Do I have any philosophical insights about aging? I realize now that I’m well past the threshold of seniority. I was always very interested in people who were older than me, and I was always able to communicate with them easily. Now they’re not someone else, they are me. Or, better said, I am one of them.

Bill wrote out of his love for the world—in most instances the world as it was captured in painting and poetry—and he wrote for readers like me, who relish the intimate company of intelligent, articulate sensibilities on the lookout for fresh experience and good company.

I write criticism so as to put my mind to work on things I’ve seen that have triggered new sensations and more generally altered my perceptions of the world, things that have, as a consequence, prompted me to seek new information and hatch fresh ideas.

 “Sausage clouds” were the first words out of my mouth—to the apparent dismay of the artist whose drawing I was looking at. I couldn’t help myself.

For this issue of the Rail I have challenged colleagues to attempt the difficult task of bestowing just praise on art and artists that elicit their enthusiasm, admiration, even reverence.

Monotypes are all about touch. Malcolm Morley has one. Several, actually.

Leo Steinberg was a great writer. His writings will endure as long as readers still exist who cherish art and writing as much as he did.

On a quiet evening of a late November weekend in 2009, the painter Arnold Mesches and his wife, the writer Jill Ciment, dropped by the Rail’s Headquarters to talk with publisher Phong Bui and consulting editor Robert Storr about their lives and works.

Art historians have their work cut out for them if they ever hope to get the period since 1960s “right.” It is pretty obvious from existing accounts they haven’t done so yet.

On the occasion of Jack Whitten’s two exhibits, at P.S.1 (from now until September 24th) and at Alexander Gray Associates (from September 13th to October 20th), Rail Consulting Editor Robert Storr spoke to the artist about his life and work.

I’m deeply honored to be here. The first thing I would like to do is to commend the professional staff of the Biennale and all the work that they have done to make this happen. Theirs is truly a very lively institution and theirs is a very difficult job. It has been done exceedingly well.

On the occasion of his exhibit, Double Trouble at P.S. 1, which will be on view till November 20th, Rail’s Consulting Editor Robert Storr and Publisher Phong Bui paid a visit to Ron Gorchov’s studio in Brooklyn one afternoon to discuss with the painter his life and work.

In the midst of preparing for her upcoming retrospective, which will be on view at the Museum of Modern Art beginning October 23, 2005, Elizabeth Murray sat down with the painter Robert Storr, curator of the exhibition, and Rail publisher Phong Bui to talk about her life and work at her studio loft in Tribeca.

As part of our interest in revitalizing art criticism and theory, in giving them both sharp edge and broad, encompassing vision, the Rail has initiated this column.