33 Artists in 3 Acts (49 page)

During the four years that I researched
33 Artists in 3 Acts
, I was writing regularly for the
Economist
, and some sentences in these pages appeared first in one of sixty-five articles published under their banner. I believe in the rigorous standards of the
Economist
and am honored that the institution chose to embrace my work (even if I don’t love sacrificing my byline!). I have come to see my main
Economist
editor, Fiammetta Rocco, as a big sister. I’ve learned much from her intelligent advice, exacting editorial eye, grounded ethics, and love of books. I also
had the pleasure of working with Emily Bobrow, another exceedingly generous editor. My huge thanks to them both.

I combined my research for the book with journalism for a few other publications, writing more than once for David Velasco at
Artforum.com
and Richard Rhodes at
Canadian Art
. Both editors helped me clarify my thoughts. I was also happy to write for Cathy Galvin at the
Sunday Times Magazine,
Nick Compton at
Wallpaper
, and Melissa Denes at the
Guardian.

Seven Days in the Art World
led to many opportunities to speak in far-flung parts of the world. I am grateful to all my hosts but mention only two whose invitations influenced the content of
33 Artists in 3 Acts
. My thanks to Rita Aoun Abdo and her team in Abu Dhabi, particularly Tairone Bastien, who set up my onstage interview with Jeff Koons and Larry Gagosian (an encounter described in Act I). Thanks also to Yana Peel, Amelie von Wedel, and Alexandra Seno of Intelligence Squared, who invited me to Hong Kong to debate the topic “You don’t need great skill to be a great artist.” Hans Ulrich Obrist and I teamed up to argue against the absurd motion, losing by a landslide to Antony Gormley and Tim Marlow. Call me a sore loser, but I do hope that this book finally proves them wrong.

For their superlative professionalism and consistently thoughtful backing, I am thankful to Sarah Chalfant, Andrew Wylie, and their diligent staff. Indeed, it is a joy to be represented by the Wylie Agency. For their deep and wise counsel, I am obligated to the intrepid team of Daniel Taylor, James Heath, Justin Rushbrooke, and Ronald Thwaites. For help with design, I am grateful to Kyle Morrison.

I am delighted to be published for a second time by W. W. Norton and Granta, two independent publishers, full of talented, committed people. I adore my clever editors at both houses. At Norton, Tom Mayer has the patience of a saint combined with the big-picture judgment of Noah loading the ark. At Granta, Max Porter has the quick wit and deft editorial touch of a Shakespearean sprite. I am deeply grateful that their divergent perspectives somehow converged in a belief in me.

I am thankful to the friends—old and new—who gave me valuable feedback on all or part of the manuscript: Carroll Dunham, Andrea
Fraser, Charles Guarino, Sara Holloway, Andy Lambert, Angela McRobbie, Gabriel Orozco, and especially Reesa Greenberg and Alix Browne. I also appreciate the unfailing support of friends and family who acted as sounding boards: Leslie Camhi, Amy Cappellazzo, Louise Thornton Keating, Tina Mendelsohn, Jeremy Silver, Monte Thornton, and my kids, Cora and Otto Thornton-Silver.

Three people were essential to seeing this book through to completion. They read every scene as it was being written, giving me constructive criticism every step of the way. They are: my wonderful mother, Glenda Thornton; my best friend since the age of thirteen, Helge Dascher; and my other half, Jessica Silverman.

Now for some longer lists . . .

For research assistance, which mostly took the form of transcribing hours and hours of interviews, I am extremely grateful to Jessica Tedd, Cait Kelly, Victoria Genzani, Lindsay Russell, Charlène Bourliout, Charlotte Bellamy, Megan McCall, Nina De Paula Hannika, Keiko Takano, and the many students interested in ethnography at Sotheby’s Institute and Christie’s Education. I’m also grateful to Ingrid Bachmann, Emily Jan, Karin Zuppiger, and Dana Dal Bo of Concordia University, Montreal, for setting up complicated, confidential workshops related to the book’s three acts. Thanks to Micky Meng at the California College of the Arts for help of all kinds, and to Emma Cheung, Akemi Ishii, and especially Lee Ambrozy for translating and interpreting in China and Japan. Thank you to the following writers and filmmakers for being collegiate on location: Myrna Ayad, Robert Bound, Jack Cocker, Silke Hohmann, Mark James, Takako Matsumoto, and Arsalan Mohammed.

I interviewed curators and museum people as expert witnesses and/or observed them on occasions such as installation. In addition to the three curators who have billing in the table of contents, many thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts: Iwona Blazwick, Ellen Blumenstein, Vinzenz Brinkmann, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Jacopo Crivelli Visconte, Yilmaz Dziewior, Martin Engler, Laurie Farrell, Soledad Garcia, Mark Godfrey, RoseLee Goldberg, Matthew Higgs, Heike Höcherl, Jens Hoffman, Max Hollein, Laura Hoptman,
Samuel Keller, Udo Kittelman, Courtney Martin, Cuauhtémoc Medina, Jessica Morgan, Frances Morris, Mark Nash, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Erin O’Toole, Adriano Pedrosa, Jack Persekian, Julia Peyton-Jones, Valentina Ravaglia, Scott Rothkopf, Karen Smith, Nancy Spector, Robert Storr, Philip Tinari, Matthias Ulrich, and Qiu Zhijie.

I also picked the brains of a number of dealers, collectors, studio managers, and other art-world affiliates whose knowhow was helpful. My thanks to: Christopher D’Amelio, Martine d’Anglejan-Chatillon, Shelly Bancroft, Ludovica Barbieri, Massimo de Carlo, Valentina Castellani, Johnson Chang, Belinda Chen, Margaret Liu Clinton, Caroline Cohen, Jeffrey Deitch, Edward Dolman, Stefan Edlis, Jean-Paul Engelen, Molly Epstein, Mara and Marcio Fainziliber, Jens Faurschou, Ronald Feldman, Simon Finch, Marcia Fortes, Sara Friedlander, Stephen Friedman, Barbara Gladstone, Marian Goodman, Jerry Gorovoy, Isabella Graw, Jeanne Greenberg, Lorenz Heibling, Greg Hilty, Antonio Hommen, Jin Hua, Jane Irwin, Dakis Joannou, Nina Kellgren, José Kuri, Diane Henry Lepart, Dominique Lévy, Nicholas Logsdail, Daniella Luxembourg, Erin Manns, Monica Manzutto, Tim Marlow, Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, Gary McCraw, Victoria Miro, Lucy Mitchell-Innes, Flavio del Monte, Juan Pablo Moro, Christian Nagel, Francis M. Naumann, Peter Nesbett, Richard Noble, Francis Outred, Marc Payot, Friedrich Petzel, Jeffrey Poe, Andrew Renton, Janelle Reiring, Don and Mera Rubell, Colin Salmon, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Arturo Schwarz, Allan Schwartzman, Glenn Scott Wright, Uli Sigg, Isao Takakura, Yoriko Tsurata, Larry Warsh, John Waters, Cheyenne Westphal, Amanda Wilkinson, Helene Winer, and Edward Winkleman.

I have been a fan of Calvin Tomkins’s writing since I was an art history undergraduate. The epigraph that opens this book comes from one of his afternoon interviews with Marcel Duchamp, published in 2013.

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