I try to be organized. I do. I really do. My wife, however, is the opposite. My mother recently passed away, and when the funeral home called to ask if we wanted to save my mother’s artificial hips, those pointy things that don’t burn up in the cremation, my wife said “Oh ya, we need those.” Ya, sure, my mom’s bronzed hips. Why not? The are, after all, titanium. My favorite material. But I’m getting distracted here. Let’s go back to the organization idea.
If you peruse the online universe, you will encounter endless numbers of “creatives” who sell the idea of the “perfect desk setup,” operational, tactical, sterile, and schematically pleasing. Desk and computer in harmonious minimal, expressionless existence, lit by blue or purple tube, not a scrap of natural to be found. There are no mistakes in their world. None. Mistakes, paper, grease from a leftover churro, never, ever gonna happen to them. The perfect setup for those suffering from perfectionism.
Not so great if trial and error is the goal.
One of my all time favorite artists has a super cool studio. It’s light and bright and spacious and filled with ongoing projects. It kinda hurts to go there because he’s so good it makes me feel like a dolt, but he’s also cool enough to dumb things down for me. He’s encouraging even though he knows I’m like your distant cousin who only knows paint by numbers. When I enter his studio there is a feeling of walking into a robbery in progress, a heightened sense that there is some serious creative shit going down. Don’t touch the crime scene. Sit by the window and wait for the sarge to arrive.
Right smack dab in the middle of the studio is a MASSIVE pile of old oil paint. When oil dries and needs to be scraped off the instruments of application, that junk needs to go somewhere. The pile is the first thing I notice when I walk in. Think Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when he builds the miniature Devil’s Tower in his living room. My friend’s paint pile looks like that only smaller and more colorful. My friend’s studio isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t matter because what comes out of that studio DOES in fact matter. The work. The end result, and not the specific measurement between the soulless set of hard drives and the wireless keyboard. (Yes, he has a TON of computer gear, just like the rest of us.)
The image above is of a nook in my office. I love the word “nook.” As defined by Google, “a corner or recess, especially one offering seclusion or security.” Okay, seclusion not so much but the “security” aspect has me thinking. Maybe that’s it. Security is permission perhaps? You might look at this nook and think “Good God you disgusting hovel of man,” or you might think “Whatever, when is he gonna talk about the Z8?” Either way, I need to explain what you are seeing.
From top, left to right:
- old “Essay Magazine” Flyer
- one of my favorite photobooks, Tony Chirinos, The Precipice
- edition of one artbook
- unsued journals
- painting by Marsha Finklestein
- recent completed journals (all the similar looking tan ones)
- more unused journals
- pens
- Shifter and AG23 stamps
- letterhead and stationary for letter writing
- more pens
- Beavis and Butthead patch
- more stamps
- painting by Michael Napper
Lower row, left to right
- Two knives, both found while fishing
- old fly casting reel
- old Shimano casting reel purchased with my father while I was in middle school
- Nikon Z8 manual (unread)
- Gun Butter, picked up in a gift bag at Shot Show (never used but did manage to get through airport inspection in Jamaica
- small rock collection, with cairns
My office isn’t perfect. My desk isn’t perfect. But I’m not after perfect. The same could be said for my photographs, the books I make or my life in general. I’ve not seen perfect yet, but I stopped looking a long time ago. I am frequently confronted by first time bookmakers who say “Well, I want it to be perfect before I hit print.” I always respond the same way. “I’ve not seen a perfect book, but if I do, I would guess it’s gonna be boring.” And then I give unsolicited advice. “Try for meaning, try for personal, try for unique, forget about perfect.”
The items in my nook have meaning.
When I look at them they inspire me and they remind me that life is damn short and if I want to do something useful I need to get off my ass and get to it. I like dirty, natural things in my nook. My mother built cairns my entire life. Rural Wyoming to urban San Antonio. The “crazy cairn lady,” never stopped even when our crazy MAGA/Christian neighbors tore them all down on a nightly basis claiming they were the work of the devil. Those rocks remind me of hikes with mom. Is it intelligent to have dirty, dusty objects next to the computer? Who cares?
Journals, pens, stamps, knives, fishing kit. Yes, yes, and yes. Go, go, and go. Now. And if you think this is bad, I normally keep my bicycling in here as well. Sometimes it falls over. Sometimes it’s muddy, dusty or covered in cactus spines. Who cares? I’ve even thought of keeping my motorcycle in here, so when I turn around there it is. Howling for dusty tracks and remote country hook kicks to my riding partner’s head. It’s all good. One of my favorite people in the world has three motorcycles in his living room. One is an old BMW sidecar and people use it like a piece of furniture without even asking. It just works.
I’m sharing this nook, and this advice because I feel like some of you are watching those perfectionism films and it’s making you feel in a certain way that is on the opposite side of the spectrum from good. Those films are sales films. They are selling empty calories. And when someone caves to the idea, their affiliate links buzz a little more. You don’t need to be perfect. There is no such thing. There is only you and your passion to perform.
I knew a guy who used to squirt ketchup directly on the dashboard of his truck because it was easier than trying to hit a napkin or small piece of paper. And guess what, when he was done eating he would leave it there only to add to it the next time he got fast food. It was the ketchup equivalent of my artist friend’s oil paint pile, an enormous, crusty red swatch on the dash of his Toyota. Didn’t matter, guy had talent. Just didn’t want to ride with him.
Ever hear of “power spots?” “Recognized power spots are places that intensify whatever people bring to them, so that spending even short periods of time in them can lead to spiritual transformation.” Look, there is a chance your power spot looks like a fictional movie set built by someone who lives in a clean room, but I doubt it. I would guess that MOST of you fall somewhere near. me in the “mostly organized but occasionally out of control,” group. We’re human, after all. Just think of what you will save on cleaning supplies. So, as an exercise, let’s take a long, slow, deep breath and just think about meaning, heart, reality and what makes us froth. I just put my laptop on the floor for no reason. What are you gonna do?
Comments 32
Francis Bacon’s studio. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/francis-bacons-preserved-art-studio
Author
Exactly!
Sorry about your mom Dan. Losing a parent sucks.
Author
We knew it was coming. Still sucks. Thank you.
“when he was done eating he would leave it there only to add to it the next time he got fast food”
Dude had me until this part. Would you like a side of maggots with those fries?
Author
It was so horrendous.
Hello, Dan.
Very sorry to hear about your mom…. I know how you must feel.
Thank you for a great webinar and for answering my question about the Trade Book.
About perfection, do you know where I found it? In the sound of the falling rain, in the smell of the wet grass, in that first moment when lying in a freshly made bed and in the taste of a cake that my mom used to make. I would argue that perfection exists but it has nothing to do with the way we organise or don’t organise our desk or closet.
Author
Good thoughts on this. And you might consider perfect isn’t to the next person. I know plenty of folks that would never get near wet grass.
But that is what’s cool about our species. Our range.
Jay Maisel had a whole building so I’m not worried about a one room studio filled with my crap 😂… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDD4OKZ_0uU
Author
Yes, great film. I saw that premiere at Palm Springs with Jay and Stephen there.
Is there anywhere to watch this online in Australia? It seems so hard to find!
Sorry to hear about your mom.
Nooks everywhere in my home, and my energy gets disturbed when someone messes them up!
Author
Ha, I can see that.
I wonder whether folks who take photographs also happen to collect rocks? I have a small collection, too, and I know of at least one other guy apart from you. Basic hunter/gatherer instinct, or is there some subliminal animistic spiritual thing going on?
If you happen to make things, those things, the raw materials and the tools just pile up. I try to maintain order to a degree that I can retrieve the things that I need. It drives me up against the wall to know for sure that I have a certain tool or material in my possession, but not being able to find it when I need it. On the other hand, I don’t want to live in a museum.
One last point: Is perfectionism linked to negative bias? Meaning that if you created.a certain piece of work, those aspects which you feel you’ve botched tend to overpower the successful things in your perception?
Author
Organized chaos maybe. I think you last question is yes and no. To some, yes. To others, no because they celebrate the imperfection.
All rings true for me…over the years I have had to learn to let go of certain things to keep other aspects moving.
Safe to say…
Perfection is the enemy of progress.
Thanks Dan!
Author
That’s how I feel.
But if I don’t organize my desk properly how can I journal properly (like the YT vids show me)? Ritual (like Pressfield talks about) and a space that separates me from the outside world (I even have a Mac that’s not allowed to be used for work so when I use it it means “creative stuff trying to happen”). Also my paper weight is a rock found in a lake in northern Ontario… a chunk of the Canadian Shield.
Author
What is it about rocks. Watched a small boy playing with rocks yesterday. He was picking them up and rubbing them on his arms. I kept thinking “That looks fun.”
I think both Casey Neistat and Adam Savage have next-level offices. Far from showpieces, a ton of shit gets done there. If you squint you can actually see the wiring of their brains.
Author
Neistat’s is great. Have not seen the other. And Casey is a doer. The generations he spawned don’t seem to have the same work ethic. They want the money but often don’t have much to say.
Sorry for your loss Dan. I wonder if your recent change of pace has something to do with it too. Couldn’t join the workshop but will follow later. Thanks for engaging writing and looking forward to thr next podcast banter!
Author
Thank you!
Great piece! It’s always fascinating to see other people’s actual set up, and I agree with your approach — fertility over minimalism. Interestingly, the novelist Robert Penn Warren and the fashionista supremo Karl Lagerfeld had notably …. fertile workspaces, too.
And, please accept my condolences on the loss of your mother. That’s a tough one, even when expected.
Just (3) things:
1.) I have a sense (from your many YouTube discussions) of your Mom as a caring person, who might have “even” introduced you to the side-kick-to-the-head (to keep you in line). If so, how fortunate you are.
2.) In my world, your desktop looks pretty organized.
3.) I don’t think ketchup really goes bad…But left to nature, something is going to lay eggs in it.
My desk is organized chaos. But there is a system in play — sort of “in” & “out” without the baskets. And lots of trays of do-dads, misc dongles, SD cards, watches (mine still work), prob 10 pairs of glasses, and way too many pen cups. One thing I insist upon is tucking cables and cords away… they just really bug me. Apple cables/cords tend to be a little better as they are rubber coated instead of plastic, so they lay flat. I’m late to the game on wireless charging, but so far really nice. And I also have a sort of dedicated charging station for a few other devices plus multiple battery packs and the ubiquitous IKEA LADDA batteries that seem to keep the whole film production biz alive. I’m far from paperless. I refuse to read anything long-form on a screen, so my printer sees a lot of use. So much so that it’s “Tree Slayer” on my network.
A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind.
Author
Totally.
Milnor, I was saddened to hear of your mom’s passing, and my thoughts are with you and your family.
Author
Thank you. Just finished a post about her and the book we made together. Will post tomorrow.
I’m so sorry about your mom’s passing away. I know that feeling, my dad passed away in 2022 and my mom is now very ill so I’m worried everyday. It sucks. So please, just take care of yourself and your loving ones.
Author
Hey, we are of that age. Best of luck. Enjoy the time you have.