The long awaited book “How To Be An Artist” by Jerry Saltz is here. Based off of his early Vulture essay by the same name, he wrote the work as a note to his younger self.

In this week’s episode Jerry Saltz, Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine talks with Amon Focus about being radically vulnerable, the importance of deadlines, the Pulitzer Prize and how to look at art. There are a few surprises in this interview but we don’t want to give it all away in the intro.

Just a heads up, during this conversation you may hear a little bit of phone static from time to time, it’s only for a few seconds, it’s nothing crazy, I just wanted to give you a heads up so you’re not wondering what the heck is that sound.

Listen & Enjoy!

Keep up to Date with Jerry Saltz

@JerrySaltz – Twitter

@JerrySaltz – Instagram

How to Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz

Want to Buy “How to Be An Artist” by Jerry Saltz?

New York ‘s art critic Jerry Saltz and his forthcoming book, How To Be An Artist (Riverhead Books, 2020).

“How to be an Artist” is a note to my younger self.

Show Notes

• 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism – the details (links to articles for Mr. Saltz’s winning work are located on this page)
• JERRY SALTZ WINS 2018 PULITZER PRIZE FOR CRITICISM– Art Forum, April 16, 2018
• History of the Pulitzer Prizes
• The demons
• Your misery is my company
• Work and creating are the same thing
• The journey to finding one’s voice in writing
• Long distance truck driving
• Art Forum
• Art Critic
• Art Criticism
• Whitney Museum
• “The late commodified object of Marxist simulacra finds the interrogation of cross-sectionality…” -Jerry Saltz (Wait, what?)
• I wrote what I really thought
• I want people to know the me I think I am
• Radically vulnerable
• Jasper Johns
• “You do everything you can do until you do what comes helpless.” Jasper Johns Quote
• Dark Wood of Error Symbolism
• Dante’s Inferno
• “I had to go through hell in the trucks to come out somehow perfect, pure, and ready for the stars.”
  -Jerry Saltz
• Clement Greenberg – Art Critic
• Avant-Garde and Kitsch
  (Greenberg, Clement (1939). “Avant Garde and Kitsch”. The Partisan Review: 34–49.)
• Art & Therapy
• Dexter Hand Sewing Machine _Jerry Saltz’s father’s invention (images)
• I don’t know how I got involved with art…
• Inner city of Chicago
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• Diptych
• The beheading of St. John the Baptist
• A letter to the world in the art
• What can be lost
• Abstract Operating Systems
• Coronavirus
• Art will still be here
• Bush & Cheney War aka Iraq War
• Flint Water Crisis
• How to see art?
• Embedding of thoughts
• All art is subjective
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• The Best of Mozart via YouTube
• William Shakespeare
• Do not be intimidated by art
• No right way or wrong way to look at art
• Indian Raga
• Anoushka Shankar – Indian Classical Raga via YouTube
• Music from Tibet via YouTube
• Matrices of Beauty/Ugliness
• Francisco Goya’s Saturn Devouring his Son
• Charlie Parker Jazz Musician & Composer
• Charlie Parker – All the things you are via YouTube
• “Not all communication is accessible to all people” -Jerry Saltz
• National Endowment of the Arts
• I’m an artist
• The value of delusion
• Hearing criticism
• Roberta Smith
• A grain of truth in every criticism
• Vincent Van Gogh Artist
• Vincent Van Gogh Gallery of Paintings
• My Life as A Failed Artist Essay by Jerry Saltz in Vulture.com 4/17/2017
• Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
• Graffiti
• “I don’t like Banksy’s work.” -Jerry Saltz
• Banksy Street Artist
• Jeff Koons Artist
• Imitative & Generic
• Larry David moment
• Mark Rothko Abstract Artist
• Emily Jones Artist
• “You can learn enough from bad art as good.” -Jerry Saltz
• Free Live Audio Streams of Met Opera
• Pinball
• Approach- the first marks are very hard
• Each essay is a trip somewhere

Importance of Deadlines

1. I know they are bad
2. Make a deadline
3. Never break a deadline

Biggest Lessons thus Far:

1. Be nice
2. Energy-Bring it!
3. Make an enemy of envy
4. Don’t let rejection define you
5. You have to listen to get the final lesson…(We can’t tell you everything)

New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz as Salvador Dalí, based on a photograph by Philippe Halsman. Photo-Illustration: Joe Darrow for New York Magazine.

Jerry Saltz Quotables

“…fear is the admission price to the house of creativity, to the house of art.”

“I have no choice but to get on with it.”

“Things only happen when you work.”

“Roberta is the greatest art critic alive.”

“I throw out about 99% of what I do”

“I’ve got to get back to the art world, I’m in agony.”

“I had to go through hell in the trucks to come out somehow perfect, pure, and ready for the stars.”

“I want people to know the me I think I am”

“We are mildly insane.”

“Art – the greatest abstract operating system(s) ever devised by our species.”

“Not all communication is accessible to all people”

“All art is subjective”

“No right way, no wrong way to look at art.”

“Don’t be intimidated by art”

“Deadlines come from Hell via Heaven.”

“You can learn enough from bad art as good.”

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We would love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Leave a comment on the Apple Podcast App and don’t forget to rate the show.

In this episode we Celebrate the Legacy of Ralph McDaniels and Video Music Box. With over 35 years in the industry, Ralph sits down and shares his story with us.

Show Notes

1. South Jamaica, Queens
2. A South Side Kid
3. Queens Jazz Musicians 
4. Crack Era
5. Chemical Warfare 
6. War on Drugs
7. Stop and Frisk
8. Queens Central Library 
9. A Cipher in Queens
10. Sherwin Banfield
11. Club Encore Mix
12. Eddie Murphy 
13. Disco Records
14. Soul Music 
15. Blue Ice Night Club
16. Video Music Box
17. Baisley Park
18. 1990 Redman and Biz Markie Springfield Freestyle 
19. Stretch and Bobbito
20. Grandmast Vic
21. Doggtime
22. DJ Dirty Harry
23. Lionel ‘Vid Kid’ Martin
24. Mister Cheeks
25. Mobb Deep
26. WuTang – Ice cream 
27. Shirt King Phade
28. Jay Z
29. Kool Red Alert 
30. Dapper Dan
31. LL Cool J
32. Colosseum Mall
33. FUBU
34. Daymond John
35. Karl Kani
36. Cross Colours
37. April Walker
38. Diddy
39. Hype Williams 
40. Irv Gotti 
41. Queens Village
42. Mic Geronimo – Shit’s Real (It’s Real)
43. Cash Money Click 
44. Ja Rule 
45. Self Destruction 
46. KRS One Stop the Violence   
47. Nassau Coliseum
48. Nelson George
49. D-Nice
50. Overcoming Self Destruction – Docuementary
51. MC Lyte
52. Big Daddy Kane 
53. Daddy-O
54. Drake
55. Chance the Rapper
56. Uncle Murder
57. Just-Ice 
58. Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.
59. Heavy D
60. Salt-N-Pepa – Get Up Everybody
61. Lil Wayne 
62. “Don’t Get in the Way of you Getting the Interview”
63. Ice-T
64. Flip Da Script 
65. Superstar Jay
66. Funkmaster Flex
67. Sway in the Morning
68. Ebro Hot97
69. DJ Clark Kent
70. Chris Brown
71. Cardi B
72. ICP
73. Vikki Tobak 
74. Contact High
75. Danny Hastings 
76. It Ain’t Hard to Tell
77. Nas EPK

1. Q-Tip
2. Belly
3. Biggie
4. Tribe Called Quest
5. Leather Medallion 90s 
6. Paid in Full
7. Willie Burger
8. Cappadonna 
9. RZA
10. Adobe After Effects
11. Chyron 
12. Grassvalley Wipe
13. Tats Cru 106 and Park Ave
14. Socrates Park 
15. Fred “Bugsy” Buggs
16. Imhotep Gary Byrd
17. Hank Spann
18. Disco fever
19. Russel Simmons
20. Davy DMX – One For The Treble (Originals B-Boy Dedication Video)
21. Fat Boys
22. Krush Groove
23. Sheila E.
24. Naughty by Nature 
25. Juice (Film)
26. Beat Street
27. Breakin’ (Film) 
28. 2Pac
29. Ernest R. Dickerson
30. Spike Lee
31. Queen Latifah
32. The Bomb Squad (Producers)
33. Something for the Radio – Biz Markie
34. Motown Philly
35. Who Got the Props – Black Moon
36. Tha Alkaholiks – Only When I’m Drunk 
37. Loud Records 
38. Gin and Juice 
39. Yo MTV Raps
40. Luke Ft. 2 Live Crew – I Wanna Rock
41. New York Hot Track (Video Show)
42. Who Is Gil Scott-Heron?
43. Winter in America 
44. S.O.B.’s
45. Blue Note
46. Crazy Sam

The Times of Bill Cunningham, Illustration by Ruben Toledo

The Times of Bill Cunningham is a film by Mark Bozek. Mark and Amon take a moment to converse about the inception, journey and process of taking Mark’s film to the silver screen.

Show Notes

• One minute interview
• Fox Style News
• QVC
• This is not a drill…
• Bill Cunningham 
• Carnegie Hall Studio
• Suzette Cimino
• Beta Camera
• Bernadine Morris
• His camera is pencil
• Be quiet more
• Diana Vreeland
• Duke and Duchess of Windsor
• Isabel Toledo
• Ruben Toledo 
• Bill Cunningham New York 
• Editing is the Art of Omission 
• Archive of 3 Million Photographs distilled to 25,500 Photographs then curated to 515 Photographs
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Answers exponentially more questions 
• Learning more about Bill
• Anna Wintour
• Weegee
• Museum of the City of New York
• ICP
• Harold Chapman
• Incredible New Yorker
• Fashion Historian
• Trish Jarvis Simonson 
• Protect Bill’s legacy 
• Orangeburg, NY
• “Didn’t know Armani from Salami…”
• “If they don’t pay you then they can’t tell you what to do.”
• Lead with heart and passion 
• Up at 4am
• The New York Times
• Born in a Funeral Home in Detroit 
• Cinema Art Centre in Huntington, Long Island
• AIDS Epidemic 
• Willi Smith
• Pat Cleveland 
• Great voice of New York
• Wrote voice over script
• Augusten Burroughs
• Sellevision
• Running with Scissors 
• Bradley Cooper
• Wedding Crashers
• Joy
• Barry Diller
• David O. Russell
• First Time Filmmaker
• Scar Tissue 
• Research and Proving the Research
• Get it right
• Tell a good story 
• Ezinma 
• Discovery
• Reached out to Moby
• Lift Me Up
• Taking Shots in the Dark
• Lee Strasburg
• Butler to the Stars
• Webster College, St. Louis 
• Ruthless, Focus and Passion about the work
• Toukie Smith 
• Profit and Loss Statement 
• Incredibly Lonely at the Top
• Lincoln Center
• New York Film Festival
• André Leon Talley
• Greenwich Entertainment 
• Steven Jones 
• Parsons
• Xenon
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• Iris Apfel
• Never Stop, Stay Curious
• Relentless Curious 
• Nostradamus of fashion

Stay Up to Speed with The Times of Bill Cunningham

Website: https://www.billcunninghammovie.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcunninghamfilm/

NYC FANS: Catch Q&As with THE TIMES OF BILL CUNNINGHAM director Mark Bozek

Film Synopsis

Narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, The Times of Bill Cunningham features incredible photographs chosen from over 3 million previously unpublicized images and documents from iconic street photographer and fashion historian Bill Cunningham. Told in Cunningham’s own words from a recently unearthed 1994 interview, the photographer chronicles, in his customarily cheerful and plainspoken manner, moonlighting as a milliner in France during the Korean War, his unique relationship with First Lady Jackie Kennedy, his four decades at The New York Times and his democratic view of fashion and society.

Director’s Statement

I began work on this film on the day of Bill Cunningham’s death in 2016 when I discovered a long-lost interview I had done with him from 1994.
Ten minutes into viewing the interview, I knew this would be my first film.

Eighteen months after discovering the interview, I was given rare access to Cunningham’s remarkable archive of photographs and documents. Not only did Cunningham photograph his beloved New York City for more than six decades but he safeguarded – and in fact slept on – his treasure trove of photographs and documents. His previously unpublished archive will likely become one of New York City’s most important.

– Mark Bozek

Bill Cunningham

William John “Bill” Cunningham Jr. (March 13, 1929 – June 25, 2016) was an American fashion photographer and fashion historian for The New York Times, known for his candid street photography. He began taking candid photographs on the streets of New York City, and his work came to the attention of The New York Times with a 1978 capture of Greta Garbo in an unguarded moment. Cunningham reported for the paper from 1978 to 2016. During that time he never missed one single week of reporting.

Cunningham was born into an Irish Catholic family and raised in Boston. He never lost his Boston accent. He had two sisters and an older brother. His parents were religious and ran a strict household. He had his first exposure to the fashion world as a stock boy in Bonwit Teller’s Boston Store. He later said his interest in fashion began in church: “I could never concentrate on Sunday church services because I’d be concentrating on women’s hats.” After attending Harvard University on scholarship for two months, he dropped out in 1948 and moved to New York City at the age of 19, where he worked again at Bonwit Teller, this time in the advertising department.

2. Bill Cunningham, Paris, 1970. Photo credit: Jean Luce Hure. Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.

Not long after, Cunningham quit his job and struck out on his own, making hats under the name “William J.” He was drafted during the Korean War and was stationed in France, where he had his first exposure to French fashion. After serving a tour in the U.S. Army, he returned to New York in 1953 and his work as a milliner. In 1958, a New York Times critic wrote that he had “cornered the face-framing market with some of the most extraordinarily pretty cocktail hats ever imagined.” He also worked for Chez Ninon, a couture salon that sold copies of designs by Chanel, Givenchy and Dior. His clients in the 1950s included Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn and future First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier. Encouraged by his clients, Cunningham started writing, first for Women’s Wear Daily and then for the Chicago Tribune. He closed his hat shop in 1962. Following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy sent Cunningham a red Balenciaga suit she had bought at Chez Ninon. He dyed it black and she wore it to the funeral.

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We would love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Leave a comment on the Apple Podcast App and don’t forget to rate the show.