I was so sorry to learn of the passing of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. If you are not familiar with her work, this piece by Patricia Cohen in the New York Times puts her work and contribution into perspective. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, who died last week at 58, co-founded the influential scholarly field known as queer […]
What Breaks Will Break
Homestead in Dakota Territory Wintering Dakota Territory, 1884 Already, winter makes a corpse of things. Snow reshapes what ice has taken. You’ve lost interest in letters. So let sunrise come. Let smoke grow darker by the light of day— what I could spare of you I’ve burned already. The fencepost needs repair. Let sunrise come. […]
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Gong Sounding
A few more thoughts gleaned from the Guggenheim show, The Third Mind. This show was as closely aligned to my view of artmaking as any other exhibit I’ve ever seen. The experience is still reverberating for me several days later. Here are some provocative words from two giants, John Cage and Philip Guston. We learned […]
Old is Old, Dude (and Other Gender Curiosities)
Every once in a while I find a news bit that makes me feel that there may be some justice after all. This is particularly true in regard to the biological destiny (imperative?) that differentiates males and females. This piece, originally from the New York Times magazine, addresses how the perceived differences in prime breeding […]
Walking at Night Between the Two Deserts
Air Naturally it is night. Under the overturned lute with its One string I am going my way Which has a strange sound. This way the dust, that way the dust. I listen to both sides But I keep right on. I remember the leaves sitting in judgment And then winter. I remember the rain […]
The (un)Greening of our Brains
This is a very long article by Jon Gertner from the Sunday Times, but it is full of fascinating insights and worth the read if you have the time. I’ve included the first section but to continue reading, go to the Times site link at the bottom. Two days after Barack Obama was sworn in […]
Steve Reich Wins the Pulitzer Prize
This is such good news—composer Steve Reich won the Pulitzer Prize for his Double Sextet. Reich’s music has played such a significant role in my life. Back in 1976 I was living in Manhattan and I heard my first live performance of his legendary Music for 18 Musicians that year. It was unlike anything I […]
In Love with the One to Whom Every That Belongs
Open Window, Collioure, by Matisse What Was Told, That What was said to the rose that made it open was said to me here in my chest. What was told the cypress that made it strong and straight, what was whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made sugarcane sweet, whatever was […]
More on Ann Hamilton
Continuing from yesterday’s posting about the Guggenheim show, The Third Mind, here is Ann Hamilton discussing her installation, “human carriage” from an article by Scarlet Cheng in the Los Angeles Times: “You become aware of something through the culture and atmosphere you inhabit,” says Hamilton, who’s based in Ohio. “It’s an influence everywhere and nowhere […]
Misreadings, Mediations, Denials and Imaginary Projections
Ann Hamilton, human carriage What an extraordinary day spent in Manhattan at the Guggenheim and the Met. I’ll parse the joy one show at a time. “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: 1860-1989” is curator Alexandra Munroe’s brave revision of the influences that affected the complexity and richness of the American art tradition. Raised […]