A Song For You

I love this song in a completely unironic way. The words are pure poetry and something about these 3 old guys singing it is so touching.

Movin' on Up There

I went to uptown galleries yesterday and at the Milton Avery show at Knoedler my path crossed with this feisty older woman who needed a hand with her walker up the stars there, I told her I'd be glad to help, so I helped her in and we went our seperate ways to see the show then I helped her out I had overheard her talking at the desk where she was telling the gallery person about how she had met Avery when she was organizing something for her kid's school in westchester long ago and so she just got on a Bus and came down to see the show.As I was helping her down the stairs she told me she was 92...WOW, so I guess getting old dosn't mean just lying in bed and being sickly and sorry that it's almost over like it is in my worst fear scenario. She really made my day and yesterday was a day FILLED with Highpoints, I saw a painting of mine in the window of Bergdorfs, a super cool performance by Desi Santiago at PS1, met my friend Richard's charming daughter Ji-Tan, saw lots of great shows at Uptown galleries, but that one brief encounter with the feisty 92 y/o was unforgettable.

Petula Clark

I was looking for a video of her song "Color My World" and came across a whole bunch of her performances on you tube. This one is outstanding. She is part of that weird showbizzy yet hip early to mid sixties combo...love her!

My Painting at Bergdorfs

This is part of the Bam benefit auction...for more info or to bid click HERE. It closes on sunday afternoon 4-28

Springtime Music Mix

My Scottish friend Ian MacMillan has sublime taste in music and a couple of times a year he puts together these incredible mixes and posts them for any and all to download. Heres the tracklist for his spring mix...


SPRING IS HERE Cal Tjader
CHILDREN LAUGHING Wendy + Bonnie
SUNSHINE Sparklehorse
WE BELONG TOGETHER Robert + Johnny
PRIMA BALLERINA The Swing Back Ensemble
BABY LULU Stereolab
COLOUR MY WORLD Petula Clark
JUST IN TIME TO SEE THE SUN Santana
THE HEDGEHOG’S SONG The Incredible String Band
SPRING (Richard X version) Saint Etienne
STONED SOUL PICNIC The 5th Dimension
THE TURNING TIDE Super Furry Animals
STAY GOLDEN (Superimposers Mix) Au Revoir Simone
SPRING IS HERE Frank Sinatra
SKYLARK HERALD’S DAWN James Blackshaw
FEELING GOOD Nina Simone

You can download it here

Ken Price Nyehaus Gallery, 358 West 20th Street, Chelsea

Today is the last day of this show, but it is by far the most amazing show up in Chelsea right now. There are a number of these strange little vessels in addition to some incredible erotic drawings. An outstanding, almost museum quality exhibition. I had never been to this gallery before, it's a townhouse between 8th and 9th avenues.

Paris Snow

Anna Ternheim - What Have I Done

Collaboration With Rick Herron

My friend Rick Herron asked me to do something to one of his photographs. He gave me this photo of the Rem Koolhaas building on 23rd street and he also gave me a playlist of some of his favorite music. The first track was by a swedish singer, Anna Ternheim, called "What have I Done" and we had a nice conversation in my studio yesterday about what the song might mean and about relationships in general. It seems some of us keep going after them, like a moth to a flame, while others are sort of trying to get what we want, love and affection, with a minimal amount of risk. This song seems to be about giving it your all and hoping your partner feels the same way too.

I watched the movie "Up in the Air" Last night and was pleasantly surprised. At first it came off as a lighthearted, breezy, comedy about these goodlooking people who had figured out how to get by and have some human contact while remaining safely distanced, a concept that seems pretty foreign to me on the surface..but I won't digress. The characters all seemed to have an "Ah-ha" moment and realized they were just going through the motions, playing around without really giving it their all. And so the George Clooney character tried really going for it, putting himself into a situation with another person where he went out on a limb and he got really hurt. I suppose if we really stop and analyze the potential risks and rewards of a relationship in some scientific manner we would be overwhelmed by the potential risks and never take the chance.

I guess one important lesson is to remember that we all approach these situations of intimacy with different histories and there is really no right or wrong...we just do what feels right depending on our history. Some of us have survival strategies that might seem bizarre to someone with a different history. We all approach relationships differently and I suppose we learn how to negotiate them by what we have seen at home. We can continue to act and respond the same way that we always have or we can examine what really works for us and what isn't working and try and change. We are not doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. We can reinvent ourselves. I've seen old dogs learn new tricks and believe me, it's pretty exciting!

The thing I learn over and over in my studio is that the only real development as a human comes about when we do take these risks, when we try the thing that used to seem so scary and give it our best and believe we can succeed. Even if we don't succeed, failure won't be so bad. We will have learned something and we will have gotten closer to some future success.

I hope I can remember to think this way till the day I die.

Beach house -Norway

I love the new Beach House CD "Teen Dream". It seems there's a video for almost every song but my favorite...called "A walk In The Park" The whole CD is spectacular. Right up there with Hot Chip's "One Life Stand"

How I Spent My Sunday

...a wall of drawings

Saturday In Bushwick

I had a great day visiting my friend Richard out in Bushwick. We went to a cool coffee place, Little Skips, that had a Dondi Tribute mural on the side, saw some chickens, went to English kills gallery and saw the work of Andy Piedilato, met a handsome chap from Georgia and his dog Elvis. Went to an open studio at Starr Space end participated in a James Morrisson piece! Fun !

Desi Santiago at Envoy

Check out this show at Envoy...more info here
Desi is a fascinating character and gorgeous and sweet!

Antoine Blanchard

I found this painting not too long ago, It's a charming parisien street scene signed by Antoine Blanchard. I found this bio on the web and wonder if anyone else knows anything about this artist or his works or how much this might be worth. It's 16 x 20 inches

ANTOINE BLANCHARD (1910 - 1988)

One of the most important French street artists of the 20th century. Blanchard started his career at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Antoine Blanchard (1910 - 1988)Antoine Blanchard was born in a village near Blois on the banks of the River Loire in 1910. Blanchard devoted his artistic career to the depiction of daily Parisian life and the seasonal changes.

His unique style, combined with the sensitivity of his brushwork, appeals to many collectors and examples of his paintings can be found in private collections in France, Great Britain, Germany, the United States and Canada.

Blanchard is regarded as one of the leading exponents of the School of Paris painters. His paintings of the historical monuments and buildings of Paris such as l'Arc de Triomphe, la Madeleine, Café de la Paix, & Notre Dame are sought after by collectors around the world.

Holland lodge

This beautiful building is right across the street from Bill's apartment building...I didn't know anything about it so I googled and came to a blog called neonpoisining and this entry reprinted below. You can check out more of neonpoisining here

Holland Lodge #1 is a beauty of a modernist building. It consists of two perpendicular intersecting rectangles; a brick, ground floor base and an upper, cantilevered, pale concrete one. The concrete one extends above the rear parking lot and houses the main hall. While wandering around the back, I chanced upon a guy bringing a ladder into the building. Being a handyman, I guessed he didn't have any authority in the building, and asked if there was someone there who could give me permission to take some interior photos. Moments later, out came a Brother Mason who said I could take all the pictures outside that I wanted, as they'd spent over 2 million on the streetside facade.

After asking if I was a mason (I'm not; my mom's dad was) he proceeded to start a history lesson on Masons in America. I had my afternoon free so I was happy to be schooled on John Paul Jones, George Washington and others. When he saw I was still interested/not fleeing, he asked if I wanted to know a bit more about Texas and Masons. I said sure, he said "No pictures," and we went inside.

The building dates from the 1950s and has a combination of clean modern lines with more decorative elements referencing the early European heritage of Freemasonry.

In one of the side rooms, there is a collection of famous Texan Masons, including but not limited to:

* Sam Houston (1793-1863) - President of the Republic Texas, Founding Member of, Holland Lodge
* Anson Jones (1798-1858) - President of the Republic Texas, Founding Member of Holland Lodge
* M. B. Lamar (1798-1859) - President of the Republic Texas, Freemason, Member of Harmony Lodge No. 6 Galveston
* Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836) - Father of Texas, Freemason
* James Bowie (1796-1836) - Hero of the Alamo, Freemason
* William B. Travis (1809-1836) - Freemason
* Juan N. Seguin (1806-1890) - Member of Holland Lodge
* James W. Fannin, Jr. (1804-1836) - Member of Holland Lodge
* David 'Davey' Crockett (1786-1836) - Hero of the Alamo, Freemason

In the main hall, the modern, reserved design was most evident. Unlike the many Philadelphia lodge rooms (Flickr picture), this room was free of extraneous decoration; instead the wall were broad expanses of wood, with indirect lighting on the ceiling. It was a clean, modernist interpretation of a ceremonial lodge room. As I exited the room, I saw overhead two old slide projectors, and in the library there was a glass slide of a masonic image. It reminded me that many secret societies were influenced by theatrical design and some groups had members of various stage professions.

In the library, I was looking at a wall of black and white portraits. The Brother Mason said they had pictures of every master mason who had served, even the ones they kicked out. That piqued my curiosity and I asked what someone had to do to get the boot. Brother Mason paused a moment, then replied, "You know what a libertine is?" Having attended college, I said yes, and clarified, "So, it's behavior unbecoming a mason? "Yes," he said, and proceeded to detail and detailed the life of Jesse H. Jones, Secretary of Commerce and director of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation during the years following the Great Depression. Under attack by those who would take over his position of power, my host cited Jones' adherence to Masonic ideology as protection against accusations of corruption and embezzlement. Fellow masons in the Congress helped Jones draw attention to these attacks in public hearings and prevented his ouster from his positions of authority.

That pretty much ended my Freemasonry 101 class for the day, as I had to find something to eat. I had spent at least an hour at the lodge and I was getting hungry.

So the two lessons of the day were (in reverse order);

* Freemasonry, good for Houston, good for Texas, and the country in general
* Always take an opportunity to talk to someone going through a door - you never know how far inside you might be able to follow them.

Phillip Johnson Penzoil Place

This is a really cool building....one of my favorites in a city of crazy skyscrapers...not unlike the other city I visited in the last year, Shanghai

Phillip Johnson In Houston

Phillip Johnson seems to have made his mark all over Houston, this basilica of St. Basil on the Campus of St. Thomas University was a high point for me

Houston Rodeo

Saturday we had a great time, we went to the Rodeo here in Houston. Rodeo is the most viewed sport in America....surpassing even baseball and football..we had awesome seats, we watched the bareback riders get thrown from the bucking broncos, saw some livestock, i walked around in my Margiela boots trying on cowboy hats and eating chicken fried bacon...nom nom...then we saw Blake Shelton perform, with Fireworks, indoors, then a stroll on the midway, a ferris wheel ride and finally...more Barbeque! It was a day to remember! Thanks Bill!

Awesom Version Blake Shelton's "Austin"

This one brings me to tears....

Bill's Apartment in Houston

Fish Taco!

Nom Nom...

Bernar Venet in Houston

2 Stepping at the BRB

Hello Houston

I arrived safely in Houston yesterdy and love it here....it's pleasantly warm and humid. Bill took me to a meeting in the evening then to Hugo's on Westheimer...and had a delcious High mexican meal where we ran into always charming Laurie Simmons and Carroll Dunham. I'm glad to see that Bill's Breakfast club cassette tape made the move from Boston.

30 Consecutive days of Bikram Yoga...

Today i completed 30 consecutive days of Bikram yoga, they said it would change my life, and it did! I've never felt as good about myself, not just my body but about my whole self. I've been going as much as possible to the first class in the morning which in most cases is at 6:45. When I started back in February it was dark then and we would watch the sun come up through the windows and that was beautiful and kind of a metaphor for the kind of brightening or awakening feelings that I was feeling inside. Every day was a challenge and each day was different than any other day...just like life! It was really an awesome experience to be just focused on me for an hour and a half and learn to love my body and go beyond what I thought were my limitations.

So much of what went on during the sessions were really metaphors or physical manifestations for more productive ways to live my life, stretching and challenging and being calm and fixed on my intentions.I hope I can carry these lessons around with me for a long time and remember to put them in practice when ever I need to, I imagine I will but that I'll need the occasional tune up...just like any new set of guidelines we learn. It feels great to have accepted a new set of challenges.

Jaques brel nes me quitte pas

Seeing one of Sean Lander's new paintings at the Friedrich Petzel booth at the Art Fair reminded me of this..

Just What I needed

As the winter winds down and we start to enter spring I'm looking back at what has turned out to be an incredible time for me. So much has happened since Christmas that I almost feel like a new man. I'm learning to embrace change and with it , welcome all the new people and opportunities that have come my way. I'm taking care of myself, being nice to myself, accepting my faults but realizing that, by and large, I'm a pretty good guy. I make about the same amount of mistakes as anybody else and that I have had an inordinate amount of good opportunities come my way.

I wanna thank God for these lessons and the abilities to learn and get stronger from them. So here's to moving forward with humility and forgiveness ...and a special thanks to Bill, Kim, Roberta, Kathy, Eduardo, Richard, Mark, Neal, AA, Sean, Van, Thom, Mike, Kevin, Peter, Rick, Robert, Rolf, Scott, Trish and many others..for your help, you were all just what I needed. Thank You

Valeska Soares at Eleven Rivington

Theres a really beautiful piece up now at one of my favorite neighborhood galleries, more info here

Man on Wire

Today was day 24 in a row of Bikram yoga and I gotta say, every day has been a challenge, every day I go into the poses differently, focusing on a different part of my body, every day is a new challenge and I really feel like a different person...I'm walking taller and people find me much more approachable...I'm meeting strangers left and right and looking back at some of my old behaviours...and rejecting the ones that don't work anymore. I really am trying to value me for all of my qualities and accept me as I am, always open to progress.....I like myself better than ever and I am probably in the best shape of my life.....I'm happy being me and very much open to new challenges....yes I can....if not overcome...then learn and do better next time...soon I'll be walking on a a wire between two skyscrapers!

You see the amazing thing about Bikram is that you can make so much progress so quickly!There are all kinds of poses that I could'nt even begin on my first day and slowly I've moved from step one, to step two, step three and finally to full expression...it's a really great feeling to push myself this way physically and be amazed at what I'm capable of.

Norfolk Street

This is for my friend and former roomate Chuck who now lives in sweden....a panorama of the block where we used to live. this is Norfolk street between Houston and Stanton

One Madison Park

I love this new building! I was at the foot of madison avenue today and now I see what a great location this is for this glorious piece of architecture.

Ace Hotel/No. 8a

Today I found myself in the flatiron district and checked out Tha Ace Hotel at 29th and broadway....it's pretty great and definately lives up to the hype. Opening Ceremony has a store on the broadway side, stumptown coffee has a takeaway counter and you can also sit in the lobby and get a delicious cup of coffee for 2.50 with free refills and great people watching & there's agreat looking restaurant and bar, but the coolest part of it is the uptown branch of my local favorite store No. 8a. The shelving came from the popidieu gift shop and the garment rack is actually a hand carved piece of walnut....impressive and understated...check it out!...more info here

Gina X Performance - No GDM

Long Bright Winter Days

The days are really starting to get longer, it's bright until almost 6 P.M. And I'm getting an early start on summer by heading down to Houston to see my friend Bill, then Costa Rica to visit my brother