Four summers ago, the magazine Art on Paper published an edition and then a pocket-sized book called Letters to a Young Artist, which then became a cult hit of a pocket-sized book. And for good reason. Letters, based on Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, collects the advice of 23 elder artists to a fictional greenhorn who sent each of them a letter that is not republished in this book, only hinted at—so you find yourself reconstructing it in your mind.

You don't have to be an artist to love the book (Cai Guo Qiang called it "the little green book" after Mao's essential red reading), but all artists should have it. (It's here.)

Art is always a material and an immaterial struggle, as we're reminded by the cast of Letters, a solid cross-section of artists with staying power over the last several decades of art—Gregory Amenoff, Jo Baer, John Baldessari, Xu Bing, Jimmie Durham, Joseph Grigely, Guerrilla Girls, Cai, Joan Jonas, Alex Katz, John McCracken, Kerry James Marshall, Elizabeth Murray, Thomas Nozkowski, Yoko Ono, Howardena Pindell, William Pope.L, Yvonne Rainer, Stephen Shore, Jessica Stockholder, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, and Lawrence Weiner. Their words are a reminder that artists have something to say that we need and want to hear—and that this something isn't getting out get out in the fail-medium of artist statements.

Sometimes the wisdom in Letters applies specifically to art, other times not at all.

Marshall: "Art schools are sort of like Crack dens." "Everything is not OK!" "If your recognition depends on the kindness and generosity of others, you are in a world of trouble, buddy."

Xu: "If you want to be a person who can survive on art, you must clarify what can be exchanged with society before society will repay you." "My viewpoint is that wherever you live, you will face that place's problems. If you have problems then you have art."

Rainer: "Delay professionalism as long as possible."

Jonas: "The answer is the Work. To Work. To care about the Work."

Shore: "I sense from the tone of your letter that you may be using your moral dilemma as an excuse for not engaging in your work and that you are using your vulnerability to deflect criticism from me. Cut it out!"

Nozkowski: "There's nothing special about the world part of the art world although we like to pretend there is."

Durham: "Don't ask me, but ask yourself: 'How can I join the world I live in?' 'How can I speak with people who are smarter than me?'"

McCracken: "Being an artist is one of the coolest things in the world—potentially and actually."

Pope.L: "AAAss-tachment to family, tribe, chuRch, The STATE even one's %%rt gallery can be goo?????—but attachment is A hindrAnce if it requires............ .. thAt you leave your cRiticality**** behiNd————
****=substitute criticality for ass alternately back and forth like a yo-yo or dr. Jekyll and his mother or the blinking lights of a motel sign"

It wasn't going to be easy to top that little bible. This summer, the editors of Art on Paper have put out an orangeish follow-up called Diaries of a Young Artist with the testimonies of 21 young(ish) artists, and the "ish" of the color (and their youth) is parallel to the "ish" of the contents compared to the original. (The brightness of the cover above is not representative of its actual dusky appearance.) (Buy it here.)

Maybe it's just that younger artists (and humans) are less interesting to listen to. First off, this book makes me want to kill Terence Koh. "i remember a few times when i was drunk horny and high and i wanted javier [his dealer] to fuck me doggy style even though we have never had sex but we like to say we doo" (yes, doo) is followed by "i remember or know that javier has always had a crush on my boyfriend" and on and on in this vein. Coooooooool!!

But the premise of diary entries meant for public consumption is sort of a bad setup, too. And the book hits at a time when there's increased pressure on every bit of writing to be worthy of the page it's printed on. Some of these snapshots collapse under the weight of publishing; on blogs they'd be natural.

A few pieces stand out as deserving of collection, like Sterling Ruby's split-page transcript of a classic Henry Rollins interview (in which Rollins thoroughly squashes the poor pimply teenager trying to gently worship him; YouTube vid here) paired with Ruby's own resigned/defensive remarks about his own rise to prominence in LA; Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin's mini-travelogue through war and coincidence; and Katerina Seda's vow of loyalty to her obscure Czech hometown.

Otherwise stick to the original. Or check back with the youngish later.