season's

there's something grand about the piss-take

Brett Whiteley - The 15 Great Dog Pisses of Paris - 1989
Oil, charcoal, plaster, collage, and resin on canvas, 154cm x 138.5cm

wishing everyone a merry piss-take

hot legs

i can't remember what set me off, but i decided one day that it would be wonderful to have a set of the beautiful rose-pink stockings worn by matadors.

a spot of canny research found a site that sells medias (stockings) for a mere € 76, which is roughly $125-$130.

by chance (and dumb luck) i was strolling passed (past??) the allanah hill shop in howey place and saw some delicously pink socks for sale. $15 i have some not quite silk matador medias ...! olé!

down among the dead men

when i was a kid there was a song called down among the dead men
a nautical tune, which made me think of pirates (the video, see below if you care to, courtesy of youtube tells me it's more titanic than pirate)
reason i thought of this was a cafe report on 3000 - dead man espresso, the review makes it sound a bit cowboy, but my association is still water & pirate
3000 also told me about this tattoo, in a book called home made tattoos rule
trying to find it, i came across another site which gave diy info on home made tatts, in case you're interested

i've included a playing card found object - i thought about playing cards the other day while crossing the street. how they're a good found object, easily tranferable (like cash), they can carry meanings or be aesthetic and of themselves...

rainbows on a cloudy day

because rainbows can pop up anywhere,

taking a thought for a spin

it all started with this picturetraditional wire fishing baskets, dubai - photo dan kitwood

which led me to these

of course, there's lots more that can be done with hoops
mechanise them
race them

words to
shift
the images
down
the images down
down
downftdownndown

or build with them,

words to
shift
the images
do
the images down
down
this is a rather wonderful "hoop dome" playground
words to
shift the images
down the images down down down

the images down down down

e images down
down
the images down down

down

or just swing em the old fashioned way

...

another hoop skirt!

addendum, 7 dec...

addendum, 7 dec...

addendum, 7 dec...

addendum, 7 dec...
oh, you know life is grand! flipping through tate etc, issue 17 i came across a baldessari interview, and this image,

john baldessari

trying to

roll a hoop in a perfect circle (best sequence 216 frames)

another kind of circle work!

travelling north

i hate seeing those bumper stickers, magic happens, but i nevertheless believe it.
i saw some magic the other day.
i watched joanna lumley venturing toward the north pole on a quest to see the northern lights, inspired by a book she had a small child, ponny the penguin

it is a charming and winsome doco
no, not informative (as some reviewers have crossly pointed out)
it was an adventure born in a small child's mind, and joanna journeyed to fulfil her adventure with a small child's curiosity and wonder.
and it was marvellous.

i know how she felt because when i was small, we had a beautifully illustrated copy of the snow queen, and as gerda goes on her quest to find kay, she goes into the high north. one of the pages shows a tiny gerda running across the snow while the sky is big with dark and ominous northern lights (atoms flung by solar winds)
so strange.
i think i might try for the southern lights though ... maybe in tasmania

when sophie met marcel, or proust part 3

questions to ask yourself, or to let sophie calle and grégoire bouillier ask you...(as seen in Jacket 28, Oct 2005 )

When did you last die?

i die a little each night and am reborn in my dreams

What gets you out of bed in the morning?
love & coffee image is from here, lovely blog about food and love

What became of your childhood dreams? I carry them in a pocket in my heart

What sets you apart from from everyone else?

dna, I suppose

What is missing from your life? being close to the sea

Do you think that everyone can be an artist? nope - being artistic doesn't mean you have the drive or discipline to be an artist; producing bad work doesn't preclude you either. being a dilletante does, though.
bunnies >>
Mari Newman is showing a collection of works at MOBA. While many pieces were taken from dumpsters or found in abandoned buildings, Mari seems to have willingly submitted.
The Museum of Bad Art (MoBA) in the Dedham Community Theater . It's in the basement outside the men's bathroom, illuminated by a single fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling.
Where do you come from? the other side of the universe

Do you find your lot an enviable one? i’ve never thought about it, but having heard the question I wonder what someone else would have done with it.

What have you given up? my “youth"
What do you do with your money? buy fripparies

What household task gives you the most trouble?

what household tasks don't give me most trouble?
What are your favorite pleasures?

sleeping, laughing and loving

What would you like to receive for your birthday? time to unravel and sprawl

Cite three living artists whom you detest.

jeff koons, juan davila, gilbert & george. all yuck!

What do you stick up for? myself, and a weird set of ethics and morals – recycling plastic, driving savviness, not being mean, painting elephants

What are you capable of refusing? various cuts of meat

What is the most fragile part of your body? my mind
(illustration of/by david shrigley's mind...)








What has love made you capable of doing? believing and trying

look at these billboards of love

What do other people reproach you for? being late and forgetting

What does art do for you? it makes me catch my breath, think and imagine - what i love most is that art is everywhere

Write your epitaph. we just thought she was sleeping

In what form would you like to return?
a parrot

sophie answers some freize questions (and reiterates the ones above)

What do you wish you knew?At this moment, I wish I knew how to answer your questionnaire, even though it would not change things much if I could.
What images keep you company in the space where you work?

In my studio there is a stuffed giraffe that I bought when my mother died, to replace her. Her name is Monique too, and she looks at me from on high with sadness and irony, just like my mother did. So in a way it is the image of my mother that keeps me company.

What was the first piece of art that mattered to you? What is your favourite title of an art work?
Why is it so easy to talk about my mother’s death and go absolutely blank when asked about a work of art that matters, or its title? I guess because I never ask myself that kind of question.

What could you imagine doing if you didn’t do what you do? What should change? What music are you listening to? What are you reading? What is art for?

I should have been a secret agent: if I were secret enough no one would ask me what music I listen to, what books I read, or what art is for. I don’t like to answer questions. At the opening of the show, ‘Dislocations’, at New York’s MoMA in 1991, I was introduced for the first time to Louise Bourgeois. She told me, drily: ‘If you have any questions for me, ask my son.’ Out of irritation, I said: ‘I don’t have anything to ask you’. To which she replied: ‘Aren’t you the one who asks questions?’ Indeed. So here’s a questionnaire for you.

When did you last die? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What became of your childhood dreams? What sets you apart from everyone else? What is missing from your life? Do you think that everyone can be an artist? Where do you come from? Do you find your lot an enviable one? What have you given up? What do you do with your money? What household task gives you the most trouble? What are your favourite pleasures? What would you like to receive for your birthday? Cite three living artists whom you detest. What do you stick up for? What are you capable of refusing? What is the most fragile part of your body? What has love made you capable of doing? What do other people reproach you for? What does art do for you? Write your epitaph. In what form would you like to return?

I don’t think my mother would have chosen to return as a stuffed giraffe in the studio of her daughter, but she is dead.

i spy, or things are not always as they seem

mirage no 1
robert smithson at the museum of contemporary art (los angeles)
photo: mario anzuoni/reuters

good image!



and another, this time by photographer/street artist j.r. - his work in a rio favela, brazil
a photo pasted along a steep set of stairs in the favela morro da providencia as part of his ingoing 28mm: women project.
reviewed here

simple

it's important to keep things simple
keeping things simple doesn't mean you avoid the sophisticated, complex or complicated
i'm not sure what i mean by this, but it feels right to me

anyway, i've seen some things lately which have felt the right kind of "simple" to me








all of this, mural at bodega

these dots

this cityscape

this collage

a very smart kind of business card,