$24

  • 978-1-940190-34-1
  • April 30, 2024
  • 5 x 7.5 inches
  • Paperback
  • 16 color + 25 bw images
  • 216 pages
  • Table of Contents


  • Sample Pages


  • Reviews


    Chicago Reader

    Artnet

    The Art Newspaper

    Artbook

  • Events


    Sunday, April 28, 1pm: Book Launch with Darinka Novitovic Chase, Jimi Dams, Nancy Shaver, and David Shaw, moderated by Jordan Stein / Presented as part of The Classroom at the New York Art Book Fair Recording (starts at 55:00)

    Saturday, May 4, 3pm: Book Launch with Richard Rezac, Kay Rosen, Susan Snodgrass Tony Tasset, moderated by John Neff / Corbett vs Dempsey (Chicago)
  • Related Material


    Selected by The Art Newspaper for their April Book Bag

Hello We Were Talking about Hudson

​Edited by Steve Lafreniere
Introduction by Bob Nickas
Interviews with Dennis Cooper, G.B. Jones, Charles Ray, Kay Rosen, David Sedaris, B. Wurtz, et al. [Full List Below]
Texts by Hilton Als, Gary Indiana, Mike McGonigal, Richard Prince, Nancy Shaver, et al. [Full List Below]
Interview between Dike Blair and Hudson

Hello We Were Talking About Hudson is the first book to focus on Hudson (1950–2014), the legendary “artists’ dealer” behind the storied gallery Feature Inc. Active in Chicago from 1984–88, and in New York City from 1988–2014, Feature operated ahead of its time, notably presenting the early work of such significant artists as Tom Friedman, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, Richard Prince, Charles Ray, and Kay Rosen, and groundbreaking queer exhibitions by Tom of Finland and G.B. Jones. In the course of showing a remarkable group of artists over 30 years, Hudson maintained a disciplined approach, driven by his singular taste and eye. By sidestepping the art world’s expectations, he challenged the operating principles of other commercial galleries, privileging uncertainty, idealism, plurality, and generosity above the business of art.

Comprising 35 interviews with Hudson’s artists, collectors, colleagues, and friends, this book is an intimate portrait of a complex man and the vehicle through which he focused his convictions. Also included are written remembrances and over 40 images, many shared for the first time. Published on the tenth anniversary of Hudson’s death, Hello We Were Talking About Hudson is a celebration of a true believer and a record of the outsized impact he had on those around him and culture at large.

Interviewees: Lisa Beck, Ann Bobco, Darinka Novitovic Chase, Dennis Cooper, Jimi Dams, Steve Diller, Derek Eller, Pamela Golden, Sam Gordon, Peter Huttinger, G.B. Jones, Steve Knutson, Steve Lafreniere, Gregory Linn and Clayton Press, Judy Linn, Billy Miller, Carlo McCormick, James Pedersen, Charles Ray, Kay Rosen, Kim Reinhardt and Andrew Zarou, Richard Rezac, Nathaniel Robinson, Alexander Ross, David Sedaris, Nancy Shaver, David Shaw, Aaron Sinift, Steel Stillman, Tony Tasset, Peter Taub, Lily van der Stokker, Lynne Warren, Kevin Wolff, B. Wurtz,

Writers: Hilton Als, Dike Blair, Ann Bobco, Gary Indiana, Richard Kern, Mike McGonigal, Richard Prince, Nancy Shaver, David Shaw

Steve Lafreniere was the in-house graphic designer at Feature Inc. for its full 30-year run. Concurrently he was a senior editor at Index Magazine, and regular contributor to Vice and Artforum. He resides in Eugene, Oregon.

Praise


"[Hello We Were Talking About Hudson] restores life—to the extent that it’s possible—to the singular tone of the seminal gallery and its still mysterious founder, in all their unknowable complexity." ——Bianca Bova, Chicago Reader

"Properly making sense of [Hudson's] legacy will require a full-dress survey at the National Gallery of Art or the Museum of Modern Art, but until then, we have this remarkable book...." ––Andrew Russeth, Artnet

Biographies of contemporary art dealers are rarer than funny painters.... Now they have some company––an utterly human telling realized through group authorship, voices guided by love for a singular character and, it is hard not to feel, a vanished civilization as well. ––David Robbins, Artbook

Hudson at Feature Inc., West 25th Street, New York City. Photo: Steve Lafreniere

  • 978-1-940190-34-1
  • April 30, 2024
  • 5 x 7.5 inches
  • Paperback
  • 16 color + 25 bw images
  • 216 pages
  • Table of Contents


  • Sample Pages


  • Reviews


    Chicago Reader

    Artnet

    The Art Newspaper

    Artbook

  • Events


    Sunday, April 28, 1pm: Book Launch with Darinka Novitovic Chase, Jimi Dams, Nancy Shaver, and David Shaw, moderated by Jordan Stein / Presented as part of The Classroom at the New York Art Book Fair Recording (starts at 55:00)

    Saturday, May 4, 3pm: Book Launch with Richard Rezac, Kay Rosen, Susan Snodgrass Tony Tasset, moderated by John Neff / Corbett vs Dempsey (Chicago)
  • Related Material


    Selected by The Art Newspaper for their April Book Bag