Siren's Hiatus

What happens when life pauses but the art world doesn't

Hello readers and friends,

I didn’t intend to disappear from Substack, Instagram, or general communication… and yet, I did. The month-long trip, which involved packing up my house, attending two weddings, and going on my honeymoon, ended up being a lot more consuming than I expected.

I thought I’d post from Paris, Tokyo, Monaco. Maybe toss in a few honeymoon musings or photos. But the truth is, I didn’t really feel like it. And that silence, while unplanned, became clarifying

Clarifying enough to write this Substack.

The art world famously takes no breaks. People love to say “August is the month of rest,” but is it? Even on vacation, the top producers are still sniffing out potential sales or workshopping ideas from someone else’s yacht or villa.

There’s a constant churn of openings, fairs, and dinners; a performance of relevance. The idealization of the endless workday, where personal and professional blur until they’re almost indistinguishable.

To be clear, I’ve been (and probably still am at my core) one of those people.

I spent the first couple of days on my trip just thinking about how behind I was going to be,and how my contemporaries were trucking on, leaving me in the dust. I wish I could say I had a zen moment that allowed me to snap back into the present - but that would be dishonest.

On day four, I made sale or two remotely, which satiated that hunger… paired with a couple of whiskey highballs. A perfect combination to quiet the mind.

But in all seriousness, this shift in my life, and the space created by my honeymoon, gave me an actual pause. And it felt good. It let me step off of the hamster wheel and gain a bit of a perspective.

Now I’m back in New York, jet-lagged, over-caffeinated, sunburnt, and ready to write again. Not with a new persona or a polished relaunch, but with the same curiosity that started Siren Muses: What’s really going on beneath the glossy surface? Or maybe, is the world insane, or am I?

Thanks for sticking around. I’ll be back in your inbox this week to talk about a couple of pieces I collected recently and some artists I’m especially excited/curious about.

xx,

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