Set in post-03/07/2020 Los Angeles, Novel was written by one painter who requests to remain anonymous for its publication. Like most contemporary fiction, Novel is about a female twenty-something. She is working on a series of paintings in her studio, over the phone on the sidewalk, or at an opening at Regen Projects. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles and other non-disclosed cities, Painting becomes wrapped up in (among other things): an email about a lost wallet, a dinner party guest, a new gallery being drafted, a couple in bed, a fashion collection, instructions on how to properly take a dump. Mimicking the production method of old Renaissance studios where a legion of professional and amateur painters strive to achieve the ultimate painting, Painting ends up being about a painter who could be any painter becoming a painter for everybody. The result is generic and perfect—not unlike Novel itself, whose one author creates a story in which Painting itself strives to become the ultimate collective experiment in which the only thing shared is the lack of uniqueness.
Two versions of Novel are in circulation -- the original, and the "bootleg" of the original (with an image of hand-modified artwork on the cover). Please note that when purchasing, it is at random to which copy you will receive.
Softcover, 120 pages, 9" x 6", black and white, 2022
*Temporarily out of stock