What Artists Do

by Leonard Koren

Artists do a number of things that are very useful. In this deceptively modest book, some of these things are described. Seminal works by artists Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Richard Serra, Christo & Jean-Claude, Donald Judd, and On Kawara are used to illustrate (in words only) these points. This book is highly recommended for parents of children thinking of embarking on a career in the arts, for policymakers confused about the function of art in society, and for artists suffering a bout of self-doubt. By the author of Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers.

Genres: Art

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2018

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't remember how I stumbled on this book, but glad I did. It is a beautiful meditation on 20th century art and artists.

[Adam Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like it, but I also think it’s a bit slight. It felt like I was reading a collection of museum pamphlets or guides for various artists’ work. That’s not a bad thing; I just wanted something more substantial and in-depth, I suppose. Koren is a good writer; I’d gladly read a 400-page book from him. The book itself is a lovely physical artifact. If you already have an interest in making or deciphering art, then this would be an advisable read. However, the book covers Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Christo & Jean-Claude, Donald Judd, On Kawara, and Richard Serra. That's a proportion of six male artists to one female artist (Jean-Claude). This is a big liability to the book overall, as it makes me question Koren's criteria for selecting who he wanted to write about. Even if he didn't mean to ignore female artists, that's still a conclusion readers can walk away with.

[Aaron Hertzmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet; not comprehensive in any sense, but a nice set of studies in different ways that contemporary artists artist operate, and how to appreciate the work.

[Helga Rakel · Rating 3 out of 5]

stutt bok um listafolk sem braut reglur 👍 bara solid

[Paulo Eduardo Rocha de Jesus Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

uma muito boa reflexão sobre o papel dos artistas na sociedade, a partir da noção que reflete suas verdades pessoais.
"todo mundo quer encontrar sentido no conjunto de obras de um artista, mas na realidade não é para fazer sentido, e sim ter significado." - lawrence weiner

[Chelsey Hillyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I have to visit Marfa.

[Mayra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 estrelas.

Infelizmente, este livro foca somente em arte moderna, "revolucionária", abstrata... e esse é um tipo de arte que ainda não me interessa muito. De qualquer forma aprendi bastante sobre artistas que nunca tinha ouvido falar antes e fiquei especialmente interessada no On Kawara.
Não vou dizer que o livro é maravilhoso, mas também não perdi meu tempo lendo-o.

[The Adaptable Educator · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonard Koren’s What Artists Do reads less like a conventional handbook and more like a pocket philosopher’s lecture delivered in fragments. The book is compact, aphoristic, and intentionally spare — a series of short meditations on the activities, habits, anxieties, and tiny triumphs that make up an artist’s working life. Koren does not attempt a manifesto; instead he offers a plurality of observations, each one meant to be chewed on, returned to, or ignored according to temperament. The result is a book whose value is not in the breadth of its argument but in the velocity of its insights.
Summary and surface structure
Structurally the volume favours the fragment over the treatise. Paragraph-length reflections, brisk declarative sentences, and occasional anecdotal asides replace systematic exposition. This form mirrors the subject: art-making itself is episodic, often accidental, and rarely governed by grand theory. Koren’s entries function like studio notes or marginalia — small tools for thinking-in-practice rather than comprehensive prescriptions.
Major themes
Several recurring motifs animate the text:
Practice as ritual: Koren repeatedly returns to the discipline of showing up. The emphasis is not on genius but on repetition, attention to routine, and the slow accrual of competence.
Economies of attention: He insists that making is a redistribution of attention — what artists do is decide where to place scarce cognitive and perceptual resources.
Humility and smallness: Echoing the aesthetics he’s long associated with (notably wabi-sabi), Koren privileges modesty, the imperfect, and the quietly finished over spectacle.
Ambivalence toward success and commerce: Rather than moralize, Koren describes the compromises, negotiations, and strategies artists use to survive materially while attempting to preserve integrity.
The quotidian as material: He repeatedly argues that the ordinary — a habit, a refusal, a single mark — is the raw material of an artistic life.
These themes are not developed into a singular theory but recur like leitmotifs, each reinforcement giving the book the tone of a practised bedside conversation with a seasoned maker.
Style and rhetorical method
Koren’s style is economical and epigrammatic. Short, pointed sentences carry weight; paradox and counterintuitive claims are his chief rhetorical tools. The aphoristic mode is well suited to a book about practice because it mimics the studio’s episodic pedagogy: a single remark, observed at the right time, can alter practice. The downside of this compression is inevitable — some statements read like provocations that demand expansion. But Koren seems to court that provocation: the text’s omissions are often productive, inviting readers to test or contradict the claim in the workroom itself.
Formally, the book trades sustained argument for associative logic. References to design, Japanese aesthetics, and a broad, undogmatic knowledge of craft appear throughout, giving the prose an intercultural and intermedia sensibility. If there is a scholarly charge here, it is lateral rather than linear: Koren collects resonances and lets them do the persuasive work.
Strengths
The book’s greatest strength is its utility. Read in the studio, in a lull between projects, or at the start of a new season, these reflections function as corrective prompts — reminders to slow down, to choose, and to accept failure as material. Koren writes with authority born of practice rather than theory: he speaks like someone who has inhabited the condition he describes. The pieces that linger longest are the quiet ones — short admonitions about patience, the humility of revision, the discipline of attention.
Limitations and critique
Because of its fragmentary mode, the book occasionally feels uneven. Some entries sparkle with specificity and psychological insight; others can seem abstractly aphoristic, as if the thought hasn’t been fully worked through. Readers seeking a manual for technique or sustained cultural criticism may find the book wanting. There is also a risk — inherent in the aphoristic — of mistaking portability for depth: a line that reads well on the page may be harder to enact in practice than Koren implies.
Significance and who should read it
What Artists Do is less a definitive statement about art than a companion for the practicing artist and the teacher who wants pithy prompts for studio conversation. It rewards slow reading and iterative consultation: its claims are small, testable, and best judged by whether they change what you do at the workbench. Scholars interested in contemporary studio cultures, pedagogy, or the vernacular philosophy of making will find Koren’s voice a useful corrective to more programmatic takes on creativity.

Leonard Koren’s volume is modest in scale but generous in use. It is most successful where it stays closest to the tactile — to habit, attention, and the quiet economies by which an artist sustains a life of making. As a collection of short meditations it performs a service often overlooked by larger theoretical tomes: it returns art to the studio and asks, insistently but gently, what you are doing right now. Read it as an intermittent mentor rather than a formal theorist, and it will repay you by changing the way you begin your next session at the easel, the page, or the bench.

[Glen Helfand · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the summer of 2020 culture is in a very strange place. Particularly for those of us who are cultural workers. What do we do when there is so much scrutiny and when we see stalwart museums with their conceptual (and monetary) foundations being seriously shaken? I read this with an eye to suggest to the artists who I teach, as a possible source of inspiration. Leonard Koren has written a book on Wabi-Sabi, that embrace of the poetics of imperfection, as well as created the legendary Wet magazine. "What Artists Do" is a short breezy book that focuses on goals and permissions as seen in the work of six conceptually-inflected 20th-century artists. It reads, in a charming way, like a children's book, simple, pared down in the way that it quickly and simply describes the model behaviors of Duchamp, John Cage, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Donald Judd, and Richard Serra's contentious 'Tilted Arc' drama. (As you can see, the eurocentrism is a little troubling from a contemporary vantage point.) I won't assign it to my students, but I did enjoy it as a brief afternoon respite.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inspiring set of 6 essays on the meaning and identity of artists. I picked this up as a memento from the Whitney Museum and really enjoyed it. Highly recommend as a quick read to expand our minds about the meaning of art. Works extremely well as a gift for anyone.

My suggestions for improvement: a) the Notes at the end are distracting; why not include them within the text?; b) a few images of each described artist would be helpful. It was a pain to have to go to the web to look up images that were being discussed.

[Elfreda Tealby-Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very stimulating set of case studies about a selection of modern artists and their contribution to art as a creative process. Somewhat lacking a cohesive argument in response to the title, but full of good soundbites and interesting insights.

[Quinten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light read but did give an interesting overview of different ways to view art.

[Hannah Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, easy read. Read all in one day. Enjoyed it very much. Thought provoking and educational. Tons of great quotes as well.

[Clara MP · Rating 5 out of 5]

M’encanta!
Quina forma més maca, dinàmica i peagògica d’explicar que és l’art contemporàni!

[Udit Malik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, engaging, and sweet. Dives into some interesting idiosyncratic and divergent 20th century art.

[Viktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice quick read

[Aayush Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and fun -- although it's only like a 30 minute read, the depictions of the different artists are motivated and interesting, especially to someone who doesn't spend much time in the art world.