I recently read The Violet Hour by James Cahill, a novel set within the contemporary art world that explores ambition, proximity, and the psychological dynamics that exist beneath its surface.
What I find especially compelling is the way the book considers how identity can be shaped in relation to artists, influence, and access—how being close to something powerful can both illuminate and destabilize.
Cahill writes from within this world, with a sensitivity to its nuances and its contradictions, and the result is a portrait that feels at once intimate and expansive.
He is, of course, our guest on the About Art podcast this week, and I’m very grateful to share that conversation with you.
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