sitting round
A BUTCHER'S #9
A BUTCHER’S hook/look (Cockney rhyming slang)
planning
A bit distanced from the world of figurative art for a while now, it was really rewarding to see these paintings by Lubaina Himid - the ‘Make Do and Mend’ series of ‘strategy paintings’ - men and women seated at a table ‘figuring it out’. Her colors are great and being an enthusiast of the ‘in between’ it was interesting to read the artist describing this series as “I’m painting the moment in between a question and an answer,” The other half to the show is a whole room of 64 totemic plank pieces, titled ‘Aunties’. If you’re in the city, check it out before it’s gone!
The Flag Art Foundation - 545 West 25th Street, 9th Floor until February 8, 2025
meeting
For a bit I was traveling with these chairs (carved from standard pink erasers) by Heather Cox - and here I have set them up on the poured concrete floor of the 1922 Rudolph Schindler House in LA. It’s a fantastic indoor/outdoor space and really is the first modern home, with its avant-garde design, construction techniques, and communal living that totally challenged residential architecture. It’s my favorite in LA. (I don’t think it’s threatened in the fires, but you can’t predict anything. Too much has been lost already)
flashback
Maybe Lubaina Himid’s work struck a chord with me - the sitting at a table aspect (think how much time and how much we do/accomplish sitting at a table). Not to compare or even hold up against, they actually reminded of a series that I painted back in 1986. My interest in 2D/3D ambiguity is already apparent. I’m trying to work on getting this group exhibited (40 years later!) The next year I was onto painting just the tables and chairs.
postcard piece
from my yearly New Year’s new York cards, this is one from 1990 - Manhattan seemed to fit so well on the table and I did like the way the guy is leaning round to look.
end piece
There’s something to be said for stacking chairs
Love the older paintings and the chair stack!