parting gift for dos :(

sean alexander

wow. this guy is great. the middle one is called "chorus of boos".

picking battles

LS: "no."

NM: "yes."

LS: "fine."

~the end~

writing a frottage lesson (the art kind, not the sexy kind)

image by surrealist max ernst

~maybe overposting her lately but whatever. nina does a mean 'suzanne' cover (bit cheerier than mr. cohen, in all of his creepy loveliness). somehow matches the grey&green of this spring rain~

something from nothing.

 mountainous, not monotonous.

gown.

cheer up, sad gal.

rosie got a haircut. then i made her look like a turtle.

rivkah lapidus

i'm not much of a writer, so i honestly don't think that i could aptly describe what i saw in rivkah lapidus' studio (during somerville open studios this weekend) and how it made me feel, but i will try. i was stuck between wanting to take everything home with me and wanting to insist that it was preserved immediately in a museum. her materials are simple - and often recycled - and her techniques do not make for the most pristine of products, but everything is so precious.

rivkah has many different series in a variety of mediums. she's made a great number of assemblages which incorporate her family photographs (or photocopies of them). she displays the photos in many ways: sometimes they are in jars; sometimes they are in display cases or shadow boxes; she often uses miniature chairs and couches. i opened the door of an icebox which resembles a two-floor structure where photos of her family meet and mingle amongst the miniature chairs, under the glow of a simple string of christmas lights. they look out at you with familiar faces seeming as though they are greeting you upon your arrival. i would not have dreamed of asking her to purchase any of the family assemblages, but i really loved each one of them (especially that icebox).

the paintings that i purchased (two of the four can be seen above) are from a series of miniatures, most of which are painted on the back of playing cards. they seem to call upon mythologies, the kama sutra, and klimt, among other things. she had an enormous number of variations in this series, i searched through several pages for quite a while before making my final choices. rivka told me that she had painted them one particularly hot summer while sitting in her air-conditioned car. this makes sense.

the chihuly exhibit at the mfa boston is awesome, especially this ceiling installation. people basically just sit in this room staring at the ceiling, smiling. there is so much to see and it is different from each position you take. i wished it were more acceptable/sanitary to lie down on the museum floor; may go back during a slower time to do so...

it is extremely difficult not to touch anything (so smooth, so shiny).

one room has a boat overflowing with creature-y/plantlike passengers. it floats on a shiny shiny black reflective surface, and makes me think of willy wonka's candyland room with the chocolate river, which makes me think of oompa loompas, which kind of bugs me out, but it's wonderful anyhow.

one room is full of beautiful bong-like sculptures.

another has vessels within vessels within vessels juxtaposed with a wall of woven blankets and another of woven baskets.

the next is like a long patch in a strange glass garden that made me wish i were a soft little bunny so that i could bound through it without destroying things.

in the next room "chandeliers" (though reminiscent of chyrsalises or alien pods) hang from the ceilings cascading with swirls and loops of color.

it didn't feel too short nor too long. and the wall text (i didn't read it all) included very matter-of-fact statements from the artist that didn't try to make more out of the art than it is-- just pretty fucking cool to look at.