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.
The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing by Adam Moss. Image courtesy of Penguin Press, New York, 2024.
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.
Adam Moss’s events are part of RMCAD’s yearlong Recontextualize series. Learn more about the series.
RMCAD + PUBLIC EVENTS
How Something comes from nothing: Adam Moss in conversation with Mardee Goff
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
6:00 pm MST | Doors Open at 5:30 pm
Mary Harris Auditorium and Livestream
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
1600 Pierce Street, Denver, CO 80214
Registration is for both in-person attendance and livestream viewing.
For the penultimate event in the Recontextualize series, journalist and editor Adam Moss will discuss 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 will share their experience of the book’s development and Moss’s curiosities, observations, and discoveries about the practical and mysterious aspects of making art.
A book signing will follow the event.
This event is free and open to the public and offered both in-person and live-streamed. Free refreshments are provided in person.
The Work of Art by Adam Moss, Sofia Coppola, pages 72-73. Image courtesy of Penguin Press, New York, 2024.
To persevere or surrender
Adam Moss’s conversation with Mardee Goff is 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.
A reception for the exhibition takes place the night of the event with Adam Moss.
RMCAD Only Events
One-on-one Meetings with Adam Moss
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Various times.
Space is limited. Students must apply to participate.
Deadline to apply: Wednesday, February 4th
RMCAD online and on-ground students have the exciting opportunity to share their work with visiting artist and editor Adam Moss in 20-minute meetings. If selected, students get feedback on their own work from this accomplished creative thinker.
Shelia Heti, note to self. Included in The Work of Art by Adam Moss. Courtesy of Penguin Press, New York, 2024.
STUDENT-LED Q+A SESSION
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
11:45 am — 12:45 pm Mountain Time
Location TBA
Students! Apply to be a moderator for this event HERE!
The deadline to apply: Wednesday, February 4th
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.