Happy Birthday to my sister!!!

Who better to sing you a birthday song than Bono? Just ignore the lines written for Nelson Mandela. So even though I'm posting this the night before her actual birthday, I dedicate this to my favorite sister :)

Book Exchange Update

Once again I find myself disappointed in the selection of books at the Fairway book exchange. One actually made me laugh though, and I couldn't help but take it, simply because I wanted to share the image on the cover. Chuck Noris?!? Really? If you can't read the caption in the upper corner, it says "ONLY MATT HUNTER CAN STOP THE SOVIET UNION'S ULTIMATE PLOT." What ultimate plot would that be? An American bloodbath of course. Written in 1985, this book is about "lone wolf" Matt Hunter who is out to kill Rostov, "Russian commander of a terrorist cadre sowing chaos and destruction in every one of the fifty states." Invasion U.S.A. ... if only I could stop laughing long enough to actually read this thing.

My Expensive Taste

Once again I have chosen some of my favorites from the latest Sotheby's auction; this was from a collection of 19th century paintings.

Square de Cluny by Stanislas Lepine $7,500

Jeune Fille Lisant by Charles Louis Lucien-Muller $11,250

Le Domino Rose by John Humphreys Johnston $23,500

Les Reverences a la Lune by George Marie Julien Girardot $66,750

Paintings Edge

Fred Tomaselli was a guest lecturer tonight at Idyllwild Arts as part of the Paintings Edge workshop. I have been keeping my eye out for lectures to begin for the Hot Clay Ceramics Workshop, but when I looked at the calender tonight at saw Fred Tomaselli's name I had a minor freak out; he's a pretty big name in the art world right now, and rightfully so.

The first time I saw Fred Tomaselli's work was at the MOCA exhibit Ecstasy: In and About Altered States. Tomaselli works mostly in large scale, multimedia collage; newspaper clippings, pressed leaves, pills, and paint coated in resin. The multiple layers of items, seen through the resin, appear to float above the wood surface. The first reaction of most, non-museum trained, visitors was to reach out to touch the work in order to investigate the illusion. I remember a guard, placed directly by Tomaselli's paintings in order to prevent this. I had always thought that the reason his work was in the exhibit was because of this drug like visual effect and the cannabis leaves, and pills embedded inside the resin. However, now I know that part of the reason he was included in the show is that is works often explore the way people choose to escape reality; he uses the pills and leaves to visually alter perspective rather than alter perspective through ingestion of those substances.

Here is one of the works that was featured in Ecstasy, "Hanging Tree"; this piece is about 6'X 8'.

This piece "Avian Flower Serpent" was done for Tomoselli's son to commemorate the hawk they saw swoop down and grab a snake to eat.

"Migrant Fruit Thugs"

I most appreciated how thoroughly Tomaselli knows his art history, this work "Guilty" is a good example of that. It is a work inspired by "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden," a title that has been assigned to many works by many artists including Masaccio,Thomoas Cole, Michaelangelo, Durer, and William Blake. To see an article in the New York times translated into such a classic theme impressed me.

Mostly I enjoyed listening to an artist that has truly made it, but still has life in perspective. He told us that, as an artist, he always expected to have a day job in addition to doing what he loves. Now his day job IS his art, but before that he was also a mechanic and a wood craftsman. When a member of the audience asked, "What's it like to be a famous artist?" Tomaselli responded, "What does that even mean? That no one knows who I am except you guys?"

Book Exchange Update

I was curious about the state of the book exchange at Fairway, so after work tonight I took a detour to check it out. I don't know if I should be proud or sad. There are now TWO gray tubs and they are full of books; none of those books are books I had left either, so I felt that my contribution benefited someone. However, the selection of books available in those tubs was dismal. Dozens of freaking romance novels...dozens. I bet the perpetrator of these romance novel donations is someone on the inside...which Fairway employee is responsible? I must acknowledge the one book that was not a romance novel, one I have actually read and would recommend, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown; it's nothing spectacular, but at least it isn't His Dark and Dangerous Ways. Arrrggghhh....

Happy Fathers Day!

When we were younger, my sister and I would often ask to have poems read to us before bed. Each parent had their designated poems, memorized and recited so many times that the book they held was merely a prop to add to the drama. One of my dad's poems was Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. So in honor of that poem and in honor of my dad I dedicate Jabberwocky as performed by the Muppets.

For over a year now there has been a "Book Exchange" at Fairway Market. In reality it's just a glorified gray tub, tucked into a space on a shelf between the dog food and the scratcher machine; it usually contains about six or seven romance novels. Every time I see this tub I cringe. "Book Exchange" suggests that there are books that I would like to read and am willing to trade one of my books for. I hate to think of tourists who come into town and glance with hopeful eyes at the tub as they check out. The tourists would say to themselves, as their overpriced broccoli is being scanned, 'Perhaps there is a book, enriching and enjoyable, that I can read as I sit beneath the trees outside my cabin.' However, upon glancing inside the gray tub, they see Naughty Paris, What Happens in Vegas, Kidnapped by the Cowboy, and The Wealthy Widow. The tourist must wonder, what kind of town is this? I thought I was visiting a small town with art and culture, but these books would suggest otherwise. In the words of Dawn Adams "Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends." If these are the books that represent this town, than I think we need to find better representation.

Today I acted on my embarrassment for that "Book Exchange" and put new, non-romance, books in the gray tub. My book shelves are over loaded anyways, and I seldom read a book more than once. Why not pass on some of my old sociology books and other interesting reads? I hope this is the end of the era of the romance novel at Fairway Market.

Reverse Graffiti

I have been re-reading one of my favorite books over the past couple of days"Off the Map" by Hib & Kika. This is a rare endeavor for me, I rarely read a book more than once, but the imagery is so beautiful in this story; when I need to read something uplifting it's always a good read. One passage struck me today though, reminding me of the parable of the Good Samaritan:

"It wasn't exactly a high traffic area. Every five minutes a car of churchgoers sped by in their Sunday best. My mood had put a big dopey smile on my face, which I directed outwards at my fellow humans, the goodness of whom I fully trusted we would soon be graced with.

Unfortunately most of these humans were more interested in gracing God than in gracing us, and their worship bound minivans with rows of empty pew-like seats had a funny way of speeding up when they saw us standing on the shoulder. After a while the shoulder began to feel like an armpit. My faith was wilting."

Now, this isn't about a beaten man in need of help and receiving nothing from the pious, but the element of avoiding coming to the aid of a fellow human being is certainly there. The hypocrisy of teaching love and practicing avoidance for the sake of, ultimately, yourself.

I Now Call Attention to...

...a new blog that fascinates me Cassette From My Ex; there is a link under "Places to Waste Time." I wasn't dating during the age of the cassette, but I do love a good mix tape with meaning. Just check it out, it's an interesting sociological endeavor.

Mapping Idyllwild: Stephan Koplowitz Taskforce

An artistic event has taken place in Idyllwild over the past three days;"Mapping Idyllwild" featuring choreography by Stephen Koplowitz and the Taskforce Dance Company. It was a series of dance performances that took place at several locations on the hill; The Rustic Theater, The Troys at Idyllwild Arts, The Historic Society, Humber Park, The Fort, Inspiration Point, and Town Hall. Sadly, I was working during most of the performances, but I did make it to the performance today at the Town Hall. The performance took place on both the inside and outside stage. There were two audiences, one at each stage, and the dancers would cross through the center door between the two. After the first performance, the audiences switched places to experience the alternative perspective. I began at the outdoor stage.








This is a multi city project, and each performance will be built around whatever location the dancers travel to. The next city to host the performance piece will be LA from June 29-July 6.

Congratulations Graduates

My pictures are from a distance because I wasn't in the mood to battle the crowd for a shot of the girls. So here they are, the four graduating Idyllwild girls, in a pretty green row.

Leah Reeder

Carol Everhart

Nicole Patterson

Gennesse Sandlin

Orientalism

Recently the results of a European painting auction were posted on Sotheby's. I was shocked as I looked through the images and realized that these were prime examples of something I had read about in my Contemporary Asian Art class, Orientalism. Orientalism, as defined by Edward Said, is a series of false assumptions about Eastern culture, expressed by a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture." European artists would often depict exotic lands and people in images and sculpture as though they were documentary works; voyeuristic in nature, the art was intended to appear educational and factual. Emphasizing the strangeness of Eastern countries, artists perpetuated a vision of a strange land; whether those artists had ever seen an Eastern land or not.

I was surprised to see that these paintings and sculptures were still being presented as documentary works. It made me wonder how many of those pieces were purchased because of the same stereotypes of a strange land that caused those pieces to be created in the first place.


"Odalisque" by Edward Cucuel $29,300 Cucuel was an American, born in San Francisco in 1875. He moved to Europe in the 1890s and studied as a painter in Paris; he settled in Berlin for an extended time before returning to the United States. He never traveled to the Middle East though. How did he find the model for this painting then? Notice the strange paleness of the "Middle Eastern" model and the ambiguity of the cloth draped room. This painting glorifies the mystery of Middle Eastern women, but does it allow for true appreciation of those women? Or does this painting simply lend to a stereotype?

"An Arab Warrior with Standard" by Henri Ple $30,500 Ple was a French artist, who had also never seen a real Arab. This sculpture emphasizes the stereotype of violent, uncontrollable, men.

"At the Fountain" by Franz Bergman $7,500 A sculpture that emphasizes the strange, religious, and mysterious qualities of Eastern countries.

"Femme Voilee (a veiled woman)" by Jean Leon Gerome $36,500 Once again, notice the pale flesh of the woman; artists often created Eastern women by modeling them after European women. It is assumed that most of these artists didn't think much, or care, about the differenced between Middle Eastern skin tones and European skin tones.

"Her Favorite Pet" by Adolphe Weisz $19,700 I like this one because of, again, the skin tone of the model and because of the idea that in Eastern lands it's common to have lions as pets. Don't all Middle Eastern women dress like that and sit around on embroidered cushions while scratching the chin of their favorite lion?