PDN - July 2012

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS
www.pdnonline.com
Volume XXXII Issue 7 July 2012

After reAding some interviews with writer tom Bissell about his new collection of essays on creators and creativity, i thought i should get a copy. titled Magic Hours, Bissell’s book is primarily concerned with writers, but the first essay in particular will interest anyone who is engaged in an artistic endeavor and hopes for public recognition. Bissell argues that dumb luck plays as big a role as talent in determining whether a work of art finds an audience or falls into obscurity.

to support his thesis, he cites examples from literary history,
Bissell was inspired to explore twists of literary fate because, at age 25, he did a
stint as an assistant editor at a book publisher and saw firsthand the sometimes
arbitrary circumstances that determined whether a manuscript was accepted or dis-
missed, like if an editor was in a bad mood, or believed books on whaling don’t sell.
Young Bissell was unnerved to see that the machine which determined a writer’s
fate didn’t always function smoothly.
his observation was on my mind as we looked at the machinery by which fine-art
photography gets selected by galleries and exhibited to the public. the gallery own-
ers and private dealers we interview this month are constantly looking at new work,
searching for what Yancey richardson calls “really great work that achieves some
level of excellence.” their choices seem genuinely driven by personal tastes and pas-
sions, not forecasts of what collectors might buy. But when they see work they like,
they don’t pounce immediately. some gallerists need to see the work several times
before they’re confident about representing the photographer for the long haul.
their stories of how they happened to reencounter photos multiple times—a book
catalogue lands on a gallerist’s desk, a collector or colleague offers a recommenda-
tion, or the gallery director happens to turn a corner at an art fair—are unpredictable
and dependant on chance. dealers advise photographers to expose their work to as
many people as possible, since there’s no guessing where a connection might lead.
Photographers have to work persistently to make their own luck, in other words.
it’s interesting that in recent interviews, Bissell sounds a lot more optimistic than
he did when he wrote his essay in 2000. A lot’s happened since he was a naïve 25 year
old. the old gatekeepers of publishing have lost some of their power, for one thing,
and artists in every field have more venues and opportunities to get exposure. when
he talks to his students, Bissell stresses that luck is egalitarian: luck can strike anyone,
and at any time. that’s not to say you can just wait to win the lottery, “because you do
have to work really hard to get lucky as an artist,” he told an interviewer for salon. But
he also tells his students that if you’re able to live and work as an artist, you’re pretty
lucky. And not being grateful for that luck can make an artist lazy and overconfident.
that kills the persistence that makes any more of that luck, or creativity, possible.

Regular Contributors edgar Allen Beem, Kristina feliciano, Jay mallin, theano nikitas

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