Beginners
Back in LA with Authorized Dealer Gallery. Hope to See You Saturday Night
Hard Copy New York at ICP closed Monday, May 4th. Was up for three months. Went quick. Deinstall on Tuesday. I’m on a plane to LA Wednesday.
To install a new exhibition at Authorized Dealer Gallery. Thank you Jarod for asking me to bring this show to you. It’s called Beginners.
Featuring Christopher Anderson, Vince Aletti, Tess Petronio, Mark Borthwick, Mike Mills, Stef Mitchell, Chris Rhodes, Rebekka Deubner, Jim Mangan, Amber Pinkerton
As always I worked with one artist from the show to make a zine with. Mark Borthwick this time. Limited to 150 copies. 40 of which have been sold. You can buy it at Arcana, Dashwood, at the opening tonight or on my website HERE. In Mark’s words —
The Polaroids are a timeless Mix a collaboration of hearts Joyful intimations of There own exquisite Memories …
Features Chloe Sevigny and Kim Gordon. Not selling the original Polaroids but if you would like a print of one they are available in an edition of 3. Printed glossy at scale. You can reply to this email if interested.
Three years ago almost to the day I started this newsletter. And I referenced Mike Mills’ film Beginners. The way he used visual aids— found photos, drawings, iconography. It reminded me how my brain works. Something always reminds me of something else. Mike is in this show. That’s full circle.
I tried to change the name of the exhibition after he agreed to be in it. But I couldn’t think of a better title. Mike told me to tell you it was my, idea not his. Guilty.
That’s his collage in the invite above. By the way, I design all these things. Like this t-shirt. Thanks to Stussy for the blanks.
New York had a brutal winter. I thought about Yshi Arimura’s picture above. Been sitting in a desktop folder for 16 months. Reminded me of this Axel Aurejac picture below.
This year we got snow. City was quiet. Wondered around. Took some pictures.
March came to a sudden close. Weather shifted to my comfort. This time of year gets a bad rap. In between shoulder season.
Comes around twice a year. Now and mid November.
Reminded me of this Gerhard Richter… triptych. 78x118in. Gloomy. Zwirner has a new show up of his in NY. Which had me thinking about this Emmet Gowin picture below.
Gowin was up at Pace in Chelsea— the show was a portrait of his wife and her extended family. Think the picture resonated bc my grief’s still lingering. Comes in waves. They’re farther apart now though.
I thought about something I heard Scott Galloway say about him still not being over the loss of his mother. Years later.
“Receipts for love is grief.” Having a decent amount of grief means you had a lot of love.
I like seeing work that’s about something. Pass on ironic art. Reminded me of this Tod Papageorge picture I saw at the Time Travelers show at MoMA in January.
It looks how I’ve felt recently. Strange promoting the ICP show. Sharing all the good press. The New Yorker, W Magazine, Aperture, HypeArt, Surface Magazine. While the world is fraying. It’s always been a dark place. And it’ll continue to be. So putting on good exhibitions. Showing work I think others will appreciate seeing in person. That’s my way of protest. My contribution.
When I saw this Helen Frankenthaller painting last week at Gagosian it reminded me of the Papageorge picture.
The newspapers circling around the man. The painting looked like the breeze that did it.
Hosted a talk at ICP with David Campany, Gray Sorrenti, Daniel Arnold and Ari Marcopolous. Yea it’s a privilege. But what you should be doing. Get people into a room together. Talk about something you care about. That is my privilege. Getting to do what I love. When the world darkens. Put some meaning back into it. Make something. Not sit around and complain. The talk brought up some discussion about reappropriation. Can there be ownership of an idea. Thought about this scene from MadMen. With my old high school friend Ben Feldman.
Reminded me of how I’m not thinking about what other people are doing. Not competing with anyone. Not a dig. I just don’t think about it at all.
Thought about a doc I saw called Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other. Oooph. Joel Meyerowitz (84) and his wife Maggie Barrett (75). He’s world famous. She so clearly wanted to be. They argue a lot. Love each other more. But it’s a hard yet necessary watch. David said something to me after.
Many artists are flawed. Damaged. Like a lot of people in the world. But they’re creating things. An attempt to make a better version of themselves.
Reminded me of Soderbergh’s Out of Sight. Based on Elmore Leonard’s book. Also almost 30 years old. Rewatched it recently when I was home in South Florida in February.
A prison break crime dramedy. That’s the hook. More about unlikely love. Between a bank robber (Clooney) and US Marshall (JLo).. Superseding life’s made up rules.
“connections like this only happen a few times in people’s lives” and Karen (JLo) corrects him: “Or once.”
Reminded me of Impossible Germany. Wilco.
“Impossible Germany, unlikely Japan”. Unlikely allies. A metaphor for a relationship. Tweedy has said it’s also about accepting that we don’t know what will happen next.
This is what love is for To be out of place Gorgeous and alone Face to face With no larger problems That need to be erased Nothing more important Than to know someone's listening Now, I know you'll be listening
Lately when I look at social media it’s a barrage from the Big Advice Industrial Complex. Advice on how to invest, dating, foreign policy Monday night quarterbacking. 99% of it from someone totally unqualified to give it. Bring back elitist appointed experts. Gatekeeping needs a renaissance.
Thought about a line in Casablanca that probably doesn’t get quoted as much as the ones you prob know.
‘nobody ever loved me that much”
Wondered if a line like that would get made in a movie today. I don’t see many films about life, relationships, love etc.. like before. When I think back to the first half of my life. Those are the movies that stand out. And the list is long.
Reminded me of a Cy Twombly I saw in LA. Maison D’Art. Feb 2025.
Speaking of happy. My show at ICP was reviewed by Vince Aletti in The New Yorker.
It is a really nice feeling after almost 20 years making art to see your name in the NYer. Thank you Vince. And to David Campany for the best experience of my career.
I started an instagram for him. @VinceAlettiArchive.
Been spending time over at his apartment this past year. I wanted to show some of the things he’s collected over the years.
Speaking of Vince he has several Polaroids in my show Beginners. He would take them of the things he found at The Strand or flea.
The idea of being in LA made me think about this Dike Blair, untitled 2025. Saw at his show in Chelsea at Karma.
Reminded me of a picture I took at Sunset Tower. Can’t show it to you. Cuz my external hard drive crashed. Housed my archive of the last six years.
Sent it to a place in California. They recovered half. For $3000. Can’t even look at it. Too upset.
The Dike Blair reminded me of this Tristan Unrau painting. Saw it last September 2025. Marian Goodman. Looks a bit like my neighborhood. West Village. Has an early Spring feeling to it too. I thought about a Dire Straits song. Never heard it before. Walking on the Westend.
My neighborhood has changed. As New York always does. Feel grateful to still be living in New York. I made some pictures recently. Half frame.
Back to my new show in LA. Press release is below. Hope to see you there. Saturday night. May 9th 6pm - 9pm in Silver Lake.
BEGINNERS
Curated by Aaron Stern
Opening May 9, 2026
Authorized Dealer Gallery, Los Angeles
Authorized Dealer Gallery is pleased to present Beginners, a group exhibition curated by Aaron Stern. Bringing together a range of artists working with Polaroids, small prints and collage. The exhibition continues Stern’s ongoing exploration of photography as a physical, tactile medium where images function as objects rather than purely representational surfaces.
The exhibition takes its title from Mike Mills’ film Beginners (2010), a work that interweaves personal narrative with visual tools— found photographs, graphics and visual aids that interrupt and expand the story. At its core, Beginners is about renewal—returning to the image with a different perspective. The exhibition brings together a mix of emerging and established artists working across Polaroids, small prints and collage, creating a dialogue between generations and approaches. These works invite close looking and emphasize the physical presence of the photograph, building an environment that is immediate, layered and open.
Following Stern’s previous exhibitions Polaroids, Small Prints & Ephemera and Decades, Beginners continues to challenge traditional hierarchies within photography, flattening distinctions between finished and working images, between personal and commercial. The result is an installation that feels both immediate and reflective— grounded in the materiality of the image while open to reinterpretation.
Beginners opens May 9, 2026 and runs until June 7, 2026 at Authorized Dealer Gallery in Los Angeles.