Curation is paramount.

A very common misunderstanding when people try to understand what creative people do, is to think that the end-result is all about the act of creating. Although, when you stand in front of a work of art in a museum, you only see the piece in front of you, what you do not see is all the ideas that came before. Crumpled up sketches tossed on the flood. Canvases with fist-sized holes through them. Concept cars that never made it to Geneva. RAW files marked for deletion. The movie scenes which were left in the cutting room. Melodies which didn’t make even the B-Sides.

Leaving skill aside, the actual art form is what you choose to show the audience in the end. Trimming the fat. Directing the eye. It’s a risk, as well. What you may like, may not be perceived by the audience as your best work. But it your responsibility to create a little microcosm where only your work exists, and where you, the creator and the editor, decide what is the best. Not the audience. And through this, the audience receives only the curated narrative.

This is always something I’ve struggled with in my work. I go back years later and find photos I have published and think to myself, “Probably should have left that one out.”

Jerome is an expert curator. The world he has created in flawlessly edited, with not a single touch being unconsidered. His hand has touched, checked, and double checked every detail of everything that his company shows you.

Not to sound like a hipster, but I got my first Dealan frames in May of 2015.

In 2014, Jacques Marie Mage was born. At this point in time, I had only heard of the brand in conversation with during a party I was hosting at Raspoutine, in Paris. The conversation was with Alexis, who worked for Jacques Marie Mage back in its genesis. I did not know Jerome yet.

On the 8th of January 2020 I met Jerome Mage for the first time on Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy for a run. Wait…that can’t be correct. How would he have known to be at the bridge? Ok, wait, I’ve got it! I met Jerome Mage for the first time on the 7th of January 2020 at a hotel on Piazza Santa Maria Novella, in Florence, Italy for his launch of a collaboration he’d done with Alessandro Squarzi. This makes sense now.

On the 8th of January 2020, Jerome Mage went running with me.

This is a story I have told a lot of people, and I love it. As I’ve mentioned a few times in other Context posts, I host a run with a bunch of friends at Pitti. It gets me out of bed, and it’s a great break from the work routine. We all show up at 0630 or 0700 at the bridge and I take people up the steepest hill that you can imagine. You taste pennies in your spit, and I always make sure I’m leading the group up the hill, even if it feels like my heart might explode. The ego is stronger than anything. A regular, Dean Cook, says he wants to finish the run at a coffee shop of his choice. This takes our run down the hill at the end and through Porta Romana, with a long nearly-thousand-meter flat finish on Via Romana. With the finish in sight, and no more elevation to be gained, my ego starts to sprint. A small group of masochists follow suit. We are running fast. I only remember that Jacob (of Soulland) was there, two other faces I cannot recall, and Jerome. We are all giving 100% and as we close in on the café, the five of us start to slow down. Or…so I thought.

Four of us slowed down. Jerome continues at the same pace, not stopping, holds a hand up waving goodbye, and with a voice that is not challenged for breath, says “Thanks for inviting me!” and disappears. It turns out, Jerome was not sprinting. Jerome was running. And I THINK prior to, what for us, was a sprint, Jerome had only been jogging. So, we run while Jerome jogs. And we sprint, while Jerome runs.

These context photos have spanned one year (to the day). Nearly five years have passed since I met Jerome, a person I now consider my friend. And the story has been building over nine and a half years since I was introduced to Jerome’s brand. This is what I love about this Context project: It takes time.

I wanted to make sure that Jerome’s story was “ready” before I shared it with you. Especially considering that he does not put out work which has not been perfected, refined, and perfected further. In December when I left his office in Los Angeles, I thought it was “ready”. I thought it was “enough”. I was excited that Jerome had found time for me during his busy days in Paris a few months before, and now in Los Angeles. I never want to overstep, but sometimes you just need another hit, so I asked Jerome if I could follow him on my bike while on run in Paris. And so again, I meet Jerome by a river in the morning, and we go for a run.

I’m not sure if I curated this well enough. “Probably should have left that one out” will probably cross my mind tomorrow.

Thanks, Jerome.