Ron Mueck at the Foundation Cartier

Today is the last day of the Australian artist Ron Mueck's installation at the Foundation Cartier. I wish I could say that I had become accustomed to waiting in long ques since my arrival in Paris. Lets just say I have accepted it as part of the process of looking at art here... it just means that I expect more when I finally get past the ticket box and security check points.

Yesterday Mueck tested these expectations since we began our walk to Montparnasse in the fitful late winter rain typical of Paris in February. There were two pieces in the exhibition that made it worth the rain and the wait... extraordinary works that made me realize what the fuss has been about. I believe Mueck had a piece in the Whitney Biennial several years ago. That work, also seen in the Melancholy exhibition at the Grand Palais, has a larger than life illustrative quality common in the film industry which makes sense since that is where he got his start. What hasn't made sense to me until this exhibition is why I his work was getting so much attention in the art world. Photography was forbidden at the Foundation Cartier so I have included the image above from the Venice Biennial to illustrate Mueck's ability to manipulate perception and scale.

At its best the work seems as if the figures are living, breathing creatures on a scale that tests perception. There is a piece of a giant scaled middle aged woman in bed, looking out the glass walls of the gallery. The sheets of her bed are monumental, her skin luminous, yet careworn. Mueck has the eye of Ingres when tacking skin tone and its subtlies. I think this is the quality that impresses me most. Its unnerving.

The other work that blew me away was about the size of two malnourished felines laying side by side - but it was a human couple spooning, both gazing into the distance, half dressed on a flat white pedestal. As we gazed upon this image it seemed as if they were about to stretch the muscles and roll over...the same lumious quality to their skin and lips, the bottom of their feet...it was an amazing work.

The other three works on view didn't come close to comparing to these two. They has a doll like illustrative quality that reminded me of Duane Hanson or Bill Nelson... but less successful.

The Foundation Cartier is located in Montparnasse on Boulevard Raspail near Cemetrary Montparnasse the famous cafe Le Dome where Simone and Sartre once held court. It's worth a visit if you are in the 14th Ar and need a 21st C art fix to balance the beauty of the 19th C architecture. The foundation is a glass and steel structure with an interior court yard past its glass facade. The structure pays great homage to the Parisians love of trees and has built around them. They are literally part of the design and it is quite remarkable.

Waiting for Harry Words

Michael Smith's creation for 1708's Wearable Art Annual Spectacle in October of 2005

One of the best things about working far from home is getting email from my husband. Yeah, its great hearing his voice on the phone but the information goes through a different filter when he writes it down and sends it through the digital abyss. I knew First Friday in Richmond was going to be a doozy and once I realized today was Saturday (yeah, I am in the land that time forot...studio world...) I've been waiting and waiting...and w a i t i n g for his "report!"

He finally sat down late Saturday afternoon to write: "First Friday was crazy last night. Looked like Chelsea. Mobs of people, had to be at least 5,000 folks on Broad and the tributary streets. The glorious weather helped. Two big events; WRIR's Year Anniversary (went for first hour, Hotel X, danced, sweated, me and four women--guys stand around holding beer--Tim said they play better when I'm there); and Gallery 5's "controversial" (to the authorities) "Disrobed show," with 15 nude models on pedestals wearing nothing else much but body paint and accessories."

"One FTP board member Tiffany was the best of them, as she established yoga poses and kept a straight face looking forward. The rest seemed rather bored, though naked. The T.D. reported 400 people but that was nuts--at least 200 in the line I stood in for a half hour! My guess is they had 1,000 people go through that old fire station. Suzanne Hall said she'd been hearing all night about the nude people at "the Firehouse Theatre" which I'm just waiting for some big mix-up to occur since the Vagina Monologues was being rehearsed that evening in the theatre. Imagine it being interrupted by hipster art goers looking for nekkid art!"

"Many police and serious looking security people were in the crowd at Gallery5. It had its ABC license pulled as the show was deemed "lewd and lascivious". Owner Tom Robinson went down to court for three hours on Friday to get it reinstated.

Tim and I finally recorded our interview together. It will be broadcast on Monday at 12:30. We were goofy, but also discussed the Inner Life and the Meaning Of Theater. "

I must say, most of the time, it's worth the wait. The great thing is I can listen to Tim interviewing Harry here in Paris on Monday night here since WRIR
has a primary and secondary stream accessible from their website! That' ll be something
to look forward to. I wish I had something to record it but that has been a problem I've spent too much time exploring during the past week.

I've been an Apple user since the 80's but this whole deal with OS X and now the new Intel chip versions of everything Apple is just too much for me. It annoys the h*ll out of me that I can buy a webcam for under 20 bucks for a PC and the only webcam that OSX supports is $150. And to really stick it to us, the only way it would be worth my while to set it up would be if Harry, another Apple user, has one too. Nada. Not gonna do it. As much as we could love camming each other and monitoring the lack of progress in my atelier or the amount of cat hair collecting on his desk, we aren't spending three hundred dollars to witness this for the next three monthes. (One month is almost over!)

Yes, there are drivers out there that will make many PC designed webcams work on a mac but the software options are few and again, none of it is supported bt Apple. I find it very annoying! The only good thing that might come out of this intel chip/Apple redesign is that there may be more compatibility with hardware and games which would open up the market for Apple and create more competition. That would be a good thing. I've had it with paying "the Apple tax" just because they aren't interested in much more than selling iPods these days.

I thought HARD about getting one before I left for Paris. After a few long waits in the Apple store I realized that these expensive mp3 players break so often that there was an editorial about it in the NYTimes today! I sat at the Genius Bar in our local Apple store long enough to witness these iPods take all the tech's time because they break very easily or don't work A LOT. (parents of teens, this is a warning!!!)

Yes, they are cool looking. Yes, you can back up your friggin hard drive on one if you get the video version and have a USB 2 on your laptop... but if the thing breaks your back up is worthless!

The other thing I've been on the look out for are cheap portable speakers for my 12" laptop that don't rely on AC. I had a set I loved that I really only used when I play DVD's on my computer but I used them once here in Paris before they were fried by the current - and that was using a surve protector transformer! The Apple store at BHV doesn't seem to sell speakers that run off USB that don't need an AC cord... in the states this is more common. I've only seen one pair here at the Apple store and they were overpriced and ran off batteries which isn't acceptable. There are a ton of other speakers if I want to get a set that need to be plugged into a 210 outlet with a French plug.

Does all of this add to my studio environment? I tell myself it does. I like to listen to the radio while I work. If I am listening to French radio the clock radio here is loud enough and I can listen to Jazz all day everyday but its like being in a vaccumn since there is the language barrier. In 2004 I didn't know anything about the Tsunami until a week after it happened.

Now I can easily listen to NPR if I am SITTING in front of my computer. My laptop speakers just don't have enough power to overcome the traffic outside. Do I work without either, yes... but the internet stream off iTunes is something I really enjoy since I don't buy an actual newspaper anymore. (I swore off the IHT after they sold off the Trib - and had my pocket picked the last morning I went out to buy one...)

postscript

Irene rang my doorbell close to midnight...maybe 11:45pm. I knew something had happened. She was scheduled to flight out the following morning and I had her luggage and laptop in my closet. It was certain I would see her again...the question was when?

A poised and physically strong woman (her father was an olympic medalist in Helsinki!) she had experienced a fall and sprained her ankle at the airport. One of things we I think we both came to terms with during the time we have known each other is our own vulnerabilies. We are both strong and determined and head strong... (oh, just ask my Harry about this one...)...but we aren't unvinceable. Maybe unsinksable. I was mugged in Barcelona and she came close to a situation when she sprained her ankle. She got in late but not too late to limp around and pack her books for shipment and reorganize her luggage. (She was a ballerina so I suppose pain is no big deal for her.)

I drank my wine and yawned and made sure she left me her recipe for a Mont Blanc. (If you know this one, champ, please lets compare recipes.) Of course her books were .2 kilos over the limit for economy shipping so she had to bring them back this morning before her shuttle picked her up. The good thing is now I get to read them before I ship them to Australia for her.

She picked up a beautiful Moandi book and the catalogue for APOCALYPSE: Beauty and Horror in Comtemporary Art from the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Sounds right down my alley but the work just seems over the top too much of the time. I'll give it a few days.

In the meantime she is teaching in Hong Kong and I am finishing new work for a group show here. I dicovered a beautiful papier mache reindeer in the trash on the Isle de l' Cite. It looks like something that was used in a window display and is about the size of a small fawn. If I use it as I think I'm going to use it, with an apple on its head, I'll likely have to break my rule about only making art I can put in my carry on luggage this go-round.

Oh, Ireeeeeennnnnneeeee!

I am usually pretty debilitated when waiting for someone to arrive at my space. Its hard to accomplish much. Maybe its the pressure I innately feel to be a good hostess though I have tried for many years to deconstruct this expectation from my psyche. It hasn't worked.
I am no Martha Stewart but I do appreciate hospitality and hope to give it as well as receive it during the numerous social interactions that define a life. So here I am.

The Australian artist Irene Barberis is staying here tonite since she is flying home tomorrow and had to move out of her atelier prior to our Barcelona adventure. She was expected almost two hours ago. I don't have her flight number but I do know she was flying Easy Jet. I'll look at their flight schedule if she isn't here by 10pm.

I had an epiphany about our work during the last hour of her exhibition here in Paris. Her work is very much about her faith. Mine isn't. My last show was titled "Angels and Infidels." Beleivers and nonbelievers all look the same in my book. I would really love to see her show that's up in San Francisco since she, a Muslim and a Jew have created an exhibition about the way they each deal with faith in their work. Art can be many things but for me it is always about truth. Even a lie can be undeniable and true when it is present in Art. I know it must be a facinating show.

They are playing Ali Farke Toure on NPR....hmmmm. Every time I hear him it takes me back to the spring twelve years ago when I heard him perform in a club in Paris. It was a different era.
It't time to be present, though... time to look up Easy Jet. This must be divine retribution for all the times I have been late and not taken the time to call.

American Art in Paris

Last night the Swedish artist Rageneld called me to ask if I would like to attend the vernissage of Ed Rucsha at the Jeu de Paume near the Tuileries. Tough decision but I usually enjoy the openings in Paris since they are very festive. Craigie Horsley also has a show that just opened so I figured I would see something new as well as Rucsha's work.

It turns out the Vernissage was last night but that Ed was giving a talk on his work. We were welcome to sit in the theatre where there was a live webcam presentation of his talk in the next room. It was painful to listen to since he was speaking very slow English so everyone could follow... of ideas that were pretty light weight. Plus, he was showing slides in the gallery that weren't reproducing very well on the webcam. There is nothing worse than listening to someone describe an image that isn't really there. Perhaps this is a personal pet peeve. It is something I try to avoid doing and insist that my students avoid. It didn't matter. The French were swooning all over him while he signed books afterwards. I loved it since its not so easy being an American in Paris these days. We've lost our Heroic edge and reputation as being embassadors of good will. The French Judicial System says a person is guilty until proven innocent so I just keep my mouth shut in public most of the time since my French isn't good enough to defend myself.

We did do an amazing job getting our money refunded after our flight to Bilbao turned into something just short of a disaster movie. We flew to Bilbao on Monday morning and the plane returned home without landing! Snow. Airport closed. No more flights. My friend the Australian artist Irene Barbaris was headed off to London before heading home. We refused to forfeit our money and presented so many complicated options to them (a two year credit for another flight, blah, blah, blah) that they finally gave up and just refunded our money. It was a victory for sure! These cheap European flights are great until something goes wrong. NO REFUNDS! We missed Bilbao though and I was looking forward to that.

Work is slow and steady. There is an invitational show here at the Cite that I've been invited to be in. No better incentive to finsh work in progress than a wall to hang it on so I guess its time to sign out.