In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write a famous author and ask for advice. Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007) was the only one to respond - and his response is magnificent:
“Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:
I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.
What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.
Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacals. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
God bless you all!"
Kurt Vonnegut
Wishing @justinaversano all the very best for his exhibition opening tonight!
It’s impossible not to have enormous respect for his incredible body of work, his artistic vision and the determination and dedication it takes to bring that vision to life.
He’s absolutely one of the great artists in this space, leading by example and showing what’s possible through sheer hard work, independence, creative ambition and, of course, his incredible generosity towards others.
What he’s achieved with this exhibition is extraordinary. It’s HUGE!! And I couldn’t be happier for him.
Congratulations, brother! So wish I could be there tonight to experience it all! ❤️
A year of work: eight portraits, and an audiovisual installation, now on view at Galerie Charlot as part of Elles… étaient une fois.
The exhibition runs until January 16, 2027.
📍47 rue Charlot, Paris.
You’re very welcome to visit!