John Baldessari: A Print Retrospective from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

I'm planning to see this exhibit today at the Legion of Honor Museum before it goes away.

I've been feeling like there's a Gigantic Colored Dot covering my face lately, so it should be a meaningful show to see!

pictured above: Stonehenge (with Two Persons)

In other news... Cognitive/Behavioral Therapy. Effective? Discuss.

The Boy-King

No, this entry is not about Michael, although I think he may have stolen some of his makeup tips from this other dude. (RIP, Michael, and I hope you find some much-needed sanity on the Other Side. )

It's about Tutenkhamun, the Boy-King of Ancient Egypt. I went with The Ex to see this huge exhibit that just opened here at the De Young museum. A lot of these treasures were first seen in the U.S. in a big travelling exhibit in the Seventies. This time, some of the more fragile pieces remained behind in Egypt, but the current exhibit is still amazing. The beauty of these objects that are 3000 years old is astounding.

The exhibit is mounted sort of like a Disneyland ride, using the latest technology and theatrical lighting to jazz things up and make the history of the era more accessible to children of all ages. More in-depth curatorial information may have been lost by this approach (I learned more about some of the details of King Tut's Tomb in a childrens' book in the kitschy gift emporium!) but on the other hand, I think people expect more bells and whistles when they go to a museum these days.

This exhibit is going to be here through next March and is a goldmine, literally, for the museum and surrounding neighborhoods.

Fun at the Museum

No, this isn't Ralph Lauren's latest look for Spring!

We went to the Yerba Buena Contemporary Art Museum yesterday ("We?" Am I now a "We"????) to see an exhibit of "soundsuits" by this artist Nick Cave. Extraodinary work-- I'd seen a few of them before in an exhibit of wearable art, along with some videos of them in action-- they have added creative value when the person inside of them is moving, dancing. Google Images: Nick Cave Soundsuits if you want to see more. They're this amazing mix of Tribal/ Assemblage/ Mardi Gras/ Cirque du Soleil/ Glinka/ Liberace.

Hope all y'all had a Happy Easter/ Passover!

RE:Ality and Non-RE:Ality TV: Jumping the Shark and Jumping the Grande Jeté

It's that depressing time of year when several Re:Ality TV shows wrap up their seasons and RE:Ality TV Addicts have to wait until early January for new seasons to begin. (Bachelor and American Idol, f'rnstance!)

I have been a rabid fan of Survivor since Day One, but I have to say, I was pretty disgusted with this Gabon season. So many unlikeable contestants, headed up by the Horrid and desparately in need of Long-Term Therapy Corinne and the Alcoholic Curmudgeon and Dog-Fancier Randy. I had trouble deciding who to root for. The H.S. Teacher dude who won deserved it, but he was a bit crusty for my tastes. "Sugar" was cute, but that's about it. I liked the Video Gamer... what was his name again? I guess the fact that I can't remember sums up everything about the season for me. Ken. Just looked it up on TelevisionWithoutPity.

Corrine reminded me of myself a few years back, when I thought that being sarcastic and mean was "interesting" and that nice people were boring. Hopefully she'll grow up one day and realize how ugly her attitudes are and how much they hurt others and herself.

Moving on to Stylista, my other guilty pleasure these past few months... Johannna won. She seems like the editorial type. I spent a few days freelancing at magazines back in the day in NY and those offices are full of gals like that. I think that DeShaun's downfall was that he couldn't spell or copy-edit for shit, and that is an important job-skill at the entry level. This show may be a one-season wonder, I'm not sure, but I enjoyed it. I so want to be "ON TREND" these days myself! The bitchery on this show was hard to take at times too, but at least it was comical, and everyone in the Fashion Biz is kind of like that anyway.

Last but not least, I wonder if any of my loyal blog-readers caught the PBS Dance In America Broadcast last night of my beloved San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker? It was exciting to see so many of my fave dancers on TV, and I thought it was very well-filmed. I see The Nutcracker just about every year. What I enjoy the most, aside from the gorgeous music and dancing, is seeing the all little girls in the audience in their velvet frocks, white saggy tights and black patent leather maryjanes.... the dressed-up mommies and daddies are fun too.

Happy Holidays all y'all! Only four more days of Retail Hell for me until my break next week, wooohoo!

At the Museum Cafe

I'm on a roll painting the ladies... this one was inspired by a sketch I did of a *big-boned gal* that I did while waiting to get into a overly-hyped exhibit at the de Young Museum... the exhibit was kind of sucky, but I had a delicious bowl of soup and got the inspiration for this painting out of my cultural expedition that afternoon.

All GlinkArt is 4Sale! ;-)

Such Treasures!

I just saved my old AOL journal onto Blogger. It's private, since I used to have no boundaries. Ahh, memories! Anyway, here's one of many gems: a wonderful little prose piece by some favorite homo artists of mine, Gilbert and George:

"We would honestly like to say to you, Art, how happy we are to be your sculptors. We think about you all the time and feel very sentimental about you. We do realize that you are what we really crave for and many times we meet you in our dreams. We have glimpsed you through the abstract world and have tasted of your reality. One day we thought we saw you in a crowded street, you were dressed in a light brown suit, white shirt and a curious blue tie, you looked very smart but there was about your dress a curious worness and dryness. You were walking alone, light of step and in a very controlled sense. We were fascinated by the lightness of your face, your almost colourless eyes and your dusty-blonde hair. We approached you nervously and then just as we neared you, you went out of sight for a second and then we could not find you again. We felt sad and unlucky and at the same time happy and hopeful to see more of your reality." --Gilbert & George, 1970

Impressions of Women Impressionists

No, it is not a picture of Madame Glinka at the Opera, it is a painting by Eva Gonzales...

I just came back from the Legion of Honor Museum where I went to see this show of four Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzalès, and Marie Bracquemond. I think the museum may have mounted this show in part because one of the major contributors to the museum owns a few of the displayed paintings in her private collection-- I couldn't help but notice that on the exhibit labels. The de Young and the Legion of Honor are kind of curatorially incestuous this way, but probably all museums are. Yes, I just checked the exhibit website and I found this: "The major patron for the exhibition is Diane B. Wilsey. " Way to flaunt the fabulosity of your private collection, Diane!

It was an okay exhibit, but there were too many paintings of women avec babies or nannies avec young children dans le jardin for my tastes. I was happier at the Frieda Kahlo exhibit that I saw last week at SFMoMA, which was edgy and angsty and psychologically interesting, if a bit overwrought.

The Women painters of the time (circa 1870-ish Paris) were on a very short leash socially: they weren't allowed to go out unaccompanied and so they often made domestic life their subject matter. There is an underlying theme of these artists having a way harder time being taken seriously and establishing their reputations than their male counterparts-- but I was surprised that I wasn't more moved by the paintings themselves. Maybe it's just me.

I wandered from that exhibit over into the permanent collection to visit my favorite Watteau in the museum and I also did a pretty cute sketch in my journal of a female bust that I may share in the next entry. (hmmm, there's a female bust in this entry too!)

Cultcha Shock

Wow, intense trip. Photos to come, I haven't figured out how to download them from a remote location yet. I was able to visit both the Metropolitan Museum of Art (there to see a Rembrandt show) and MoMA yesterday-- the new MoMA building was wonderful-- so large and modern and full of great spaces to showcase the artwork. I could have spent all day there. Seeing some of the famous paintings brought me to tears. A Picasso: Les Demoiselles D'Avignon-- something like that-- so shocking and sexy and wrong and right all at the same time. (Kind of like this trip.)

Eating out in restaurants in Queens is a challenge; the portions are gigantic.

People yell at each other here a lot. It's weird. There's a guy yelling at his wife right now in the parking lot, as I type. No wonder my childhood was so f***ed!

More later...