On Being Asked
“It’s not what you know,” they say, “it’s who you know,” and they must be right. Because I don’t know shit, but I do know Sarah Higgins.
Sarah’s both Executive and Artistic Director of Art Papers, an extremely influential contemporary arts publication based in Atlanta, Georgia. Art Papers, as a going concern, is so pure-hearted it can’t exist for much longer. The funding structures that made arts nonprofits sustainable for decades no longer exist in this country.
Sarah’s job is not to save Art Papers, or even to find ways to extend its publication. Sarah’s job is to give Art Papers a sendoff worthy of its legacy. To calmly shoot the flaming arrow that ignites the funeral pyre.
Of all my friends, Sarah’s the most highly esteemed. She’s forever giving a presentation or moderating a panel, and when she’s introduced at special events and important functions, she’s described as a person who needs no introduction.
“Oh, I can’t talk,” Sarah will say, “I’m working on a keynote speech I have to deliver at a symposium tomorrow night,” and then talk for a while anyway.
Not pictured: Elon Mollusk.
The Art Papers office is in the Little Five Points neighborhood, insulated from the action in a repurposed elementary school building. It retains certain elements of its previous incarnation. Painted cinder blocks. Sinks and toilets hung low on bathroom walls. An active bulletin board.
It’s Wednesday morning, and Sarah’s there before anyone else. Unlocking doors, watering plants by the windows in the morning light. She has a cookie. She’s happy that things’ve turned out the way they have. That they are the way they are for her. She enjoys the quietude before her wild-eyed gang of young arts professionals shows up with all the joyous noise of their collective can-do spirit.
Art Papers, as it practically functions, is like they put Sarah in charge of the Midnight Runners instead of Dexy.
Which makes a certain kind of sense. Before she was esteemed, I knew a version of Sarah once who might’ve put your mailbox through your front window. Who would stay up for days, teeth gnawing on the steering wheel, driving through a golf course in the night.
Who better to steer energy that might otherwise become destructive, or self-destructive, toward —
Listen. In my case, I was spiraling, and needed to be put to good use.
So Sarah asked me to make a poster for the Art Papers t-shirt auction. Here it is:
Gav Dog Done Turnt 40
I don’t just know Sarah. I also know all The Answers.
Not that I’m full of useful information. No way! I’m full of baloney!
The Answers are a rock and roll band in Austin, Texas, and I’m fortunate enough to know them.
A theme emerges:
I believe with my whole heart that the measure of a friendship is not what you’re willing to do for someone, but what you’re willing to ask of them.
“It’s an honor to have been asked,” they say. This is what they mean.
What they mean, in this case, is what I mean, too.
I have been asked 3 times so far to make posters for The Answers. Here’s the first one, from a couple of years ago, when they were a two-piece. I wanted them to look like 1960s surf rock cartoon characters:
I didn’t get any real direction from them for the second one.
“Just make us look cool,” said Gavin, frontmanswer for The Answers.
Easy enough!
The Answers are all really cool people, and they all spend their time doing really cool shit. The Sahara Lounge is a really cool venue!
“Cool-assed elements, I say to thee, combine!”
The third one was more of a challenge.
For context: Gavin gave me a picture of a seated man he made out of heavy-duty staples and reclaimed wood panelling for my 40th birthday. I love it so much. I think the figure is playing a guitar. It might be a self-portrait!
I bought a little spotlight for it so I can change the angle of the shadows that the staples make.
Personally, professionally, visually, musically, narratively, Gavin constantly produces excellent work.
I produce work of any kind only very sporadically.
So I’m saying, when Gavin asked me to make a poster for The Answers show at King Bee on his 40th birthday, it was an honor!
I wanted badly to not fuck it up.
The Answers seemed to like it, and I felt great about that.
Happy birthday, Gavin!
Congratulations, Sarah!
OK
TTFN
Bo
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