Bob Colacello, Writer and Newly Minted Curator, Listens to John Legend On Repeat Just Like You
In between curating a new art show and listening to John Legend on repeat, writer Bob Colacello shares his culture diet.
Since spending the ’70s and ’80s alongside Andy Warhol, both at Interview and within the walls of the Factory, Bob Colacello has stuck mostly to writing—and done so under his birth name, even though Warhol suggested he go by Bob Cola. This year, though, Colacello’s taking his first stab at curating an art show, “The Age of Ambiguity: Abstract Figuration / Figurative Abstraction,” at Vito Schnabel Gallery in Switzerland, drawing on artists including Jeff Koons, Rashid Johnson, Sterling Ruby, Jonas Wood, and, of course, his old friends like Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, to explore what he’s come to regard as the current climate of uncertainty—”a time when everything is fluid and nothing concrete.” One thing’s for sure, though: Colacello’s passion for John Legend, which he let us in on with his culture diet ahead of the show’s opening later this month, here.
First thing you read in the morning: The New York Post.
Books on your bedside table right now: The Undocumented Mark Steyn. He’s Canadian, conservative, and amazingly funny.
The TV show keeping you up at night: Don Lemon on CNN.
Last movie you saw in theaters: Hidden Figures. Loved it.
Last thing you saw at the theater: “Letter to a Man,” a collaboration between Robert Wilson and Mikhail Baryshnikov at BAM.
Last piece of art you bought, or ogled: I crave a blue Jeff Elrod “Blur” painting.
Jeff Elrod, “Double Lost Horse,” 2016, from “The Age of Ambiguity” at Vito Schnabel Gallery.
Last museum exhibition that you loved: “Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900–1918” at Neue Galerie.
Release you’re most eagerly anticipating: My far-from-finished second book on the Reagans.
Last song you had on repeat: John Legend’s “All of Me.”
Last concert you saw live: Joyce DiDonato’s In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music at Carnegie Hall.
Favorite social media accounts to follow: None.
Advice for newfound curators: Don’t.
Last thing you do before you go to bed: Pray.
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