I quite like houseplants, though I doubt they like me (I never water).

A new cd,

found frozen to my mailbox;

I have waited so long to hear this...

THE EMPYREAN by John Frusciante.

listen hear, read here, and a review read there.

Each day
We go about our business
walking past each other
catching each other’s eyes,
or not,
about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise,
thorn and din.
Each one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem,
darning a hole in an uniform,
patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.
Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum
with cello,
boombox,
harmonica,
voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus,
a farmer considers the changing sky
a teacher says, “take out your pencils, begin."

We encounter each other in words,
words spiny or smooth,
words whispered or declaimed,
words to consider,
reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways
that mark the will of someone
and then others that said,
“I need to see what’s on the other side.
I know there’s something better down the road.”
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain:
That many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
Who laid the train tracks,
raised the bridges,
picked the cotton and the lettuce
Built brick by brick
the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean
and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle
Praise song for the day
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring it out at kitchen tables

Some live by “love thy neighbor as thyself."
Others by, "first, do not harm,"
or "take no more than you need."

What if
the mightiest word is
Love.

Love beyond marital, filial, national
Love that casts a widening pool of light
Love with no need to preempt grievance

In today's sharp sparkle,
this winter air,
anything can be made
any sentence begun
On the brink...
On the brim...
On the cusp...

Praise song
for walking forward
in that light.

-Elizabeth Alexander, January 20, 2009.

read the The Venus Hottentot (1825) and more from Elizabeth Alexander here.

DEPRESSINGLY AWESOME! Kiosk currently curated by The Reference Library.

a new self-portrait  finished on friday.

here are a few (+ two) of my new favourite things

a song: unreachable 

a book: bob dylan ain't got no home in this world anymore 

a store: purchased here

a film: who is bozo texino? 

OMG LOL

Not just nepotism: Pacific 2, 2006, oil on canvas; one of my favourite paintings from the incredibly talented artist/cousin, Meghan Irvine. More from Meghan here.

This looks nice, No Strings Attached, on now at Gallery Atsui.

Russell Gordon's WISHING HELL, 2008. He's a happy little camper. More here.

A new town,
a new home.
Here are some things I

Missed
!!!
Swarm feat. Russell Gordon
Fleet Foxes

Miss
You

And will miss
VIFF

RECENT PREOCCUPATIONS:
JOSEPH BEUYS
IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS
LOUISE BOURGEOIS
DESIGN E2
STRIPES
POTATO PRINTING
HEAD-DRESSES
EVEREST
RUNNY NOSE

(ABOVE) ELIZABETH NEEL, THE LOSERS, 2007, OIL ON CANVAS.
When I was three years old, a fox raided the chicken coop on my parent’s farm. The site of the massacre was strewn with evidence of its swift violence. One particular bird had only been partially consumed – almost perfectly bisected in such a way that it’s entire reproductive system was revealed. I could see a series of stages beginning with a yolk and ending with a perfect, shelled egg within that body – fixed at the moment of death in pristine order. This visual experience represented a turning point in my relationship to the world. I now see it as my first clear instantiation that life, and nature underneath it, is a baroque, mysterious thing that hangs precariously on a framework of elegant reason.
-Elizabeth Neel

I HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR ABSTRACTION. SUBSTRACTION, FEATURING WORK BY ELZABTH NEEL AND OTHERS, ON NOW AT DEITCH PROJECTS.

THIS IS NICE; SPOON STILL LIFE FROM MAXINE SUTTON. MORE HERE...

NICE DECK, NICE CAUSE. IF ONLY I COULD SKATE...CHRIS JOHANSON & JO JACKSON. MORE OF CHRIS' WORK HERE...

(Above) Isabella and Quilt, one of my favourites from the Fred Herzog exhibit on now at the Equinox Gallery. More HERE.

From the exhibition Revelation! The Quilts of Marie "Big Mama" Roseman at the Intuit Gallery: (top) Untitled (Quilt: red with text and imagery), n.d., mixed media 93 x 53 in.; (bottom) Untitled (Quilt with multicoloured yarn), n.d., mixed media, 70 x 89 in. See more "OUTSIDER ART" (that term is soo problematic!) HERE.

wish i didn't already have plans or had heard about this sooner: Outsider Art Symposium, TODAY! more info here.

REALLY INTO TIE-DYE-ISH COLOUR GRADIENTS (STILL!) AS SEEN IN KAREN WALKER'S FALL COLLECTION PICTURED ABOVE...

REMINDS ME OF FADED DENIM...LAURA PIASTA: UNTITLED DRAWING NO. 5, 2007. MORE FROM THE SERIES HERE.

NEW AT NIEVES! MIKE MILLS' FIREWORKS. OOOH! AHHH!