The 'Real-Real' of Biographies

20 Jan 2014

I discovered Fred Einaudi’s art and bio on Virtu, an art gallery out of Tennessee.

Fred almost immediately gained my admiration.

Compare Fred’s self-written biography to the following three that I selected blindly:

In case you’re wondering, as I had, Fred wasn’t just being cheeky for Virtu. No, this is how Fred rolls.

Here is the bio listed on his personal website, fredeinaudi.com:

I like to imagine Fred exercising this concision, self-awareness, and perspective throughout his life. A stonewall among those greasing the slopes with signaling and foofaraw.

When you query ‘Fred Einaudi’ on Google, pictures of his artwork and three of his web properties (two without meta information entirely; one listing the titles and dimensions of his pieces) are the top results. I’m not suggesting that Fred is a keen webmaster and this was his intention, but it is a nice coincidence (and a nice example of my confirmation bias in action, eh?).

I admire Fred putting the footprint of his work before himself. Content before presentation.

It reminds me of Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer wherein he suggests that everyone should call him Joe, call each other Joe, for it takes out a bit of the rubbish, ego, and biases that are born as we trade the signal of the message with the noise of its messenger.

When physicist and professor Leonard Susskind was asked how Richard Feynman would like to be honored, Susskind replied, “by getting as much bologna out of ours sandwiches as we can.”

That I stretched Susskind’s statement and applied it to this post is proof that my sandwich is at least three-quarters bologna.

In a World Wide Web where bologna-ridden biographies and ‘About Me’ sections are plentiful, Fred’s bio rests among the few; it feels like Fred goes light on the bologna.

Thanks for that, Fred.