Portland

One of Portland's most notorious ghettos.

Portland is like an urban planner's blueprint, submitted to a socially-conscious investor.

Mmmm I love.

Clutch Chair made from drinking straws by Scott Jarvie

Chandelier made of used party poppers, by Stuart Haygrath

Cause=Time

Is Malevich really an abstract painter?

If the black square doesn't mean anything more than black paint on a white background,

isn't that the most organic representation possible? There's nothing abstract about it. It's almost a return to nature. It reminds me of Nietzsche's spiritualization of the sensual. Creating concepts of reality out of what you can see, smell, touch. I think Malevich was a pagan.

Still distracting myself from writing my paper.

Taken by Dando Valle, Costa Rica.

Witness hereof we have set Our hands & Seals

"Fuck You Tree"

"Breath of Satan"

"Good luck, assholes"

Go see Eric Beltz at the Frye.

Part of the "Old Weird America" exhibit, on display through January 3rd.

Maybe you can even eat some of the plants depicted in his 'historical' pencil drawings beforehand.

That would make for an interesting museum, ahem, trip.

Look Alive

Thomas Demand's photographs a tree with leaves constructed of

thousands of pieces of green paper

Philip Lorca diCorcia's fashion photographs

Hiroshi Sugimoto's "nature photography",

taken inside the Natural History Museum

Juergen Teller's marble nudes.

People as statues.

People as statues of people.

Photographs of photographs.

Photographs of dioramas of nature.

Photographs of photographs of dioramas of nature.

The mirror within the mirror within the mirror within the mirror...

last trip of the summer, washington.

My dad came to Seattle for a visit, see. And we took a trip to the peninsula.

And suddenly everything seemed very, very old.

... With the exception of the innumerable Twilight gift shops, posters, and signs that have swallowed the itty bitty town of Forks. Example:

Dad: Hi. I need a room with two double beds.

Lady at front desk: Absolutely. Would you like a regular room, or a Twilight room?

...

It's hard to stay bothered at a bit of commercial self-exploitation when you're standing at the most beautiful place you've ever seen in the continental United States.

[1] Hoh Rainforest [2] La Push Beach.

Mountains are always just so right about everything.

What's wrong with this picture?

Absolutely nothing.

This week: painting my apartment and thinking about the duplicitous Douglas Gordon:

Monster Reborn (1996/1997/2002)

(He once called this piece a playful, child-like gesture).