The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Dushko Petrovich Córdova

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The Soft Labor Questionnaire, is simply that: A brief series of questions we’ve asked comrades in the field to answer about their own working experiences. Would you like to respond to the Soft Labor Questionnaire? Go right ahead and do so.

Today's respondent is Dushko Petrovich Córdova. Dushko is a painter, essayist, and publisher. He is a co-founder, with Roger White, of Paper Monument, which has published many critically acclaimed and bestselling books including Draw It with Your Eyes Closed: The Art of the Art Assignment and I Like Your Work: Art and Etiquette. His most recent essay, “The Second-Term Aesthetic,” appears in the Winter 2026 issue of n+1 and his mini-memoir about descent into perfume obsession is forthcoming from Granta. Petrovich is a professor of Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Tell us about the first job you ever did for money. 

My first job was delivering the Toledo Blade to about twelve blocks of people In Perrysburg, Ohio. My uncles had had paper routes and my mom, who knew nothing about business, told me it was a good way to learn about having a business. What I learned was that I did not want to have a business. In those days, insanely, they had the paper boys collect the monthly fee for delivery. I hated this. People would avoid answering the door. I had one alcoholic customer who would just wave me in and have me find the money on his dresser. One family gave me Heath bars at Christmas, I still remember that. I remember having to get up painfully early on weekends while the rest of my family slept in. I remember the rubber bands breaking as I tried to loop them around the folded papers. But I guess that's how I got my start in print culture, in thinking about distribution. I would read all the comics before I started out on my route.

Is your current work related to what you studied in school? If so, how? Or, how not? 

I got my MFA painting and I still paint and I teach painting. I also studied writing but I don’t have an advanced degree in writing. I never learned about editing or publishing in school.

What cultural touchpoint—music, art, literature, etc.—has informed your practice the most? How? 

I think most of what I do actually follows the logic of being in bands, even though I haven’t done that in decades. I was never very good at music, in fact I’m pretty bad at it, but I just love doing cool shit with other people also doing cool shit. The specifics of each project are always changing but the band logic is always there for me.

What is the most rewarding aspect of working in your industry? The most challenging?

If academia is my industry, the most rewarding part is working with artists to fulfill their dreams. The worst part is the industry part. I sometimes feel like it is all a pyramid scheme.

If publishing is my industry then the best part is getting a bunch of people to think their best thoughts. The most challenging part is the money.

If the art world is my industry, the most rewarding part is feeling like there is an alternative to capitalist monoculture. The most challenging part is losing that battle slowly over decades.

Has AI impacted your work? How? 

No. I’m playing a different game. Brian Droitcour told me I was acting like AI in my painting work, because I collect types of images, but instead of producing an average or an output from those images I produce feelings. I liked that.

What advice would you give to someone starting a career in your industry? 

What was my industry again? I suppose my industry is follow your dreams, articulate your dreams, dream your dreams. The dreams will have their own advice, they don’t need me!

What are you obsessed with that has little-to-nothing to do with "work"?

Perfume! But I did start writing about it and now I’ll probably go and make some, but I’m trying to keep it amateur, as usual.