jameswagner.com

(tell him it's not his to give away)

Nothing Michael Bloomberg has done yet has disgusted me more than his mindless support of the government of Israel's bloody insanity in Gaza while he's wrapped in the trappings of the high office of the cosmopolitan City of New York.

Some of us prefer to think before we act, and we don't pretend to represent an entire constituency when we do.

While he's talking about the right of a government to defend oneself, referencing a mighty military state allied with the most powerful nations on earth, a nation which actualized its people's 2,000-year old memory of a homeland only 60 sixty years ago, why can't the mayor of all New Yorkers bring himself to recognize the rights of an almost people who are almost powerless and have virtually no allies, whose memory of a homeland is more vivid and within living memory, going back, as it does, only those same 60 years?

Bloomberg may understand money and power (he bought his own political office and since then he's learned to emulate Putin), but apparently nothing else. His sympathies have always been with the guy on top, and that's where they remain today.

He's a damned fool, but that doesn't make him any less dangerous.

[image of the Great Seal of the City of New York from citizenarcane]

Gilbert & George Finding God 1982 eighty four hand dyed photographs mounted in metal frames 166.5" x 238.5"

Gilbert & George Existers 1984 mixed media 95.25" x 139"

Gilbert & George The General Jungle or Carrying on Sculpting 1970-1974 [one enormous panel, from a set of twenty-three, in charcoal on canvas-backed paper]

We visited the Brooklyn Museum with some friends from the borough across the waters on Saturday afternoon. We picked the date at least partly because it was one of the institution's monthly Target First Saturdays, and the first of a new year. On these days the museum is open until 11, and from 5 in the afternoon there is no admission charged and there are special programs of art and entertainment. The café serves sandwiches, salads, and beverages and there's a cash bar with wine and beer. I have no precise way of pinning down the demographic, but I'd be willing to bet that most of the happy crowd, of every level of sophistication, which we saw devouring the art on each floor were Brooklynites happy to be sharing their great museum with friends and family.

museums are hot

We went because it's one of the best museums in the country, but I'm doing this post because I love that the institution is so serious about engaging with its community and because, more than any other New York Museum, the Brooklyn appears to be committed to enlarging the scope of the free use of photography within its galleries whenever possible.

We wandered through many of the exhibition spaces, but we were anxious not to miss two installations in particular. One was Jesper Just's gentle exhibition of four films, billed with the title of the artist's latest film, "Romantic Delusions", and the other was the huge Gilbert & George retrospective installed on two floors. The Just closed yesterday, but the traveling Gilbert & George show will be here through Sunday.

I've been a fan of Just for years, but I think I had earlier found the work to be somewhat more enigmatic than it should have been. Being able to see these four works in one installation significantly expanded my appreciation of his explorations.

It was pretty embarrassing to be reminded of how ignorant I was about the career of that most excellent pair, Gilbert & George, but following my visit with these "living sculptures" I felt somewhat enlightened, very impressed, and absolutely charmed.

A final note: Not until after we had left the Museum did it occur to me that each of these temporary exhibitions had at least referenced the complex workings of cross-generational male/male affection. It's not one of the more frequently-encountered themes in art; I'm sure it's appearance here was only an odd coincidence. Still, I don't know how it can have gone entirely unnoticed by everyone but me, and I do know that I'm reminded once again that I'm definitely a long way from Kansas . . . er, Michigan.

Jesper Just Bliss and Heaven 2004 still from video

[image at bottom from Witte de With]

coming soon to your neighborhood

Change ain't happening.

Does Obama think we can turn this around with another tax cut? Or maybe he just thinks a few hundred dollars will make a difference to people who have already lost jobs and houses. Even George Bush can see it didn't, and doesn't, although he now has the satisfaction of welcoming his successor into the Republican party.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama, commencing face to face consultations with congressional leaders Monday, is embracing an unexpectedly large tax cut of up to $300 billion. Obama said the country faces an "extraordinary economic challenge." Besides $500 tax cuts for most workers and $1,000 for couples, the Obama proposal includes more than $100 billion for businesses, an Obama transition official said. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier.

[image, from the first Great Depression, from thereaction]

Merlucciidae Common Name: Silver Hake, Whiting, New England Hake

Oh wow, I do love this fish. It's very popular in Spain, but the species in European waters may be different from that found in our own. I say that because I remember how after less than a week in Madrid Barry and I would both groan when we saw merluza on the menu. It was tasty, but hidden bones were always a serious obstacle to our enjoyment. I haven't had the same experience on this side of the Atlantic.

But maybe it's just the estimable fishmongers at Citarella.

Last night I put together a dinner of "Ligurian fish and Potatoes" (using an 11-ounce Hake fillet and two scrubbed-but-unpeeled red potatoes). Thanks for the recipe, Mark. The hake rested on a cushion of red-rimmed potatoes which were remarkable not just for their taste but for being deliciously juicy, yet still al dente, while staying crispy on some of the edges.

Along with the fish, bought at Citarella in the Village, a few blocks southwest of the Union Square greenmarket from which I had just left, I prepared some very small baby Bok Choy which I was surprised to still find in this increasingly-deserted open-air market at the very end of December (praised be the inventor of the cold frame). But then I also bought some delicious Niagara grapes from another vendor yesterday; how'd they manage that?

The recipe for the contorno, which I modified somewhat from this recipe I found on line seems a bit fussy, but it turned out to be way toothsome, and a sensational complement to the sweet, white fish. It amazes me that this excellent vegetable still makes only rare appearances in Western cook books; I mean, the Italians managed to find New World peppers and tomatoes without making a big fuss, so where's their bok choy?

GRILLED BABY BOK CHOY

After cutting them in half, brushing them with garlic-infused oil, and sprinkling them with lemon and thyme, I grilled the little cabbages face down in an enameled-iron ribbed pan for about four minutes, covering them loosely with a sheet of foil. I then turned them over and added drops of balsamic vinegar, grilling them for about three or four more minutes. Once they were on the plates, I topped them with a mixture of pine nuts which had been sauteed in the garlic-infused oil and then heated with the chopped dark green outer leaves I had removed earlier.

We had nibbled on taralli al peperoncino while we waited for the main course, and when we had finished the fish I brought out two very small cuts of slightly-aged Caprini Tartufo, accompanying it with thin slices from a loaf of Tuscan bread I'd also picked up at the greenmarket that afternoon, and some phenomenal dried Turkish figs.

Oh yeah, sure, there was wine. We shared a bottle of Spanish Naia Verdejo which we sometimes think of as our current "house white"; it cost us only $12 or so.

Even though I've written before about the meals we enjoy at home, when I had already begun this post I suddenly thought that it might be a mistake: Maybe because it was so good and because I seem to be boasting about it publicly, but mostly because while I know that not everyone might want a meal like this many who would are unable to assemble it for one reason or another.

I will admit that it helps, and is probably essential, to have someone you love to enjoy it with you, but that sounds like another assignment.

"Geography is destiny", may be only a cliché, but if you're not in a city like New York you may not be able to reproduce this or most of the meals which we enjoy and which I sometimes describe, but you may come up with something just as pleasurable to suit different resources and circumstances. It doesn't have to mean taking a huge chunk of time out of a day: While this main course took me a little over one hour to put together, a call to the local Chinese or Mexican will always beat the time spent in the kitchen preparing any meal, but on the other hand, it's not a chore. Finally, considering what real cooks have been able to do without great kitchens and without fat purses, I don't think that inadequate space should stop anyone who really wants to prepare good meals. In fact I started cooking for myself when I had only a sink, a refrigerator, a stove and two feet of counter space on one side of a one-room apartment ( I now have an additional 4 1/2 feet of counter, but that extra length is only 16 inches deep and my refrigerator is now tiny).

I know that limited funds should be even less of an obstacle. Were I were disposed to feel any embarrassment about what looks like indulgence in this meal, and it certainly was not an exceptional event for us, I would just remind myself that the cost of the entire dinner for two (including the portion cost of herbs, oils, lemon, vinegar, etc.) was something like $16.

But I also get great pleasure (and some physical and mental exercise hauling and bending) out of the planning, gathering and preparation of these dinners, not to mention my huge delight in the enjoyment and sharing of good food, and the good conversation it encourages, while also listening to music of which we might take almost no notice during any other part of the day.

Most days I wouldn't trade it for any restaurant, even if I do have to do the dishes.

[image from University of Southern Maine]

Andrew Guenther Skull Pile 2006 oil on canvas 68" x 48"

view of one wall of installation, including both paintings and objects

Andrew Guenther's show at Freight + Volume, "Looking For Culture Part III: Back to My Old Ways", includes some terrific oils, acrylics and sketches, and a number of indefinable objects. Many of the pieces assume both individual and compelling shared identities, since they've been placed on, above or below simple wooden shelves. The drawings and paintings are incredibly fresh, even sweet (don't let the skulls put you off), and the gallery's small "cabinet", boasting as it does so many curious, wonderful, handmade doohickeys, looks something like a collection marshaled by a particularly-inventive Prospero.

Lily Ludlow Lovers 2008 graphite, gesso and acrylic on canvas 48" x 48"

[detail]

Canada gallery is showing some beautiful erotic paintings by Lily Ludlow along with a multi-channel video, "Sewing Circle", in which she collaborated with Allen Cordell. I love the paintings.

When I started this entry, because I was also so charmed by the beauty of the detail's abstraction, the clarity of the lines and the subtlety of the colors it revealed (the rich textures can really only be seen if you're right there), I was tempted to do something I rarely do, reverse the order of the two images you see here, making the larger one into a thumbnail and showing the detail shot first, and full size. I guess it's an old publishing trick. I like the way it sometimes gingers things up, but I decided that the full painting, although it was very dimly lit in the gallery, was just too beautiful to diminish or underplay. It also displays some of its own ginger.

Paddy Johnson is having a year-end fundraiser for her increasingly indispensible cultural blog, Art Fag City. Contributions are tax-deductible, through the generous support of another of New York's precious resources, Momenta Art. Go here to Paddy's site for more information and an easy contribution form.

Tom Moody has assembled, on his own site, an impressive, but unassailable description of what her site means to the arts community it serves:

Johnson's blog is a necessary counterweight to the institutional writing that constitutes current criticism: magazines chasing ad dollars, 501c(3) organizations that have to say nice things about everyone, and museum curators at the beck and call of powerful board members. Johnson produces a staggering amount of original content each year, including interviews, essay series, and reportage. Her comment boards are moderated in a civilized fashion and are a good place to hash out issues that aren't being discussed elsewhere. Plus she is that rare writer that can cover both the art gallery scene and the online scene with equal knowledge and confidence.

In J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan", the play, the novel and the film, children are urged to clap to show that they believe in fairies, lest Tinkerbell die. I feel a bit like when we were first asked to save that little sprite, but this time we'll need to do more than clap if we're going to help keep Art Fag City alive.

[1915 image, by Francis Donkin Bedford, from Project Gutenberg]

This is a seasonal post - but with a twist.

Although I'm a refugee from a Roman Catholic youth, a steadfast atheist for almost 50 years, I suppose I may still be somewhat conflicted about the baby Jesus.

For some reason, when I saw this delicate little ceramic infant a number of years ago inside the gift shop at New Mexico's ancient El Santuario de Chimayo, I couldn't resist snapping it up. At first the priest didn't want to part with the pale-skinned hand-made figure, even though it was on the merchandise table, but he eventually agreed to sell it. It turned out to be the last one in stock, and he wasn't sure they'd ever get another. Maybe he had fallen in love with it himself, and maybe he sensed I wasn't going to use it for conventional devotion.

Okay, it was the eyes that got me.

I lay him down carefully in some raffia on the cherry tea table every December 24th; it's always the most Christmas-y thing in our apartment. We're actually both pretty devoted to this child, even though our own convention is that he gets packed away in a few days until his return appearance next year.

When the kid looks up at us through that fantastic eyeshadow, I like to think he's trying to tell us something we already know.

R.H. Quaytman Chapter 12: iamb (Fresnell lens) 2008 diamond dust, silkscreen, gesso on wood 32.5" x 52.5"

R.H. Quaytman Chapter 12: iamb 2008 silkscreen, gesso on wood 40" x 24.75"

[detail]

R.H. Quaytman Chapter 12: iamb silkscreen, gesso on wood 32.5" x 20"

The gallery press release tells us that the subject of "Chapter 12: iamb", R.H. Quaytman's exquisite and very brainy solo show which opened recently at Miguel Abreu, is "painting itself and, specifically, its relationship to the blind spot." The notes go on:

Like actual vision, Quaytman’s paintings have a blind spot, whether it be from a light source in the picture, an optical illusion, a trompe l’œil effect, the absence of color in a black and white photograph, or the picture in plan. This recurring ‘absence’ enables the works to activate one another, yet it also often shifts the axis of legibility between neighboring paintings.

About the images I've uploaded here: Since her show is about ‘absence’, I suppose I should consider that I had fair warning. Color is always a problem, and the pixels on a screen can play havoc with reproduction under the best of circumstances, but the first two images above are, more than usually, only an approximation of what you will see unmediated when you stand in the gallery itself. For example, the detail I show here, of a section located one third of the way from the right edge of the painting, actually includes parts of two color fields (this is more apparent if you move back from the computer screen).

Fortunately, since it's a part of the work being shown (each piece is intended to be viewed both by itself and in the context of its neighbors) the installation is also a triumph. It's museum quality, and I mean that in a good way: I felt like keeping my voice down, I suppose out of awe or respect, and that's not my usual approach to new art.

Kate Gilmore Higher Horse 2008 single channel video [large detail still from installation video]

Kate Gilmore's current installation at Smith Stewart is even more gripping than I'd expected, and I've grown to expect a lot from this smart artist.

While you pass through the debris left over from one of the performances documented on the monitors inside the gallery, Gilmore can also be seen in three other recent videos, equally and typically engaging, and very physical. Her face is often obscured in her work, as it is here. But in these four pieces, dressed in high heels and skirts, Gilmore's costume at least is a star, neatly color-coordinated with some element of her artist-built sculptural props. In each case she is, as usual, totally involved in half-goofy challenges presented by her sets, but in the video installed furthest from the door, "Higher Horse", where she introduces two husky males armed with sledge hammers, she appears more as frightened, cornered prey than as the wild, ransacker encountered elsewhere in the room.

Gilmore's work, regularly evokes responses like horror, frustration, pity, anger, compassion, empathy, fear, love and admiration, and certainly bemusement, humor and delight. None of these appear alone, instead they're all tangled together in my experience of the pleasures of her art.

And I'm not alone.

Kate Gilmore Walk this Way 2008 single channel video [large detail still from installation video]

Kate Gilmore Between a Hard Place 2008 single channel video [large detail still from installation video]

Kate Gilmore Down the House 2008 single channel video [large detail from installation video]