Hitting The Links: 1/19/25
The Art Life, with Nick Cave (U.S.), KAWS, Aurel Schmidt, the Crumbs, David Lynch, Henry Darger, Bob Dylan, Alan Moore, and me. Also, a ton of links, some books I'm in the midst of, and fitness/meditation madness.
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The Art Life
I was walking along a sidewalk in NYC yesterday when a quartet of 20-something organizers passed me. They were all carrying cardboard boxes and other material for an event, maybe a protest. One of the group had a clipboard atop her big box and she stumbled as we were about to pass each other. The clipboard flew into the air and I caught it without breaking stride, pivoted and put it back on top of her box. She and her friends were agog at how fluidly it all happened, and she thanked me.
It was my first time in NYC in 3 weeks. First time I've gone anywhere during that time, really, except for some grocery runs and some medical appointments for my dad. I’d go on about that cocooning here, but I'll save it for the intros to my podcasts, since I know (almost) no one's listening.
It’s the last weekend to visit THE WAY I SEE IT, the Drawing Center’s exhibit of art from the collection of KAWS. I don't know much of KAWS’ work, but this exhibit came super-praised by Jerry Saltz and included a couple of paintings by Joe Coleman, and I’ve been beating myself up for not getting out to see it, and so. (TBF, they were closed between Christmas & New Year, which would have been a perfect time for me.)
I texted an old pal of mine to see if we could get together in the afternoon, and they suggested I visit the Jack Shainman Gallery and see the Amalgams and Graphts exhibition by (the other) Nick Cave, a Chicago-based artist I've heard about but never seen the work of. Saltz posted about the show on Instagram last week, and so.
And so:
Amalgams and Graphts is centered on a huge bronze sculpture of a man composed of or covered by flora, neck/head giving way to branches, limbs, leaves, flowers and birds. It evoked Shelley's Ozymandias at first sight, and I kept circling it, taking in what I could of its scale. I considered it temporally, and that word-choice of composed of or covered by: Was I looking at a body still for such a long time that it became permeated-penetrated-subsumed by the natural world, or the natural world’s building a mimic of man, surrendering near the the seat of reason?
I didn’t/haven’t read anything about it, not wanting to corrupt my ambivalence with wall text.
I took in the other sculpture, and the adorable toddler who was with her beautiful father looking at the sculpted flora, and then the needlepoint-and-serving-tray compositions on the walls, always coming back to The Big Fella towering over us all. I was happy my friend had given me the nudge to come here.
I walked to the Drawing Center and was greeted by a series of Basil Wolverton faces, so I knew I was in for a treat. The collection spanned paintings, drawings, graffiti designs, comics, sketchbooks, and some of KAWS’ own ornaments & sculptures. I took in the two Coleman paintings — Holy Saint Adolf II and Henry Darger — as best I could at a distance.
The way to experience Joe’s paintings is up close, taking in the images & text and receding to take in as much of its totality as you can. Or so I think. But I appreciated seeing them in installations replicating KAWS’ home/studio.
I boggled over all the original Crumb pages and sketchbooks on display, and texted this one to a pal who’s a big Harvey Pekar fan:
But I spent more time taking in this drawing he did of his late wife, Aline:
And so:
Everyone took turns ogling Aurel Schmidt’s Super Natural pencil drawing. (Lighting and space meant that photos don’t suffice, so the above is from an auction site.) I was struck by the coincidence of visiting this piece and Cave’s Amalgam (Origin) the same hour, taking in these two approximate humans overlapped overrun by the natural world (& all the detritus like cigarette butts in Schmidt’s drawing).
Rather than Ozymandias, Super Natural first put me in mind of Swamp Thing, and both of those associations wound me around Alan Moore and how much his comics meant to me in my youth. I thought about creation & influence and what all these works in the Drawing Center may have meant to their collector.
David Lynch died a few days ago, and we watched The Art Life on Friday night, a documentary about him and his art practice and upbringing. Watching it, I had to remind myself to shut off detective-mind, that Lynch’s approach to his art (movies, TV, painting, etc.) isn’t about clues and a fixed meaning, but about the connections and associations of ideas, the exploring-exploding of the subconscious or the under-mind or whatever you want to call it, and its intersection with our received reality. I thought about Bob Dylan’s Nobel acceptance speech (listen, don’t read), where he kinda says, “Don’t look too deeply for meanings or a single message in my songs.” Or so I think.
I’d been flagging lately, but regained some of my elation & giddiness as I took in the art, and exhausted though I was by our new dog’s repeated wake-up barks the previous night, my mind was opening up and I wanted to get back to writing some pieces for my book.
I got ready to leave the Drawing Center, studying a Henry Darger piece in the collection and then taking a last look at Joe’s painting of Darger, when someone said, “GIL!”
It was a book publicist I owe an email to, also visiting the show on its last weekend. We talked briefly and he introduced me to a colleague. I tried to recall when we’d met, because I didn’t recognize him until he introduced himself. I figured it was either at a festival in The Before Time, or he’s seen my mug often enough here or on Instagram.
I told him I’d write back with some dates to record with the author he sent my way, and I asked if he’d seen the Crumb art yet. He said he’d just arrived, so I told him, “Dude, you’re gonna shit.”
And then I headed out to see my friend, laughing over the idea that I’d be recognized when I was so deep in my own head and invisible in a city of millions. The Art Life, indeed.
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Mia Wolff • Damion Searls • 2024 Recap • The Guest List • Benjamin Swett • Ken Krimstein • Eddie Campbell • Caitlin McGurk
RIP David Lynch . . . RIP Bob Uecker . . . RIP Gus Williams . . . RIP Joan Plowright . . . RIP Killadamente . . . RIP Dr. Monica Quartermaine . . . RIP André Soltner . . . RIP Richard Hays . . .
Here’s a magical interview with the woman who owns Laura Palmer’s house, and her experiences with David Lynch and Twin Peaks pilgrims.
Dean Haspiel launched a pay tier for his Substack, with some great bonus stuff, incl. a new podcast, so GO SUPPORT DINO!
LOVED this interview with Frederic Tuten.
Anahid Nersessian wrote in the LRB about the LA fires. Virginia Postrel wrote about them & burning cities in her Substack.
Speaking of, and reiterating last week’s message, I’m really glad I got to visit the Getty Museum a year ago.
LONG piece on political cartoonists & the new administration (incl. quotes from Ann Telnaes, Matt Wuerker, and Tom Tomorrow).
Newly declassified files on Kim Philby, a case I’ve been fascinated by since reading Ron Rosenbaum’s piece on him & the Cambridge spies ~30 years ago.
Marina Warner and Anna Della Subin launched the Fiction and the Fantastic podcast on the London Review of Books network! Go check that out!
Fantastic and weird newsletter today by Warren Ellis, writing about the Traditionalists and the book War For Eternity. (I’m just happy I got to include stuff about The Other Nick Cave AND The Other Warren Ellis in the same newsletter.)
Man, I loved this piece by Hilary Spurling on Anthony Powell’s wife, Violet, and their whole creative relationship. Kinda makes me wanna revisit A Dance To The Music of Time, but I’ve got enough extracurricular reading on my plate just now.
I’ve long been interested in why Toyota hasn’t made a serious push into electric vehicles (EVs) like its competitors. Part of the story is that, as a national champion company, they could cause significant unemployment in small towns in Japan that currently produce parts for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. As it turns out, the longer they’ve put it off, the tougher it is to adapt to all the changes necessary to design & manufacture EVs.
Yes, in addition to all my other fields, I think about industries in which I have no professional or financial connection.
Current/Recent Reading
Naples 1925: Adorno, Benjamin, and the Summer That Made Critical Theory - Martin Mittelmeier (tr. Shelley Frisch)
The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
“I live always in the present. I know nothing of the future and no longer have a past. The former weighs me down with a thousand possibilities, the latter with the reality of nothingness. . . . My past is everything I never managed to become.”
The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity - David Lynch
Plus my daily chapter of The Man Without Qualities (tr. Wilkins/Pike)
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I feel a little over-target-weight, but I’m doing okay; I mean, I look FINE. I would have been done my whole Wed-Sun cycle of weights & yoga this week if the dog groomer who came over to take care of Birdy on Friday hadn’t been here FOR SIX-AND-A-HALF HOURS. So I missed weights that day, since he was working on Birdy downstairs in my office-library-studio-fitness center. But I got yoga in yesterday evening after getting back from NYC, and I’ll get around to weights today, so 4 out of 5 days isn’t so bad.
I’ve also kept up with my daily 10-15 minutes of meditating in corpse-pose. Nothing guided, I just start by trying to get long, deep breaths going, visualize a flower unfolding, then try to catch myself when my thoughts focus on immanent-world stuff, drive that away so “I” can explore what lies underneath. Maybe I’ll look at TM or some other mode that has techniques for bypassing the day-to-day.
As is, some interesting imagery & associations have bubbled up, and in the stillness I’ve been better able to talk to anxious-Gil and remind him to slow down and to forgive him for how his focus on time degrades his experience of the world.
I’ll try to time Monday’s session to David Lynch’s family’s request for a noon PST 10-minute worldwide meditation. Maybe we’ll change the world or something.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode, some Instax, & maybe some art, and on Sunday with links, books, & workout craziness, & maybe a little profundity or something.
When you told your secret name / I burst in flame and burned,