How I Work: Adam Moss, Author, Painter, and Editor
After a hugely successful run as Editor of New York, Adam Moss has written The Work of Art, which explores the creative process. Image by Hugo Yu. Image design by Barbara Cadorna.
After leading New York for 15 years, Adam Moss has written The Work of Art, his new book inspired by a question central to the creative process: What is the work of art? That led him to interview a range of icons about how they make stuff, including NPR host Ira Glass, chef Samin Nosrat, The Wire producer David Simon, cartoonist Roz Chaz, author Gay Talese, and painter Kara Walker.
Moss uncovers how journal entries, napkin doodles, and email chains become jokes, books, plays, paintings, and other compelling works. “Process is an ugly-sounding word — pedestrian jargon for the inherently wondrous act of creation — but it describes a method by which a thing evolves, which has always had a hold on me,” he writes.
Here Moss — who is also a painter — shares details behind his own workday. They include his dream studio (he’s got it!), his list-making compulsion, and how he literally dreams up headlines.
Adam Moss dives into an eternal question for creative pros: How did you make that? Images c/o Penguin Press.
1. Rise and Shine
After a typically agonizing sleep, I wake up, shower blah blah, down my coffee (lots of it), and read the newspaper— on paper. Open The New York Times and Washington Post apps to see what has happened since the paper was printed. Inhale half a banana and yogurt, check my email, try not to get swallowed into anything else, then get to work.
2. Work Uniform
... whatever I first see in the closet: the top shirt in the pile of shirts, yesterday's jeans, the sneakers tossed on the floor. Most days I see no one, so I dress entirely for comfort and the least amount of forethought.
3. How I Structure My Day
My work is sort of schizy (bifurcated); so is my day. Sitting at my kitchen table, I write — and do other work that comes my way (like this questionnaire!), assorted projects in many media. I generally break for exercise, grab lunch with my husband and start “Day, Part 2”, which is painting. I head to my studio on the Lower East Side of New York, lock the door, mix some paint, and jump into the abyss.
Stars, they’re just like us! Sofia Coppola plots Lost in Translation on an Officer Helper notepad.
4. Playlist Favorites
I pick one song that's typically buzzing in my head, then just follow whatever playlist Spotify chooses from it. But that is only when I paint. When I write I need silence.
5. Tools of the Trade
Part 1: computer, books, reams of conversation transcripts, notes scrawled on whatever scraps I can find. Part 2: canvas, paintbrush, paint, palette knife, charcoal, and any other apparatus that helps move paint around.
This image shows the output of Roz Chaz in idea-generation mode. Moss added an important observation.
6. Dream Studio
I've got it! A room that is a 15-minute bike ride away (so away from my house, but not enough of a distance that I can use it as an excuse to procrastinate). Two walls of windows, a huge bulletin board to tack up fragments, sketches or works-in-progress, and no internet. It's perfect.
7. One Unique Thing About My Work Process…
Not so unique, but it doesn't vary. I am an extreme creature of habit.
Chef and author Samin Nosrat wrote this note to illustrator Wendy MacNaughton about collaborating on Salt Fat Acid Heat. And it worked.
8. Mantra
Don't really have one. I suppose I should say The work of art is the work of art — got to plug the book somewhere! (And, I actually believe it.)
9. My Brightest Idea that Never Saw the Light of Day
Oh, so many ideas, though I'm not sure too many of them are bright. Typically why I sleep so badly (other than an aging bladder) is that I dream what feels like a great idea, and pop awake so that I don't forget. I write it down and try to get myself back to sleep, which doesn't always succeed. I developed this habit when I was in the business of writing headlines; I dreamed headlines. Invariably, however, what I found in the morning (idea or headline) was/is dreck.
10. To-Do List Item that Keeps Me Up at Night
The to-list itself keeps me up at night. I am a compulsive list-maker, and forget every item that isn't written down. So what I think about at night is: What have I forgotten to write down?
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