Jason Stoneking: Bespoke Books, Portrait Sittings, and Paris Heretics

Jason writing the portrait of Lucas Lecacheur from the Bad Pelicans

This month, our dispatch comes from Jason Stoneking, a writer, artist and performer living in Paris. When I met Jason, he was carrying a bag of beautiful, handwritten works. At a time when handwriting is in decline, Jason’s projects remind us of the creativity and intimacy that a handwritten text communicates to its reader—and the time that goes into writing them. It's no surprise then, that Jason has written his dispatch for us this month.

—Cassandra Atherton, Dispatches Editor

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Jason Stoneking at Galerie Arnaud Lefebvre. Photo by Leslie McAllister

Jason Stoneking is a writer, artist, and performer originally from the United States, who has made his home in Paris, France. He has published several collections of poetry and essays, released an album of original songs, and written several screenplays. He has been performing his art and writing live for more than 30 years, at venues ranging from the main stage at Lollapalooza to the Pont Neuf in Paris and the rooftops of Cairo. In recent years, his practice has concentrated on the creation of handwritten and site-specific texts. For his Bespoke Books series, he writes an entire unique book by hand, in a single draft, for an individual reader, event, or residency. In his video series Found Stages, he improvises spontaneous poems in public spaces that feel suitable, if not intended, for performance. For his newest series, Portrait Sittings, he invites subjects to sit for him as they would for a painter, while he composes their portrait in handwritten words, then presents them with the original manuscript he has drafted during the session. You can read more about Jason’s projects and the marvellous Paris Heretics here and here.

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