furnace bunyan oh

Oscar Wilde once remarked: "I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china."


Let's see, Pepper Report:  He staggered around looking pitiful all evening, I made a bed for him on the floor out of some quilts I made long ago, but he much prefers either hard stone or being ON the bed.  At about 3 AM we heard a crash and thump and sure enough, he was on the bed and his inflatable collar had been sluffed off.  He settled right down after we stuck his head back in it but I was awake from then on waiting for him to try to jump down.  This morning he seems to be closer to his old self but he is jumping up and down off the furniture and I need to crate him and drug him again to keep him quieter.  He is eating fine but I would be real surprised if he ever had that problem.  We'll see how today goes-  we took the cone off and I had the inflatable collar that keeps his head up and centered but he can see unobstructed and can eat and drink much more easily.  Poor little guy.  We have a 4 PM appointment with the doc to change the bandages... and teach Nurse Ratchet here how to do it myself.  

House Report:  Today I finalize the floor and tile selections, then call the contractor to scream about the tub plumbing fixtures being in the wrong place.  I didn't notice it until my last walk-through and am gonna be quite upset if the current placement is actually where the pipes turn into faucet!  The roof guys are still putting the trusses together so the lot looks like a game of gargantuan pick-up-sticks.  I'll go by later and see what's happening.  I figured out what was wrong with the camera so pictures can resume finally.

But because this was supposed to be a chronicle of my art life instead of whining like a 15 year old girl, I am sticking up some art for your enjoyment, or enlightenment, or maybe disgust-  whatevah.  I wish I would have had a week or two to wander all the shows, but I barely got to register the few things I was very interested in so the commentary is straight off other people's websites who saw what I missed.  Bad Sandy.  

So here are a few more things from Art Basel Miami, based on threads:

Ghada Amer, Egyptian, works in NY:  "I believe that all women should like their bodies and use them as tools of seduction,\" Amer stated; and in her well-known erotic embroideries, she at once rejects oppressive laws set in place to govern women's attitudes toward their bodies and repudiates first-wave feminist theory that the body must be denied to prevent victimization. By depicting explicit sexual acts with the delicacy of needle and thread, their significance assumes a tenderness that simple objectification ignores. Amer continuously allows herself to explore the dichotomies of an uneasy world and confronts the language of hostility and finality with unsettled narratives of longing and love.

And all that craft and domesticity reached their apotheosis at the booth of Mother’s Tankstation, where Japanese artist Atsushi Kaga and his mother are handcrafting bags and laptop cases. Including your mother in an art fair installation might seem like an odd way to get back at your parents, but for Japanese artist Atsushi Kaga it makes perfect sense. At Dublin gallery mother’s tankstation’s Art Basel Miami Beach booth, part of the Art Positions solo-show section of the fair, Kaga and his mom are perched at sewing and gluing craft stations, painstakingly constructing a collection of quirky, handmade bags on sale to fairgoers for a mere $50.

This unexpected living installation comes out of Kaga’s childhood, when his mother would sew bags for him to take to school. The young artist didn’t quite appreciate the handiwork; he preferred name-brand products and felt out of place with his own homespun versions. Kaga’s getting his revenge by putting his mom back to work: the piece is called “Nerd Bag Sweat Shop,” presumably because the bags made him feel like a nerd, and Kaga’s mom is stuck back in the assembly line. At least she has a lot of visitors.

Pedro Reyes at Galeria Luisa Strina, for which Reyes printed digital photos onto canvas and then made “interventions,” including overlays of wavy, wild string

And Yup, we are going back to a regular squirrel du jour again too.  I have been gone but now I'm back, maybe because Pepper if off the Squirrel Chase and he needs me to continue because he can't!