Brooklyn, NYC
September 15th, 2019
pom-di-pompom
Category: september 2019
Every time I go for a walk in the City, the City goes walking with me
Walking in New York
Central Park, Jean-Marie Appriou’s curious horses, the Met, and one of my favourite pastimes: window shopping… oh my, those peacocks…! I think I just found the most beautiful window displays in the City (they are for sale, by the way)…
September 14th, 2019
Legends of Cool
Iggy was in town, so where else could we be?
Iggy Pop joined longtime collaborator and friend, Jim Jarmusch to discuss the release of ”Free”, Iggy’s 18th studio album. There were stories to be shared, cool music to be heard, golf moves to be taught. By the way, the man in front of me with that gorgeous ”eye” vest I wish I’d owned, is another friend of Iggy’s and a legendary character of New York, Jimmy Webb who sadly passed away in April 2020 just seven months after the event.
September 11th, 2019
Weyes Blood, pronounced ”Wise Blood”
On her ”Something to Believe Tour” in support of her -then- newly released album ”Titanic Rising”, Natalie Laura Merin played in Webster Hall. An intriguing young artist that somehow manages to sound nostalgic and pragmatic, contemporary and retro – ageless, in equal measure. That, and her rich, mesmerizing voice singing lyrics like:
”No one’s ever gonna give you a trophy for all the pain and things you’ve been through…”
It was not long before Webster Hall fell under her spell.
Weyes Blood in NYC, September 7th, 2019
Cosmic Latte & Earthy Shades
”Cosmic Latte, refers to the name of the average color of the universe, which in 2009 was determined to be more beige than what has been traditionally thought of as blue. Two American astrophysicists studied the color of the light emitted by 200,000 galaxies and created a cosmic spectrum, which they then blended according to the light spectrum visible to human eyes. Finch represents that specific warm, yellowish-white shade of light with LED lights (designed to look like incandescent bulbs), which are then arranged in the shape of the molecular models of the pigments needed to create this “cosmic latte” color: titanium white, Mars yellow, chrome yellow, and a touch of cadmium red.” [source]
Spencer Finch || Cosmic Latte, 2017 ||
150 light fixtures and 417 incandescent bulbs, dimensions variable, one of 3 versions
Louise Bourgeois || The Couple, 2007-09 || Cast and polished aluminum, edition of six 
”North Adams is still an ideal place to live and to bring up children. We have the mountains. In the summertime, it’s not as hot as in the big cities. You have the change of seasons. You can see the change of scenery on the mountains. You see the trees blossoming, which is a beautiful sight. In the wintertime, the woods have a tremendous attraction. There’s a lot of noise in the woods in the winter. You see the footprints of so many animals. Of course, we get accustomed to this and don’t notice it as much. But those people who left North Adams miss the mountains. That’s the first thing they mention when they come back.”
– Benjamin Apkin, 78 years old (1996)
From a series of interviews with local residents, gathered and edited by author and historian Joe Manning
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
September 2nd, 2019
Anselm Kiefer
Dark || Stark || Emotional || Intense. Art that will stop you in your tracks.
Images from the Anselm Kiefer long-term exhibition:
die Schechina (Sefiroth), 2010
Painted resin dress, glass shards, steel, numbered glass discs, and wire in inscribed glass and steel vitrine
Engel-Sturz (The Fall of the Angels), 2010
Painted cotton dresses, wire, steel frame, glass pane, and oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, clay on canvas in inscribed glass and steel vitrine
Jakobs Traum (Jacob’s Dream), 2010
Lead ladder, painted cotton dresses, wire, resin fern, and oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, clay on canvas in inscribed glass and steel vitrine
Étroits sont les vaisseaux (Narrow are the Vessels), 2002 (detail)
concrete, steel, lead and earth
The Women of the Revolution (Les Femmes de la Révolution), 1992/2013 (detail)
Lead beds: dimensions variable
Winterwald (Winter Forest), 2010 (detail)
Oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, ash, thorn bushes, synthetic teeth, and snakeskin on canvas in glass and steel frames
Velimir Chlebnikov, 2004 (detail)
30 paintings: oil, emulsion, acrylic, lead and mixed media on canvas
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
September 2nd, 2019
All Utopias Fell
Except the one by Michael Oatman; this one is still standing.
All utopias fell is a project in three parts: The Shining, The Library of the Sun, and Codex Solis.
”The Shining is a 1970s-era satellite in the form of an Airstream trailer, that has seemingly just crash-landed; it was inspired by an earlier era of pulp aeronauts such as Buck Rogers, Tom Swift, and Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, as well as the works of Giotto, Jules Verne, NASA, and Chris Marker’s 1962 film La Jetée.
Intrepid visitors can climb a staircase through the Boiler House and enter the craft where they will encounter The Library of the Sun. Hybridizing a domestic space, a laboratory, and a library, this tight environment has the feel of a hermitage, where the occupant will “be right back,” only it is now 30 years later. Videos relating to the sun and its mythology flicker to life on the cockpit’s instrumentation panels.
Once inside the craft, visitors will be able to view Codex Solis, a massive field of photovoltaic (PVs) or solar panels. At 50kw, the field generates 3% of the power consumed by MASS MoCA. Within this 230-foot long grid, mirrors are interspersed in the middle of the field, the reflective gaps suggesting an absent text. The arrangement of mirrors and solar panels is based on a specific quote by an unnamed author, and will not be revealed by the artist; instead the public will be encouraged to spend time with the piece, watch the reflected sky, and solve the riddle as birds and planes, inverted, fly by.” [source]
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
September 2nd, 2019
Hypnosis
Artworks:
James Turrell || Dissolve (Curved Wide Glass), 2017
Joe Wardwell || Hello America: 40 Hits from the 50 States, wall drawing
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
September 2nd, 2019
Annie Lennox: ‘Now I Let You Go…’
”We interact with an infinity of objects from birth to the grave.
Over time our ‘belongings’ become more steeped and resonant with memory and nostalgia.
In many ways, personal objects express aspects of who we are — our identity: our values: our statements and choices.
The passages of time through which we exist become defined by the objects with which we interact.
The artefacts contained within the earthen mound — partially buried — partially excavated — have all played a part in my life.
I have had a special connection to each item presented — a connection that has been hard to relinquish.
In time, we will all disappear from this earth.
This is our destiny.
What will we leave behind? Who will remember us — and for how long?
The mound is a glorious metaphor for the ultimate conclusion of all material manifestations.
We cling — consciously or unconsciously to ‘things’ that are endowed with emotional significance — keeping memories alive, while the uncomfortable awareness of the inevitable moment of departure is held at bay.‘
Annie Lennox, May 2019
The exhibition was accompanied by a printed “field guide” in which Lennox annotated many of the objects on display, identifying the objects and adding recollections, personal stories, and provenance. [source & guide]
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
September 2nd, 2019
Pastel Rain
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
September 2nd, 2019
The Humble Fabulist 