The Work of Art

THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLER

 “The book is a visual feast, full of drafts, sketches, and scribbled notebook pages. Every page shows how an idea becomes a finished design.” —Ari Shapiro, All Things Considered

From former editor of New York magazine Adam Moss, The Work of Art is a collection of illuminating conversations examining the very personal, rigorous, complex, and elusive work of making art. In this monolithic, cloth-bound tome, Moss never fails to keep things interesting and colorful as he explores the creative process from the inside out.

Along the way, Moss traces the evolution of transcendent novels, paintings, jokes, movies, and songs. Weaving interviews with some of the most accomplished artists of our time together with their journal entries, napkin doodles, and sketches, Moss breaks down the processes and decisions that led to great art. From first glimmers to second thoughts, roads not taken, crises, breakthroughs, on to one triumphant finish after another.

Artists in a variety of media, including visual arts, film, and music, are considered in this wide-ranging volume. Artists featured: Kara Walker, Tony Kushner, Roz Chast, Michael Cunningham, Moses Sumney, Sofia Coppola, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Meiselas, Louise Glück, Maria de Los Angeles, Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Twyla Tharp, John Derian, Barbara Kruger, David Mandel, Gregory Crewdson, Marie Howe, Gay Talese, Cheryl Pope, Samin Nosrat, Joanna Quinn & Les Mills, Wesley Morris, Amy Sillman, Andrew Jarecki, Rostam, Ira Glass, Simphiwe Ndzube, Dean Baquet & Tom Bodkin, Max Porter, Elizabeth Diller, Ian Adelman / Calvin Seibert, Tyler Hobbs, Marc Jacobs, Grady West (Dina Martina), Will Shortz, Sheila Heti, Gerald Lovell, Jody Williams & Rita Sodi, Taylor Mac & Machine Dazzle, David Simon, George Saunders, Suzan-Lori Parks.