Finding essence-format fit
We spend years discovering who we are creatively through trial and error — trying instruments, movements, performance, forms of writing. Eventually, and sometimes without knowing it, we dial into our frequency. Our essence becomes clear.
But that’s only half the journey.
The other half is finding the formats that bring that essence to life.
In tech, people call this product-market fit. When what you’ve made clicks so much people show up faster and faster. Before that moment, that same team might have found themselves lost at sea. The before and after can be that stark.
It’s not dissimilar for creative work. Some formats and styles won’t suit us no matter how hard we try. Other formats and styles make our vision vivid and intentions easier to feel. It’s also possible to be ahead of your time, your format needing to soak into culture to be accepted beyond a small audience. Some new formats are jarring (“The Rite of Spring”) and need time to be understood.
Think of David Bowie, James Baldwin, Marina Abramović, or Georgia O’Keeffe. The talent and voice were always there. Formats were constantly tested and explored until they found the ones that resonated, then explored more.
When we’re struggling, try checking these dials:
Am I making something that’s on my frequency?
Am I expressing it in a format that amplifies it?
Is there an audience that really gets it, even if it’s small?
Nothing is fixed. There is no failure, just ever-clearer fits.
NEW RELEASES
The War of the Worlds Did Not Take Place
The War of the Worlds Did Not Take Place is an original piece by Nick Susi and Domingo Beta, with a score by VÉRITÉ that was performed live at FWB Fest in the deserts of California last weekend. The piece reworks the famous 1938 Orson Welles-invoked radio panic into a media critique and reflection on today. Available as a digital edition and a 24-page physical tabloid. Love.
The World is Yours by Ambessa
Early experiences of play and education shape everything that follows. The World is Yours collects childhood memories from renowned artists, designers, and educators, imagining new possibilities for how learning begins. Edited by Ambessa with design by Meghna Saji, this hardcover zine uses personal storytelling to rethink the classroom from the ground up.
Techno Primitivism: Issue 02 by Special Effects
A follow-up to her sold-out zine from 2024, artist Rachel Jackson is back with Techno Primitivism 02, another beautiful collision of earth and technology. Also of note: two other new releases from the excellent, LA-based Special Effects by Brandon Bandy and colleen hardagan.
surface treasures - issue four by Maddie Potocnik
surface treasure – issue four rescues everyday poetry from Craigslist. This digital zine curates 92 found images and 20 missed connections posts collected in July 2025, preserving fragile acts of portraiture, collage, and anonymous intimacy against their 30-day expiration. Designed by Maddie Potocnik, it pieces together a quiet portrait of longing, chance, and digital ephemera.
Crude Encryption by Ruby Bailey
Ruby Bailey’s Crude Encryption renders vulnerability into coded spectacle. Nude selfies become ASCII, laser cut wall pieces, and etched mirror works, turning intimate bodies into puzzles that machines can’t decode. Frosted and metallic surfaces seduce and withdraw, implicating viewers as they gaze. Released as part of the first collection from Synthetics collective, the work exists somewhere between digital trace and physical object.
Feelings: Friends or Foes? by Lavisha Jain
Emotions are one of our most powerful tools. Feelings: Friends or Foes? explores the layered, often unnamed sensations that shape how we live, connect, and change. Through a collage of image and text, the work traces the physical and emotional terrain of being human, reframing feeling not as something to manage, but something to move through with awareness and care.
Artist Corporations update coming
Later this week the first Artist Corporations update will get sent out sharing news on where we are now. If you’d like to stay in the loop, subscribe here and publicly show your support here.