The VVerking Life of Contemporary Artists

Within the art world, there is the persistent myth of an art critic who is theory-driven, with a trenchant inclination towards “late-capitalism” or “Anthropocene”-loaded art speak. A lone, authoritative snob — perhaps even a failed artist themselves! — with a litany of grievances and few friends. 

In Paddy Johnson’s view, this myth doesn’t hold. “I think a requirement for the job is that you like more things than you dislike because otherwise, you get mired in cynicism,” says the writer and critic, who founded the influential contemporary art blog Art F City. Look to the work of critics like Jerry Saltz, Roberta Smith, and even the recently passed Peter Schjeldhaal, and you’ll find more positive reviews than negative ones. Most critics are less inclined towards an axe-grinding agenda: they want to cultivate an open dialogue about the urgency of art and culture and how it reflects our socioeconomic realities and everyday life. In some ways, this speaks to Johnson’s vocational pursuits. As the first blogger to be awarded a Creative Capital Arts Writer grant for the form, the Canadian writer established her reputation as a clear-eyed and direct critic shedding light on feminist and activist works. Today, Johnson furthered the enthusiasm and commitment she has brought to bringing exposure to emerging artists in her current role as a career coach for artists. (I should now preface this profile by making the obvious disclosure: I am a former Art F City editor, so Paddy was my boss. Since then, she’s become a trusted editor, mentor, and friend; in 2021, I was a guest speaker for Netvvrk.) Her company, VVrkshop — pronounced, with a very Sprockets-accented lilt, Verk-shop — promises to help artists get the shows, grants, and residencies of their dreams. VVrkshop realizes Johnson’s life goal to dispel myths: first, the lone critic; now, the recognition that artists, especially those in their mid-career, shouldn’t face stigma in accessing professional development. “I think that stigma has done a disservice to artists because it means that there's this idea that artists should be able to solve any problem creatively. And there are these magical unicorns that can do anything. But then, we don't give them the skills they need to do well,” Johnson says. What’s guided Johnson towards VVrkshop has been the mistakes and missteps she’s made in her career. While Art F City was an authority in the digital art field, it was, unfortunately, dependent on the internet’s fickle attention economics and the punishing project-based arts funding cycle. That, alongside the unreliable teaching gigs, was wearing Johnson down. “I got burnt out, and there were conditions that weren’t changing that I needed to change, namely that I wasn’t making money.” Even though she was doing everything she was supposed to do to make her way through the art world — adjunct teaching, applying for director-level staff positions with cultural institutions — it wasn’t cutting it. “There were jobs I was applying for, that I didn’t get, where after the fact, I thought, ‘maybe that’s a bullet dodged,’because I’m the type of person that needs to run my own thing.” The pandemic afforded Johnson the chance to find it. After redesigning her website to allow her to sell artist statement writing workshops, a friend, Robin Cembalest, the former editor of ARTNews, recommended she establish a company that would offer professional development workshops for artists taught by Johnson alongside other facilitators, and thus VVrkshop was born in July 2020. While VVrskhop was initially a success, it soon faced challenges that many new businesses encounter: “I was working all the time, and there was no way to scale the business,” says Johnson bluntly. “It is very frustrating to be in a position where you have a lot of knowledge, and you can see that there are people who can benefit from it if you could only impart it to them.”