BOB NICKAS

[124]

On 10/15/07, Robert Nickqs wrote:
I am more than a little bit wasted, so please don’t be unkind. I was watching
that Wire DVD we’ve seen, live on German TV in 1979, still so riveting, and
I realized that a really good band comes down to one basic principle: The idea of
a band as: A shared belief. Shared beliefs — under any circumstances — are difficult
to sustain. Why privilege bands? Because they are these random/volatile/precarious
constellations of people and emotions/egos/volatility? What about just friends?
We don’t have it any easier. Even if we don’t go on tour, we have to see
each other with some regularity, and it’s not always easy. When you called from
Boston the other night your main message was that I need to take better care of
myself. Even if old habits die hard, I do think that I am taking care of myself,
and I realize that you say this because you really care about me. I may be defensive,
but you have to know that it means a lot to me when you express yourself in this
way. I get seven to eight hours of sleep every night, don’t smoke, have a good
meatless diet, and drink a ton of water. The bad news is always the good news, and
I will probably live forever. And even then … it won’t be over.
I really love you a lot.

Your friend in this life and the next.

+B

From: brendan
To: Robert Nickqs
Subject: Re: bob for brendan
Date: Oct 16, 2007 5:07 AM
b-

i’ll haunt you first

+b


Orient Point, August 2008


Brendan, Orient Point, July 2010


TARANTUALA DOWNFORCE by Orphan
Video by Brendan Majewski
Photos by Ryan Foerster
—

Bob Nickas is a critic and curator based in New York. His books include LIVE FREE OR DIE (les presses du réel, 2000), THEFT IS VISION (JRP/Ringier, 2008), and PAINTING ABSTRACTION (Phaidon Press, 2009). CATALOG OF THE EXHIBITION, a retrospective of his exhibitions from 1985 to 2011, is forthcoming from 2nd Cannons Publications in April, and he is one of the contributors to HISTORY ENDS TODAY, a survey of the 200 most important artworks of the past 25 years, to be published by Phaidon in October.