. Do they wake up early? Are there rituals? Do they drink coffee? How do they hear from God? Was there a lightning strike? How did they know what to add, what to remove (edit), when to stop? All of these questions make for fascinating answers, and just as interesting is what creatives think about how they came up with the work. Moss has also got each artist to dig up visual archives, included in the book: notes, scribbles, anything that tracks the progress to finished work. It’s amazing to see.

Outstanding. Very highly recommended: a stunning book, that you’ll want to go back to over and over if you’re a creative yourself. But also: one of the reasons the book gets five stars from me? It starts and finishes with profiles of Black women.

My grateful thanks to Penguin and to NetGalley for early access.

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