The Frieze Fair, the UK’s biggest art fair, is currently open in London. A lot of the coverage of this high profile event has focused on how the global financial crisis will impact high roller art sales. That’s not the channel I’m watching, but a recent article in the Guardian by Sarah Thorton had something […]
The Long Arc
The ever clever and often contrarian Malcolm Gladwell has a piece in this week’s New Yorker that brings a refreshing perspective to the old saw about artistic genius residing primarily in the young. As I’ve gotten older I’ve paid increasingly more attention to the creative breakthroughs that happen after 50. And it may surprise you […]
Onion Love
Valentine Not a red rose or a satin heart. I give you an onion. It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. It promises light like the careful undressing of love. Here. It will blind you with tears like a lover. It will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief. I am trying to […]
- Aesthetics
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Tara Donovan
I’ve been a big fan of Tara Donovan for several years, and I am very excited to see her new show at the ICA in Boston this week. I bought the catalog for the show in anticipation, and it is excellent–authored by Nicholas Baume, Jen Mergel and Lawrence Weschler (LW is a particular personal favorite.) […]
- Architecture
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Renzo Piano’s Latest Hit: California Academy of Sciences
Renzo Piano’s California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco has all the makings of a destination building. Think of this as the Bilbao of the science museum world. Legends about its remarkable genesis are already circulating: One we heard was that when Piano visited the existing structure in Golden Gate Park (a building I remember […]
Birds Circling
Clouds Gathering It seemed the kind of life we wanted. Wild strawberries and cream in the morning. Sunlight in every room. The two of us walking by the sea naked. Some evenings, however, we found ourselves Unsure of what comes next. Like tragic actors in a theater on fire, With birds circling over our heads, […]
Being Danced
I Wish I Could Speak Like Music I wish I could speak like music. I wish I could put the swaying splendor Of the fields into words So that you could hold Truth Against your body And dance. I am trying the best I can With this crude brush, the tongue, To cover you with […]
Beyond Words
One of the few smiling Buddha images, Shey monastery in Ladakh Trying to speak about the ultimate reality is like sending a kiss through a messenger. Rumi An appropriate thought to meditate upon when the urge towards speechlessness is strong…
- Architecture
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Hope, and More
We’ve all gone to San Francisco for a few days, and for a good cause: My life long friend Kevin Simmers–our history began when we were 11 years old–is getting married to his partner of 22 years, Ed Carrigan. The photograph above was taken through one of the new De Young Museum’s many perforated screens. […]
The Curator’s Touch
Curator extraordinaire Kate Fleming with my daughter Kellin at a previous show at the Gallery at 38 Cameron A curator who knows her stuff is a great gift to an artist. Thank you to powerhouse Kate Fleming for pulling my work together in such an exemplary way for my show at 38 Cameron. She created […]