Wolf Mother

Drawing of an Etruscan Bronze Sculpture

Romulus Remus And Their Nursemaid by Jacques Laurent Agasse

Detail of Romulus and Remus, a bronze sculpture in the Capitoline Museum in Rome

vodou, sex, death and revolution

Photo: Leah Gordon

Getting ready for All Hallow’s Eve and finding inspiration in haunting theater, characters in masque, vodou history and performative revolution…
I’ve been looking at book of photographs by Leah Gordon called Kanaval. For years Gordon has documented the pre-Lent Mardi Gras festivities in Jacmel, a costal tone in southern Haiti. (All the images in this book were taken before the earthquake earlier this year.)
Unlike other carnival festivities (Rio, New Orleans) the celebrations in Jacmel are honestly weird and sometimes frightening. Quite different than most “dress up” here in the U.S., these street theater performers are actually telling unique culturally specific stories through the characters they inhabit. Gordon’s photographs showcase an amazingly inventive form of self-expression. Raw. Real. Homemade.
Take note.
Photo: Leah Gordon
Photo: Leah Gordon
Photo: Leah Gordon
Photo: Leah Gordon

WallCrawlers

Good art day in New York.
Today I caught the opening of Off The Wall -part 2 – Seven Works by Trisha Brown at the Whitney Museum. I was excited to see a staging of Brown‘s famous Walking on the Wall piece. The dancers, in harnesses tethered to a track along the ceiling, performed on the wall!
And as an added bonus Stephen Petronio walked down the exterior wall of the Whitney.
Inspiring.

Stephen Petronio performing Walking Down the Side of a Building (the Whitney)              photo: AndyToad

Roses

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Lisa, one of my best friends, was in town for a few days on a business trip. We’ve known each other since we were teens in college. Even though we have grown in different directions and geographies, she remains one of the important ones in my life. I’m so thankful that we got to have at least one “date night.” We ran around Manhattan and Brooklyn with her hipstamatic iphone cam  (ridiculous and wonderful) in tow.
The reoccurring themes in our discussions the other night were – life shifting, refocusing, sustainability, decision-making, removing clutter and distractions, and satisfying creative needs. All of which Lisa beautifully metaphorized into a rose bush.
“Pruning rose bushes is intimidating to many gardeners, but actually very good for the plants. Becoming an accomplished rose pruner takes time and practice, but keep in mind that it is very hard to kill a rose with bad pruning. While there is a great deal of disagreement among rose experts regarding how and when to prune roses, it is generally agreed that most mistakes will grow out very quickly and it is better to make a good effort at pruning roses than to let them grow rampant.”
I love you Lisa.
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