being art
the book
Perhaps the most important takeaway of my entire childhood as the son of an artist is that art is a conversation. Far more than just a claim by an artist, artwork comes alive via our reading of it. For as long as I can remember, my father, my family and I have been interacting with art in a myriad of ways: posing with sculptures, pretending to paint paintings, and oftentimes causing quite a scene in the best of ways. Half the fun is seeing how others react, opening up the conversation to even more voices. I’ve also greatly enjoyed watching others perceive for themselves. In museums, seeing others observe work, watching their eyes light up, always made for a more dynamic experience for me. To me, being art is about letting works come to life and considering them more freely. Roman Lafia
A man and woman sharing a kiss, with the man holding the woman's face and the woman embracing him, standing in front of a large colorful abstract background.
A shirtless man in underwear is standing on a city street, engaging with an older man with white hair who is gesturing with his hands, while a crowd of onlookers watches.
Young girl with curly hair and headband making peace signs while standing in front of Shiva sculptures at Tokyo National Museum in Japan.
A boy standing in front of Michelangelo's David statue at Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy, with a brick building and ornate decorations in the background.
A woman on her hands and knees on the floor in front of a large white and black artwork of a dinosaur skeleton. She is wearing a green jacket, yellow dress, black tights, and white sneakers, with a red backpack.
An artwork titled 'The Days of this Society is Numbered' by Rirkrit Tiravanija is displayed on a wall, consisting of newspaper pages with large black text overlay. A boy with a backpack and a man with glasses and a blue shirt are pointing at the artwork in a gallery setting.
A young boy stands next to a large, white, vintage rotary telephone sculpture inside the Museum Modern and Contemporary Art Museum in Nice, France, 2014.
Two tourists posing playfully in front of a golden stupa at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand.
A man with gray hair wearing a gray blazer touches a large abstract red and black painting by Kazuo Shiraga in New York City, USA.
A woman smiling and posing next to a green sculpture made of empty glass bottles arranged in a circular pattern.
People sitting on benches in a park near a pond with trees and sculptures in the background.
A young girl smiling and holding a postcard of the Mona Lisa painting in a street scene in Paris, France. Bicycles and motorcycles are parked along the sidewalk, and a sign with French text is visible in the background.
A young girl in a blue shirt with a skull design and green shorts standing next to a sculpture of four people and a traffic signal reading 'Don't Walk' in the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City.
A person is holding a baby in front of a portrait painting of Mrs. Sylvanus Bourne by John Singleton Copley at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
A man in black jacket standing in front of a large red painting with black and silver scribbles, pointing at it with his right hand at the Bruce High Quality Art Foundation in New York City.
Visitors at an art gallery viewing Sandro Botticelli's 'Birth of Venus', with one person taking a photo and a woman standing in front of the painting.
Two young girls playing in front of a large wall text at the Gilbert & George, White Cube exhibition in London, UK, 2014. One girl is standing on the other girl, who is sitting on the floor, both dressed casually.
Two women are standing in front of a concrete wall with a large red smiling mouth illustration. The woman on the left wears a hat and casual clothes, making a funny face, while the woman on the right is smiling and touching her face. It appears to be a sunny day.
An older man with curly gray hair and a beard is standing in front of a whiteboard with a simple, colorful line drawing of a face on it. He is wearing a red zip-up sweater over a shirt and beige pants. The man is posing with his right arm bent and his finger pointing to his nose, engaging playfully with the drawing.
Two children, a boy and a girl, standing in front of a decorated palace door in Bangkok, Thailand. The boy is wearing a red t-shirt and striped shorts, and the girl is wearing a white dress and sunglasses. They are pointing at a pair of painted figures on the door depicting traditional Thai warriors.
Two children, a girl with a scarf on her head and a boy with a cap, standing in front of a painting of two profiles of women in a gallery.
A man wearing a striped shirt and shorts holding a yellow helmet stands in an art gallery beside a large portrait of Sir Robert Gunning dressed in regal red and white attire.
A young girl with long brown hair wearing a black top, beige pants, and sandals stands with hands on hips in front of a framed painting of a nude young boy, titled 'The Bather' by Paul Cezanne, displayed in an art gallery.
A young girl with brown hair, holding a phone displaying a red heart. She stands in front of a painted mural of a woman with long hair, surrounded by green foliage.
Two children are performing handstands against a white gallery wall indoors, with two colorful mosaic-style artworks of dragons and mythical creatures hanging behind them.
A black and white photo from 2012 showing five individuals standing together against a plain white background, engaged in conversation. One person is a mannequin-like figure with an exposed body, while the others are casually dressed men, some wearing glasses and scarves.
People standing in front of a large classical painting in a museum gallery.
Three people posing playfully in front of the Louvre Museum and glass pyramid in Paris, France, with other visitors in the background.
A man and a woman are kissing passionately in front of a large screen displaying a black and white image of a woman's face. The man is dressed in a suit, and the woman is wearing a pink sleeveless top.