About

About Depart

Independent writing about the art of our moment. No gallery, no inventory, no agenda past looking well.

Depart is an independent notebook on contemporary and emerging art. We publish plain, careful writing about how new art gets made, shown, supported, and understood, the kind of guide we wanted back when we first started paying attention and couldn't find one. We are not a gallery, an auction house, or a dealer. We have nothing to sell you. The whole aim is to make a field that acts closed off a little more open.

The name is the argument. The work worth caring about departs, from its influences, from what's expected, from what came before. Emerging artists live right at that edge, and their work is what we care about most.

What you'll find here

A working definition of contemporary art, and a way to look at it.
How artist residencies give makers the time and space to grow.
How to start collecting with intent, on any budget.

A note on this site. Depart publishes at a domain with a real history in the contemporary art world. We run it independently and keep it strictly in that spirit: art writing only, always clean, never anything out of character. It is here with the goodwill of the domain's former stewards, and if they ever want it back, it's theirs.

Everything here is written for a person to read, not a search engine to skim. Clear, honest, and about the work.