ADAM MOSS

ABOUT ADAM MOSS

Adam Moss is a journalist, editor, and sometimes (and with great frustration), a painter. Moss is the author of The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing, a New York Times bestseller published in 2024 by Penguin Press. 

From 2004-2019, he was editor-in-chief of New York Magazine, where he launched and oversaw five digital publications in addition to New York: Vulture, The Cut, Intelligencer, The Strategist, and Grub Street. Under Moss’s leadership, New York and nymag.com won 41 National Magazine Awards, including Magazine of the Year and a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Before joining New York magazine, Moss was the editor of the New York Times Magazine, as well as assistant managing editor of the paper, overseeing the magazine, Book Review, culture, and style. The New York Times Magazine received many awards for journalism, photography, and design, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize, during Moss’s tenure. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oberlin College, his alma mater, and is a member of the Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame.

ABOUT MARDEE GOFF

Mardee Goff served as project manager for The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing, a 3½-year endeavor with author and editor Adam Moss. 

Mardee is an art advisor, curator, writer, and cultural strategist who has collaborated with artists, museums, galleries, advisory firms, and private collectors worldwide. She has worked in curatorial departments at leading institutions, including the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Art Museum, National Gallery in London, and the Biennial of the Americas. She has curated more than 35 exhibitions featuring both emerging and established artists and continues to develop special initiatives.

Mardee is currently the Director of Strategy and Story for Cookie Factory — a place for contemporary art housed in a former 1940s fortune cookie factory in Denver’s Baker neighborhood. She earned a Master of Arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and a BA in Art History from the University of Colorado Boulder.

RMCAD + PUBLIC EVENTS

How Something comes from nothing: Adam Moss in conversation with Mardee Goff

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

For the penultimate event in the Recontextualize series, journalist and editor Adam Moss discussed his book, The Work of Art: How Something Comes from Nothing, with curator, writer, and the book’s project manager, Mardee Goff. 

The Work of Art is a collection of conversations with notable artists who create culturally significant works across a spectrum of genres. The book’s subjects include Stephen Sondheim, Kara Walker, Sofia Coppola, Barbara Kruger, Taylor Mac, Marc Jacobs, George Saunders, Amy Sillman, David Simon, Samin Nosrat, Shela Heti, and more. For each intimate interview, Adam and the artist focus on a single project, tracing its nonlinear path from conception to completion through stories, sketches, and drafts – through struggles, dormant periods, and eventual breakthroughs.

For this on-stage conversation, Moss and Goff shared their experience of the book’s development and Moss’s curiosities, observations, and discoveries about the practical and mysterious aspects of making art. 

To persevere or surrender

Adam Moss’s conversation with Mardee Goff was presented in conjunction with the exhibition To Persevere or Surrender in RMCAD’s Philip J. Steele Gallery. Inspired by Moss’s book, the exhibition presents local artists’ practice through materials that contribute to the culmination of their artworks.

RMCAD Only Events

One-on-one Meetings with Adam Moss

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
RMCAD students had the exciting opportunity to share their work with visiting artist and editor Adam Moss in 20-minute meetings.

STUDENT-LED Q+A SESSION

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Student-Led Q&A Sessions are casual conversations open to RMCAD students, faculty, and staff. Guided by student voices, these discussions generate valuable professional advice for all students.