The Accidental Conceptual Artist

Career Goals, Readings/Workshops, and where to hang your damn Chat Noir

It’s Spring, which means it’s time for the first of my biannual identity crises. With every industry I’ve ever worked in undergoing massive disruption (sure to be followed by a contraction so tight it’s liable to collapse into a black hole), I’m acutely attuned to the need for reinvention. This time, I turned to AI, to whom (is it a “whom” yet?) I expressed my career goals:

Damn. That’s affirming. I later suggested that I reframe my entire career as that of a conceptual artist. It approved.

So, that settles it. I’m a conceptual artist, or as my artificially intelligent career coach, manager, publicist and digital soul mate explains vis-a-vis this “Wall Text” for MoMA:

Daedalus Howell creates conceptual art in narrative, media, performance, and persona. His interdisciplinary practice interrogates the mechanics of storytelling and its role in shaping cultural perception. Working across film, literature, journalism, and performative interventions, Howell explores the porous boundaries between fiction and reality, author and audience, success and failure. His works often deploy humor, pastiche, and deliberate narrative sabotage as strategies to reveal and reflect on the artifice of media itself.

Click here for commissions.

Random Thought

Weird heartbreaker of a sort, The domain name HowellRaines.com, most suitable for the once-venerable newspaperman Howell Raines (no relation), best known as the former executive editor of The New York Times in the early aughts (until Jayson Blair’s, ahem, conceptual reporting techniques forced his resignation), is available for $11. How the mighty have fallen.

Where the Words Are

Found Poets!

Reggie Edmonds-Vasquez takes the mic at Found Poets! this Saturday, leading an afternoon of potent, thoughtful performance in P-Town. With featured sets from AJ Houston, Audio Angel, Giotis, and more, the event gathers Bay Area voices for a showcase of lyricism, craft, and community. 3–6 pm, Saturday, April 5, at The Big Easy, 128 American Alley, Petaluma, CA. $15 at the door. All ages (some mature content).

Ready, Set, Write!

Ready, Set, Write! is a no-pressure writing workshop designed for women ready to finally start the creative projects they’ve been putting off. Kary Hess (Made Local, Bohemian) leads you through exercises and techniques to overcome writer’s block in a supportive space to explore new (and old) ideas. Students leave with words on the page and momentum to keep going. No overthinking—just writing. 5:30-7:30 pm, Monday, April 16, at Keller Street CoWork, 140 Keller St, Petaluma, CA. $85.

Creative Dept.

Meanwhile, my designer Gustavo Belman outdid himself (as always) with this 80s-inspired Bohemian cover featuring my cockeyed version of a “home and garden” story, included below for kicks and convenience for Genius Edition subscribers.