Friday, December 12, 2014

A Jealous Exhibition


I really enjoyed the show Danielle Krysa (aka The Jealous Curator) has put together for the Bedford Gallery. Based on her book Creative Block (which I mentioned the other day here), Danielle has gathered work from an incredibly various, yet somehow also amazingly cohesive group of artists. Here are some of my favorite pieces from the show--

Above, a painting by Holly Farrell


Kate Pugsley


Amanda Happe


(another) Holly Farrell


Aris Moore


Stephanie Vovas


Alyson Fox


Danielle Krysa (also an herself, multitalented lady that she is)


Leah Giberson


Lisa Golightly


Hollie Chastain


Jennifer Davis


Lisa Congdon


Martha Rich

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Poetry Thursday Brings the Continuation of the Long-Running Poem Saga about the Spring of 2006




May 16, 2006
Yesterday afternoon and evening

I had this persistent headache
that came and went
but would never fully go away
At one point I lay in a lukewarm bath
with the lights off and only the lamp from the hall
That helped
As I looked around the room in the dimness
I saw our two washcloths hung up differently
mine hanging down, his folded over
and that led me to think about how we are different
and separate though so much connected
And I thought of the old couple turned into side-by-side trees in the greek myth
the idea being that they have grown together so their branches intertwine
And I imagined that sometimes it’s hard to tell where one stops and the other starts
but that at other times
in the late autumn say
always assuming these are deciduous trees we’re talking about here
it would be quite easy to see which was which
I thought maybe this would be a good image for the opening of a novel
about an old person looking back on his or her marriage
but then again maybe it was sort of trite
I also listened to the water drip
and to the bubbles in the bubblebath pop
to the noises of the building around me
pipes rattling and footsteps mostly
voices
laughter
The very aspect of apartment living that bothers so many people
everyone stacked up one on top of another
I realized is to me a comfort
It makes me feel safe even when I’m hurting
a cocoon of anonymous humanity wrapped protectively around me




image source is here

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Best of


The inimitable site Brain Pickings has come out with it's list of the best art, design, and photography books of 2014. There are a number of books on this list that I own, many more that I covet, and several that--if we're being honest--I'm rather green-eyed about professionally. But most of all I am majorly honored that three Chronicle books--two of which I edited--are on this list. Whatever You Are Be a Good One by Lisa Congdon, and Thoughts on Design by Paul Rand are the two exemplary volumes I am proud to have worked on, and Creative Block by my pal Danielle Krysa was edited by my lovely colleague Kate Woodrow. Go art go!




Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Coolest Women Alive



The other day, when composing this post, I wrote that Lisa Bonet may be one of the coolest people of all time. That in turn reminded that, in a post over the summer, I opined that Vivienne Westwood might be the coolest person on the planet This in turn got me thinking about other awesome people, from Tilda Swinton to Tauba Auerbach. And so it is that that I now present to you my ultimate definitive, entirely subjective and personal, list of the Coolest Women Alive. These amazing people need no introduction. Without further ado--

(above) Patti Smith


YuanYuan Tan


Tavi Gevinson


 Lydia Davis

Lisa Bonet


Yoko Ono


Sofia Coppola

 

Vivienne Westwood
 

Hilary Mantel

Solange Knowles


Caitlin Moran


Maira Kalman


Susie Bubble


Meryl Streep


Tauba Auerbach


Tilda Swinton

Monday, December 8, 2014

Sorting the Candy


It was pure good luck that this photo, of the essential post-Halloween ritual of sorting out all the candy on the living room floor, popped out of the camera with a pumpkin-orange-colored border.

Friday, December 5, 2014

Tauba Auerbach


Let's just pause to contemplate, for a moment, the utter awesomeness that is the artwork of Tauba Auerbach. She does all kinds of stuff and all of it is amazing. (and, as a side note, she is also has utterly fab fashion sense--see final image). Let's feast our eyes, shall we?