dennis hopper and louise bourgeois dead-- a day apart. thats as much as i have to say right now...

so, once again, the long lost writings... strange how easy it is to get away from the word these days. i remember the room in harlem where i would start the days with 4 or 5 hours of writing. i guess that energy is elsewhere, for good or ill... it has been a time of art, confusion, fun, energy, travel, pain, etc. basically- life. fair enough...

* chelsea has been a madhouse. the streets packed with the real and the hopefuls, the wasted and the sad, the rich and the wish they were. there has been some strong painting out there- most notably the donald baechelor show a month or 2 back at cheim reade. just a truely incredible scene, to start with, not to mention the fact that, to my eye, this was the best work of his career. it must be easy to get complacent at a certain point for an artist of success and wealth. it could, perhaps, be inevitable. but here, baechelor laid it out and got down... the familiar motifs were there-- the beach ball, the flower, but it was the handling of the paint that mattered most. that and the beautiful detritus of a ground of drop clothes. my god, yes. there are shows that make you proud to be in this game-- this was one of them. no doubt... no doubt at all.

* another big point in the recent scene was jay kelly at jim kempner fine art. kelly's last few shows have been stellar and then, last year, he added sculpture to the mix and brought things to another level. kelly's work has been based on a tough, rugged line, a sense of material and fine taste in what is before him. with the sculptural work, this holds true, but comes around a corner in the beautiful way he brings his vision to the 3rd dimension in a seamless transition.

* and then there is the paige williams piece i actually purchased, from her show at blank space: great color, great line... and i can't wait to hang it. when i saw it, there was that shock that you rarely get, but always hope for.

* a thought i've been thinking: at what point did the handling of paint, or, indeed, the application of paint (or medium) become (almost) more important than the composition of a painting?? is this even accurate? relevant?

* finishing a commissioned painting for the DC Four Seasons Hotel. they also bought 2 drawings... this is, obviously, a good thing. at the same time, trying to nail down a few new pieces for the san francisco fine art fair, once again, graciously, with andi campognone projects. these are the times that come far too infrequently, and yet, when they do, it's so hard to enjoy them, given the reality of trying to make it happen.

that could be the real challenge-- to find that space, that moment to relish being an artist.

couldn't make it to the brooklyn studio, so (oddly enough) instead of pounding beers at the mcmanus tavern, i cruised the galleries...

* jill moser at lennon, weinberg is a great show by an under-appreciated painter. moser has been around and has been consistantly strong in her work of line and gesture. in the new work she's working the color more and is (perhaps) a bit more rugged in her approach... i do miss that singular blue of her last show however...

* the late, larry zox at stephen haller gallery: the later painting doesn't work for my eye, but the earlier geometrics are incredible. so much great and near-great painting came out of the late '60's and early '70's-- what a period... what a time to be young and making art. i've mentioned before the names that haunt me that i've never heard of-- those unknown talents who labored and loved and brought it on in nameless studios around manhattan about the time i was learning to crawl... and then there are those whose names we know but whose work we should know so much more of: when does the pat lipsky retrospective come?? good question, that...

* i was reading "the screaming pope," the blog of poet/novelist, francis levy the other day and he mentioned "in the belly of the beast," by jack (henry?) abbott... today, in the dojo locker room as levy and i prepared to spar, i mentioned to him that i had first read abbott's book when i was about 12, (maybe older, who knows??) and that it contributed to my misbegotten youth (i added dostoyevsky to the list of influences...).

abbott's life and work was what sartre and camus had pontificated on, writ large and set in a most visceral reality. this was not theory, or cafe philosophy-- this was fact-- real violence, real bars, real fear, real blood and real tragedy...

of course, it took an american (mailer) to try to write his way around all that reality, for good or ill...

* an afternoon spent buying drawing supplies for a spring and summer of working on the terrace...

this will be a very new experience, indeed...

so, yeah, chelsea...

* you get the list and you hit the streets between 10th and 11th and just hope that something reaches out and grabs the eye. gallery after gallery, plastic cup of wine after plastic cup of wine. but, now and then, something hits: maureen mcquillan at mckenzie fine art has a great show of drawing and drawing "inspired" photos. her fascination is with the line-- in all it's circuitous frenzy... as far as chelsea goes right now, there are a handful of galleries you can (somewhat) count on to exhibit strong works on canvas and or paper-- mckenzie is, for sure, one of them...

* as always, there is a sameness to the "alternative" media, an academicism that chokes on it's own self-referential wit... best of all of, they have their own martyr: the de menil kid who overdosed 'cause he could afford to. like the song says-- "it's so easy..."

* had a good studio visit with kathy markel on wed. she left with 4 20x20's to hang in her new bridgehampton space (soon to open?). it was good hanging and talking with her. novros' name came up and a few other cats from the '70's...

after she left i got back to work. feeling a little better and a little stronger...

for as long as we've been smearing paint on a surface, it's indeed rare to come across a young artist who (perhaps) labors over work that could be called singular. rare, but possible-- as exampled by alex couwenberg these last 10 years or so.

i'd like to think that the act of painting is one of discovery and daring. you can toss triumph, fear, loss, destruction, etc, into the mix as well... couwenberg toils along (as we all do) and he brings it together in a fresh, invigorating art. in doing so, he elevates this ancient form of communication that we humbly and passionately embrace...

his exhibition at Markel Fine Arts should not be missed.

sitting here in the andi campognone booth at the red dot fair... happy with the work i've got here though no sales as yet... thats cool. the reception last night was a good time although they managed to run out of beer and we were left with a choice of brandy or straight gin... indeed. fortunately the artist james austin murray went for beers and the party continued...

afterwards stopped by gary snyder project space for the john griefen show... griefen is one of the truely heroic painters at work in nyc today. his monochromes have a meaty, physical feel thats at once lyrical and wholly masculine. a formidable colorist, he moves between high octane and soft smoky tonalities with ease...

right now a few people are cruising the red dot... slow scene. earlier in the day i did the armory with the lovely erica, andi's assistant, and was amused to note how utterly (and predictably) bogus the contemporary art was... no real point in going into it, but yeah... the modern wing was truely inspirational-- particularly some great work by sam francis and norman blum-- but the best that could be said of the contemporary wing was that there was champagne to be had for $16 a shot...

a lot of life since any writing here...almost too much life.

as for art (as opposed to life) i'm ready for the red dot fair... I'll 3 new pieces with andi campognone projects, out of pomona california. new work seeing the light of day is a blessing that is often taken for granted. not this time.

i'll keep this short for now (if anyone is out there) but i'm back on it...