Down and Out in North Troy, NY

Art critic Ken Johnson, who speaks at UAlbany on Monday, November 7, speaks to the Brooklyn Rail about his early struggles making a living in the Capital District:

I got a job working as a technician in a painting conservation lab run by New York State, which was nearby in Waterford, NY. And I worked there for five years, during which time I was overexposed to the solvents and other chemicals so I had to quit. It was kind of a crisis, because by that time we had two very tiny children, and we had just bought a house in North Troy, NY.

Meanwhile I had just read this book called What Color is Your Parachute?, which is about how to change careers, and I said to Gayle, “I think I’ll become a freelance writer.” A less supportive wife would’ve said, “Are you crazy? Get a job!” She said it was a great idea. And that’s how I started.

That was in 1983, ’84, and I started writing reviews for the Albany Times Union newspaper, which was really great training for the kind of writing I do today. I think that besides that, having a degree in studio art is about the best training a critic can have. For me, anyway, it was about how to understand the difference between intention and fulfillment. It’s a very simple thing. You understand what somebody’s trying to do and whether they’ve managed to do it, I mean in the terms that they set for themselves. That’s aside from whether you like what they’re doing; that’s another part of it, which has to do with your sensibility as a critic. More.