LA Art

Artillery Magazine Book Reading and Signing

Jun 29 2011

Artillery Magazine presented a special book reading and signing of Persist: In Praise of the Creative Spirit in a World Gone Mad with Commerce, by writer Peter Clothier.  He is a long time student of the dharma and a meditation practitioner.  In this context he examines the qualities of compassion, perseverance and discernment on the artist’s predicament in a world that judges success in terms of celebrity and material reward. 

“The title, together with the subtitle, pretty much says it all.  This latest book is a collection of essays, written over the past thirty years, addressing in a variety of ways the predicament of the artist  in a cultural climate in which celebrity and established commercial track record too often count for more than talent and quality of work.  Yet artists of all kinds still have to “do it”- if only because that’s who they are.  The book describes strategies I myself have found to be indispensable in learning to ‘persist’ beyond the all too familiar obstacles: practice, the exercise of mental and logistical discipline, and building community.” 

This is Peter’s third book and he is currently a full time writer.  He’s a regular on the Huffington Post and has taught at USC, Otis and Loyola universities. 

For further events held at The Standard, Hollywood, check out our events page.