Tar magazine was an experiment to answer the timeless question: If you put some celebrities' kids together with a bunch of random art world names, will you make a super successful magazine? No, you won't. Live and learn.


Joe Pompeo reports that Tar is "on hold," or maybe just dead. After only two issues! What is the magazine business coming to when concerted celebunepotism can't bring in the big buck$$$??

Alexandra Kerry (daughter of John) and John Mailer (son of Norman) were recruited as staff editors, as was Zoe Wolff, former features director at Domino.

They even had crap in there from Matthew Barney and Damien Hirst and Julian Schnabel and Ryan McGinley and Kate Moss! Perhaps the trouble was that people saw this mag and wondered, "Why does this themeless mish-mash of buzzy names exist, seriously?" Oh, wait: "'tar' is an anagram of art, the distillation of organic matter, sticky stuff we pave roads and secure roots with—a foundation."

They had a coherent philosophy. The problem here was you, the public. Thanks a lot. Alexandra Kerry just wanted to change the world.