The Butter Eaters

Butter. Cleopatra bathed in it. In "Natural History" (Circa 77 AD), Pliny the Elder calls butter "the most delicate of food among barbarous nations." Abraham served it to visiting angels in Genesis.

Since it is no longer made by shaking milk inside an animal skin, you can buy it in squares or blocks at the supermarket. And you can eat it! It is good for you. Shot this last Saturday in the kitchen.

Melanie & The Plant People

I'm a crazy about Melanie Bonajo, as you can see. The photos shown here are from her plant people project. This project is a collaboration with another artist, Kinga Kielczynska, about an imaginary cult in the forests of Eastern Poland where the members seek to reverse evolution by living like plants. They become more and more plant- like by controlling their bodies and breath. If you want to read more about it you can do so here:

http://artnews.org/gallery.php?i=143&exi=7205
www.melaniebonajo.com

More Melanie Bonajo

Above are three more images by Melanie Bonajo from her "Furniture Bondage" series. These remind me of a lot of work I've seen before, most notably Peter Fischli & David Weiss's early works, and Janine Antonini and other 1970's feminist artists, yet it feels completely fresh. When Bonajo talked about this work she spoke about the complicated feelings about owning stuff, feeling connected to, yet exasperated by it. She says she has dreams of burning all her things. The work here functions well on several levels. It is whimsical, amusing, and funny. Simultaneously it is dark and difficult- we are trapped, hopelessly caught up with the detritus of our making. We can't decide, are we in love with this stuff or do we hate it? Is it sexy, or repulsive?
Titles, top to bottom:
Lily 2008, 47x53"
Sara, 2007, 47x55"
Katja, 2007, 60x43"

Melanie Bonajo

We went to see Melanie Bonajo give an artist's talk at Aperture last night. Bonajo is an artist bursting at the seams with ideas and energy who uses photography, but not exclusively. The photos themselves are often records of intimate performance. Above is a photo titled "After the Make Over". Following is a photo called "Action Hero 07 2004" from a series about failed Super Heroes- people with some kind of super power that is always going wrong. Some things I loved about the work was her refreshing lack of formalism, talent for performative sculpture, and delightful sense of humor. To see more you can go here: http://www.ppowgallery.com/selected_work.php?artist=8

Talc

This is a mock up for a shot I've been working on. I've photographed talc before, with some good results, however, it is extremely difficult to work with. In addition to the fact that talc is hard to manipulate, there is the fact that breathing it should be avoided. I did a lot of shooting while holding my breath, then running out of the room while the baby powder scented stuff settled.
I discovered the interesting properties of talc when trying to imitate in a photograph the look of stylized rain that one might see in a drawing or an engraving. I needed something that would make fine, long streaks. I tried all kinds of things; styrofoam balls, salt, etc.. Talc was perfect because it was so fine and light that it would fall slowly and follow air currents. I made some interesting abstract images doing this, but I think I want a shot that shows a recognizable context.
I like the tension of the material itself, a mined mineral with a rare crystal system that is used widely in the household and even on infants even though it has been proven to be toxic. If you want to read about some of these toxicity studies you can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talc

Anniversary

I made this photo many months ago, when my feelings about having to break up my family and learning to be a single parent were much more raw than they are now. It has been a full year this April that I've been on my own, after a devastating eight year relationship. Becoming a single parent was frightening, but I eventually I found that I could manage well, partly by searching out other single parents and hearing their stories. I'm happy to say that this anniversary finds me really enjoying my new life, and celebrating my freedom.

Treeless Mountain

I got this email from my friend So Yong Kim, who happens to also be an uber talented film director:

"We are very excited to announce that our latest film TREELESS
MOUNTAIN will open on April 22, at Film Forum in NYC and in other
cities in the coming weeks.

We hope you can come out to see it. The first weekend box office is
crucial to the survival of a small independent film.

We'll be at the Q&A on April 22 & 24, at 8pm screenings".

I had the opportunity to see Treeless Mountain at a screening at the Walter Reade Theatre a few weeks ago and it burned a hole in my cranium with its lacerating beauty. This clear eyed, carefully seen movie confronts the painful but far from hopeless predicament of two young girls facing abandonment. You can read countless reviews online, including a recent New York Times magazine article. Don't miss it!