Sunday, March 28, 2010

On being "on time"


One is either an “on time” person or not. To be on time one must plan ahead and have a strategy. It is so simple and yet many of us still cannot seem to get some place at the properly appointed time. Is it a character flaw or a social construct? What’s your attitude about being “on time?”

(when asked “ what time is it?”, james replied, “ what time do you want it to be?)

Saturday, March 27, 2010

What we do ( part 2)


433.00 dollars-lots of ones, several fives and plenty of twenties. I didn’t even bother counting the change. Yard sales. A study in social behavior. What do people really want?
What are they willing to pay you?
I am intrigued with the entire process. Selecting the items you are willing to let go, pricing, setting the merchandise out, sitting waiting for people to buy your discards. Witnessing the drive-bys, the hagglers, the hunters, the gatherers.
Then it’s time to pack it all up again. Sneak back a few things you just can’t part with…yet.
Most of it in the trunk for donation. Clearing space for more stuff.

( towels I purchased at my neighbors yard sale that I will cherish. 1.00 for 2)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Food is Love


As far back as I can remember, food has been central to my life. Of course, we all need nourishment-that’s a given, but growing up in an Italian household-well, let’s just say, food-and by that I mean the growing of it, going to the market for it, preparing it and then finally sharing in the eating of it, is central to Italian culture. Memories abound of my father bringing home strange and exotic foods like wild cardoons, a relative of the artichoke. He would clean the woody stalks and boil them first then bread and deep-fry them in olive oil. The humble dandelion would grace our table every spring, sautéed and mixed into a frittata.
Of course there was the ubiquitous tomato. In late summer you would find many families in our neighborhood busy in the kitchen canning them, rows upon rows of beautiful jars of tomatoes with just the right amount of basil leaf. These tomatoes would be the primary ingredient in the Sunday sauce every week throughout the year.

One of my most vivid and tender memories as a child was when my father would make the Sunday sauce. He would always include a few pork bones for flavor. When the sauce was finished cooking he would take the bone out and offer me the “ mookoo” and I would suck the bone marrow out of the bone-the rich complex taste mingling with the tomato sauce. This offering was his special way of saying I love you.
Holidays at my grandparent’s house were riotous affairs with adults firmly planted “a tavola” drinking wine-and eating a never-ending feast. There was always some sort of drama but amidst the tension there was lots of laughter.

As children we would run in a pack, hungry little wolves, grabbing food while inventing elaborate imaginary games. I remember a July 4th, one of the cousins sneaking some of grandpa’s homemade wine
(It didn’t end well…). Most times we were content with our bottles of cherry soda from Black Rock Soda Company.

And the food- a never ending procession of homemade ravioli, manicotti, meatballs the size of tennis balls,
pizza with anchovies, olive salad, bracoile, and for Christmas, Grandpa’s legendary assortment of Italian cookies. Like most second-generation American children-I thought a lot of Grandpa’s food a bit strange. What were raisins doing in my meatballs and was that a hard-boiled egg in the sauce? The cookies had weird fig jam in them with anise flavoring.

What I would do for one of those cookies today.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The table and the bed



In the book, A Thousand Days in Tuscany, Barlozzo, the padrone of a small village in Tuscany has these words of wisdom:
“ They all know the truth, that there are only three subjects worth talking about…the weather, which as farmers, affects everything else. Dying and birthing, of both people and animals. And what we eat-this last item comprising what we ate the day before and what we’re eating tomorrow. And all three of these major subjects encompass, in one way or another, philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, the physical sciences, history, art, literature, and religion. We get around to sparring about all that counts in life but we usually do it while talking about food, it being a subject inseparable from every other subject.
It’s the table and the bed that count in life. And everything else we do, we do so we can get back to the table, back to the bed.”
From “A Thousand Days in Tuscany” by Marlena De Blasi

Friday, March 19, 2010

what we do


"...Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
Friday, Saturday, Saturday to Sunday....


"...i gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good night
that tonight’s gonna be a good good night

Tonight’s the night
let’s live it up
I got my money
Lets spend it up..."

(james just sold his '72 mercedes on craigslist....it truly is the end of an era.)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

It is about life


“To live for art ( Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore, as Callas sings in Puccini's Tosca), is to live a life of questioning. And if you believe, as I do, that to live for art demands that every other part of life be moved towards one end, then the question” How shall I live?” is fierce.”

Jeanette Winterson
Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Art Intersection 2011






Yes, we have decided. Two years without setting foot in Italia is just too long. We are in the midst of planning the next Art Intersection. June 1-10, 2011.
Let's start with the most important question: Would you like to join us?
Here's some pictures to help you decide.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Power of Red



It really doesn't matter how old you are. Sporting a pair of red shoes is an exercise in empowerment. Sparkly, shiny, high or low-if you got a pair put 'em on- if you don't you really should.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

It is genetic






Eric Smith aka Clockwork rocks the house!
That's my baby.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Gravity vs. Levity



Art Detour 2009
Either I'm becoming more reclusive in my old age or I have simply learned to edit.
Anyway, I am suggesting two venues not to miss:

Icehouse/Cathedral Room
Katherine Zsolt "Leaving my fathers house"

Tilt Gallery/"The Variety Show"/Aline Smithson

I'm sure there's dozens more...

Friday, March 5, 2010

it is a treasure


Lately,I have been very good at avoiding antique stores but yesterday we found ourselves visiting the downtown Glendale area with out of town guests. After eating a plate full of pirogi( worth the trip to downtown Glendale) at A Touch of European Cafe, we meandered around the area and I found three things I could not live without.
An aluminum tray with the words PIZZA embossed on it.
A vintage handkerchief( for a future book project we're working on).
A vintage graduate with etched numbers.

All pictured above

It is the simple things in life that give us joy.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Polaroid is Back! sometimes the impossible isn't impossible after all

The Impossible Project: www.the-impossible-project.com announced yesterday that they will be selling a variety of Polaroid Film.

from the Impossible Project Website:
" Polaroid is transforming itself from an analog Instant Film Production Company to a global Consumer Electronics and Digital Imaging company.

Production of analog Instant Film stopped in June 2008, closing the factories in Mexico (Instant Packfilm production) and the Netherlands (Instant Integral production).

Impossible b.v. has been founded with the concrete aim to re-invent and re-start production of analog INTEGRAL FILM for vintage Polaroid cameras.

Therefore Impossible b.v. has acquired the complete film production equipment in Enschede (NL) from Polaroid, has signed a 10-year lease agreement on the factory building; and has engaged the most experienced team of Integral Film experts worldwide.

The Impossible mission is NOT to re-build Polaroid Integral film but (with the help of strategic partners) to develop a new product with new characteristics, consisting of new optimised components, produced with a streamlined modern setup. An innovative and fresh analog material, sold under a new brand name that perfectly will match the global re-positioning of Integral Films.

image by Sx-70 guru-lucas samaras

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

it is poetic





Endings are bittersweet. Poetics of Light was dismantled and redistributed this past weekend. Thank you everyone who supported us and special thanks to everyone at Etherton Gallery.
pictured: Kate Breakey and coyote/Kate Breakey's installation dismantled/James Hajicek descending steep staircase/what remains