his color stories are enchanting.

h

the photodiarist, like the sartorialist, has become for me a near-mythical figure: a lone man, skulking about the city of new york, camera in tow, capturing moments i manage to miss. encountering them on the street - as fan, observer, subject, benevolent stalker - would make my decade.

for their work, i am quite thankful.

h

latest drawing (with more progress)

can you spot the differences between this and the previous post of this piece? heh heh, kidding. one major one is reinforcing the lines, which (surprisingly) diminished the force of the red more than i anticipated… and i may have added some more lines - see if you can find them!

h

okay, actually, it’s a website of my buddy derek’s photography. i really dig his stuff. his work makes me feel like i’m really seeing new york (or massachusetts or wherever else he wanders), even if i am sitting around the apartment in front of the computer.

latest drawing (in progress)

thoughts?

i’ve come across his work before in magazines - though i didn’t take note of the name. then garance dore, fashion blogger adorable, [re]introduced us. merci garance.

h

*the portraits are kind of a big deal, i think.

[untitled] - oil, canvas

i rarely paint with oil. i’d say never, but this painting would betray me. a primary reason for my avoidance is that, when it comes to painting - perhaps other things, i am not very patient. and oil never dries. never.

that said, i am seriously reconsidering my position. mainly because for all its holding out, oil is a sick medium to work in. (sick in the good way.) and because i like a challenge, right? right.

h

so i went to the centre pompidou in paris today. it houses contemporary and modern art. let me just say, first, it blew my mind. i could gush on and on about it - the special exhibitions and collection alike (not to mention the structure itself). but i will dedicate the first (of many? only?) to the entree to an exhibition on/of women artists… and a couple of my favorite pieces.

i suppose the absence of women artists from the grand stages of art-dom is rather conspicuous… still, it’s something i hadn’t thought much about. which is weird. and really quite sad, in light of my, um, position. of course, i am not alone in my neglect.

one part that struck me was a montage(?) by guerilla girls, a group of women artists/advocates alerting the rest of us to the state of affairs. the poster rhetorically asking “does a woman have to be naked to get into the met museum?” is, at first, kind of funny. i mean, come on, right? but quickly it becomes tragic that much of the same pedestal-building marginalization that occurs in so many other realms has apparently pervaded the [institutional] art world. a world generally conceived of as so liberated/-ing and creative and lefty.

the work in this exhibition was thoughtful, provoking, engaging, challenging, and, sometimes, intensely beautiful. i’m so delighted just to have been introduced - enchanté mes amies.

h

[untitled] - digital photograph

taken at a fortaleza in old san juan, puerto rico.