I’ve made six posters for my current show, “How To Be Friends”, with my friend Maggie Stern at The Arsenal Center for the Arts. I’ve thought in terms of posters for a long time because I’m a writer too and words so often appear in my art. Posters are designed to make us look and consider information and ideas. In mine, and in tune with the theme of our show, I’m hoping we might consider how we can live better lives.

Three posters I’ve made for this show take off on René Magritte’s famous 1928 pipe painting “The Treachery of Images”  which now resides at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In his painting of a pipe, he wrote the words “Ceçi nest pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”) making the point that a painting is not the thing itself but a representation of something—a conduit for perception, felt experience and ideas. In mine, I add a few words inspired by the painting. Merci, M. Magritte.