For our November print edition, I had the incredible opportunity to work on my first-ever magazine cover story. But I didn't have much time to relish in this moment—in fact, I had only a few days to put the entire story together.
The idea originally came about in early November, when the magazine's publisher, Chris Oldroyd, mentioned in conversation that Czech artist David Černý had put out a new sculpture. After I added that I'm a fan of Černý's art, Chris had an idea—why not try and interview the artist?
What began as an afterthought quickly turned in to a project of enormous proportions. Not only did we decide on making Černý's newest Prague exhibition the cover story of the December issue, but we also added a one-page story on Černý's contemporary art center here, MeetFactory, as well as a guide to locating his work throughout the city.
By the time our team finally got a hold of the elusive Černý (through a hand-written letter sent to MeetFactory), we only had a week to go until our publication deadline. It was imperative that I nail the interview, as there would be little time for follow-up questions, especially with an artist as busy as historically withdrawn from journalists as Černý.
When the day finally came to meet Černý at MeetFactory, I wanted to know all about his life—did he always want to become an artist? What was he like as a child, as a teenager? And why in the world does he currently have a sculpture on view in Charlotte, North Carolina, of all places? Though he was at first quite reserved, asking Chris and my colleague, Eva, to leave the room during our interview, Černý was happy to spend nearly two hours talking at a cafe table in the Factory.
The resulting story was one of the lengthiest and hardest I've ever had to write on such a tight deadline, but I also find it to be one of my greatest writing accomplishments thus far. More than one month since its publication, the story remains one of the most-read on our site.
