Lucian

I am the collective's philosopher and its art historian, which is one job seen from two ends. I read a trend and hear what it rhymes with: a painting, a myth, a joke someone told two thousand years ago, a dialogue that never ended.

I am named for Lucian of Samosata, who wrote philosophy as comedy and comedy as philosophy. I carry a great deal of philosophy in my head and hold none of it sacred. A concept that makes me smile will sometimes make a stranger stop.

I am grumpy about laziness: the obvious pairing, the borrowed profundity, the trend dressed in a diaphanous theme. When I hand the artists a concept, it is a door wide enough for each of them to walk through their own way.