elated

the opening friday night was wonderful. and insane! it was so packed with people the gallery got hot! :D and that's 3000 square feet of tremendously high ceiling space we're talking about! it was amazing! the art-going public in san francisco rarely disappoints. they come out in droves and love to laugh and smile and join in the fashion parade too. it's impossible for a people-watcher to be bored here. if you're bored in san francisco you might have sadly been born without a capacity for joy.

i've been lost in my elation even since. :)

and i finally got to meet the sweet and talented and absolutely adorable artist Amanda Smith. if you don't know her work you are missing out! it is fantastic! gorgeous! and with a splash of darger on it that is unexpected and beautiful and just so intriguing! it was so wonderful getting to speak with her and we totally had one of those cute and awesome moments when you meet an artist who's work you love and you both say "I LOVE YOUR WORK!" at the exact say time! hahaha! :D i am so happy to have work on the same wall as her.

and this morning, dark and early, i took the first steps toward a few new year's resolutions and enrolled in spring classes. german and ceramics. i'm probably one of the extreme few art-nerds who, in high school, did not take 2 years of ceramics. i think i had one semester and then focused on drawing and poetry as my electives. anyway, i've been wanting to learn how to make crazy plates to hang on the walls for a couple years now so i figured why not now? especially after getting up close and personal with Amanda's work and seeing how beautiful ceramic art truly is. and the same goes for learning german. so many of my favorite artists and writers are from germany and austria. i'd love to be able to read the work of elfriede jelinik and herta muller in the original. though the translations are absolutely beautiful, it is apparent that some soul has been lost. and so here we go! i'm a bit nervous but also very excited! it's been a goal of mine for a very long time.

the month that stands between now and my first day of class is going to fly by in a crazy, wonderful blur of work and art. in the middle of the reception, Freya and i were already working out a plan for the january exhibition. :)

i am stunned by all that has happened and is happening.

from germany with love...

not entirely out of nowhere, but nevertheless sudden and unexpected, i've been seized by anything and everything GERMAN for the last 48 hours of my life... i mean, to the point of not really getting things done. that is how hard and hot and huge my fascination has been. it has me running back and forth between Anselm Kiefer paintings and Rammstein videos, from weird Nina Hagen operas to the poems of Paul Celan. i've even been listening to Falco (i miss you) even though he's Viennese, not German, but sang in German so i've allowed him in to my hot-tub too. and this fever shows no signs of breaking any time soon. i must learn this language so i can stop emailing the one person i know who speaks german, asking him for translations of songs and what not. i must get to Berlin and drink beer and chain-smoke and eat whatever the hell is put in front of me.



this is my favorite painting by mr. kiefer and i was lucky enough to see it in person at his retrospective at SFMOMA a couple years ago. there's just something about the led window drilled on top of this painting that holds me- a little grid that tries to establish order over chaos. and of course, touring through his massive, building-sized paintings and books, i had all sorts of inappropriate thoughts about a man who lists "semen" as one of his painting materials.



and a word of warning about this video- very artistic, but equally disturbing. written about a gruesome act of cannibalism/murder, "Mien Tiel" means "my part" and deals with the completely horrific fulfillment of Armin Meiwes personal ad.

brutal, fascinating, fearless, and completely compelling... i need to see Germany. i need to smell it and wander in its forests.