The worlds first Mullet

What a great portrait, soulful, romantic, he has high cheekbones, who could ask for a sexier guy?

I was at the Metropolitan Museum this past Tuesday, just going through the Greek and Roman Galleries, and came across this head, always a favorite of mine. From the front, he is a beauty. But from the side, it hit me, he has a mullet haircut! My god, who would have thunk it! Just proves the point, there is nothing new under the sun.

Here you being to see, the haircut is very precise, a Caesar cut from the front, carefully arrange locks very correct and formal, but the back, long loose tresses. Business up front, party in the back; isn't that what a mullet is?

Here you see the full view of the side. To be fair, this is a beautiful Roman portrait from the early 2nd Century A.D., and probably depicts either a barbarian, with a distinctive hairdo, or a member of a cult, whose haircut reflects his dedication to a deity. But isn't it a funny and unexpected haircut to see on a Roman portrait? He beats Donny Osmond's mullet!

Montreal, again and Napoleon

Montreal's own mini St. Peters, the Cathedral of Mary, Queen of the World.

I just made a brief trip to Montreal last week, the first time in awhile. The excuse for going was to pick up a display cabinet allowing me to put jewelry in the window, made by a company near Montreal. The cost of shipping was high enough to nearly pay for a trip up to pick the piece up, and I love Montreal, so it was a great reason to go.

One of the acts, on a slack wire, pretty fantastic, in Ovo.

I went to the Cirque du Soleil's new show, Ovo, under a big tent on the waterfront. I always enjoy Cirque, the incredible feats of their acrobats gives me renewed respect for us as a species, truly amazing what training can do, no other animal has the range of abilities that we do. Not only was the show great, but the crowd was as well, beautiful, well dressed, interesting looking and lacking in the feverish transparent ambition that typifies New York City. These people were simply gorgeous because they are, with a relaxed attitude. Fun to see. I could not take photos of the show, and am too self conscious to photograph the beauties I saw so I have to leave that to my readers imagination.

Column honoring Lord Nelson, who defeated Napoleon in the naval Battle of Trafalgar. One wonders what the Montrealese thought of placing this column in their city.

Last time I was in Montreal there was a wonderful exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts of Napoleonic art and objects. One of the main lenders to that exhibition has given his collection to the museum so they now have a wing devoted to Napoleon. I love the Empire style, no great surprise there given that it is based on Classical antiquity. Somehow this wing seems to compensate for the column honoring Lord Nelson above.

This fabulous painting of Napoleon is by Andrea Appiani, ca 1800, when Napoleon was just First Consul. Totally sexy and beautiful here, this painting certainly heroizes its subject, and is a portrait that I had not seen before and that has not been reproduced much.

This incredible bust by the studio of Thorvaldsen is one of my favorite pieces in the museum. Here Napoleon is basically shown as god, with the eagle of Zeus supporting him, and the aegis with the Medusa head of Athena on his shoulder, and a crown of laurel leaves. All taken from ancient Roman images of the apotheosis of their emperors.


One of the best parts though of this bust is the back, which is carved with a palm tree symbolizing Napoleons conquest of Egypt. This is one of the only times I have ever seen the back of a portrait bust finished in such a way. This bust is worthy of its ancient prototypes, here the artist has truly captured the spirit of antiquity in its sincerity and earnestness to glorify its subject.

This teapot in the form of a swan is one of my favorite pieces in the museum. Just a beautiful conceit and beautifully made, very detailed. Two swans back to back, their arching necks forming the handle and spout respectively. Again the swan was a favorite motif in Roman art, being the symbol of Apollo.

I am very glad the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal now has a permanent gallery of Napoleonic art. It somehow seems very appropriate for the second largest French speaking city in the world, and is a mark of the peace we have now between France and England, we can enjoy the beautiful things created during the reign of one of Europes greatest rulers. I am somewhat sorry that Napoleon was defeated and wonder what the world would have been like had he triumphed. No doubt it was his own overweening ambition that brought him down, had he been content to simply govern France, he would probably have ruled for a long time.

Tony Oursler at Metro Pictures

I am not usually one for the new media in art, but some of it stands out, and Tony Oursler has been doing video installations now for years, and is the master of the genre. His new show at Metro Pictures, up until April 11, is well worth a look. The illusions he conjures are very compelling and are as much a testament to the rapid evolution of video technology as Oursler's incredibly imaginative use of it. Below are photos I took on my iphone, the simplest camera in the world, and if they are compelling on these, you know they are in person.

A forest of burning cigarettes greets you as you enter the gallery. As they are video projections, the tips appear to burn with a moving red glow of embers, and smoke rise. Pretty great, very compelling.

On the floor are projected scratch of lottery tickets with a hand vigorously scratching off the numbers. Again, pretty great illusion, it reads really well.

I have not been writing as much about contemporary art in my blog lately, partly because I have not been doing the Chelsea galleries as much in the winter months, but I will post when something moves me to. I will be interested to see how the galleries weather our current economic storm.

My taste is vindicated

Dear Readers, for those who have been following my blog, you may recall that I was doubting my own impeccable taste, a very rare admission of a possible failing on my part. This mild anxiety attack was brought on by Ugly Betty, which as much as I love the show, certainly would not want to be tainted with any commonality of taste with its protagonist. Please see my earlier post below to remind you of the issue at hand, my love for pearl or other bead dangles or drops from pendants or earrings.
Upon watching the Other Boleyn Girl and seeing the B pendant with pearl drops that Ann wears, which is nearly identical to that worn by Ugly Betty, I was doubting the art direction of the film, and wondering about my own taste. A crisis of faith in my own instincts.
Intrigued by the story in the Boleyn Girl movie, and wanting to better understand the history, I did a quick google on Ann Boleyn and imagine my enormous relief when in the Wikipedia entry on her, I found two paintings of her dating from her time, below:



See the B pendant, with the three pearl drops? So the art direction of the movie, The Other Boleyn Girl, was accurate, my doubts have been put to rest and my enjoyment of the movie legitimized. Most important however is that my love of pearl drop pendants is vindicated, my faith in my own impeccable taste has been restored. What a relief. I am sure my readers will be relieved as well!

Whats with the three pearl drops?

After an absence from this blog, I feel moved to write again. I guess with getting the gallery going I have been distracted and truth be told, not very inspired. But the other evening I was trying out Netflix Instant Watch on my computer, in an attempt to figure out how to do without my cable bill, as I cannot see continuing to spend $80. a month for content I hardly ever watch when so much is available through the internet now. I have switched to DSL, which is fine, not super fast but fine. However my connection is not fast enough for satisfactorily using the Netflix service, strange because it is fine with Hulu or watching through the networks websites. Anyway, I digress, back to the intended subject. I was trying out Netflix online watching The Other Boleyn Girl, with Natalie Portman, among others. While the screen freezing up, starting and stopping and I was missing a third of the action, I saw the pendant that Ann Boleyn was wearing was a lot like some pieces I have made, and wait, just like that worn by my favorite TV character, Ugly Betty.

Here is a pendant I made with a green tourmaline and three suspended pearls:

Pretty isn't it? I thought it was so tasteful and reminiscent of antiquity, I was proud of my work.
Until I started watching Ugly Betty, see below:

Can you see it, that B with three pearls pendant under it? Did the stylist steal my idea? Or is my idea really that unoriginal and banal as to be featured on that paradigm of bad taste, my beloved Ugly Betty. I was mortified.
So there I am watching The Other Boleyn Girl, and this is what I see:

Its the identical pendant as Ugly Betty wears. Can you believe it? I hardly can. While I was enjoying the movie, and am going to have to rent the DVD, I cannot watch on my computer it turns out, this sartorial touch is a bit suspicious. I mean if Ugly Betty is wearing the same thing, can it be historically correct? I doubt it. Makes me question the rest of the art direction on the movie, I have to admit. I am going to have to research 16th Century costume and jewelry in England to get a handle on it.

What am I to do? Abandon the three pearl drops?

What dear reader do you think?

Gallery is open!

Here is the building again, this evening, as I first took the brown paper off, and drew up the shade. And I had my first visitors a little after I took this shot, a very nice and attractive family from Williamstown visiting Hudson for the evening. They enjoyed the art, which is great, and the reason for having the gallery.
A closer look showing the view into the gallery through the red door.
And here is inside the door. I will have to reshoot this all during a bright day, the color is all off, but you get the idea, lots of sculpture, dramatic lighting, and display cases.
Another view, different angle.
View from the rear of the gallery looking towards the door.
Here is a large oak and glass display cabinet I found, housing an assortment of antiquities from Chinese jades to pre-Columbian terracottas. It works very well, and keeps them out of harms way.
And here is one of the displays I had made for the gallery, this one with archaic Chinese jades and bronzes. They work well, really allowing me to highlight the pieces.

Now that I am open, I hope you will come take a look when you get to Hudson. The address again is 307 Warren St., hours will be Thursday through Monday, 11am to 6pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

I am going to have a gallery again!

It has been awhile since I last contributed to my blog, one sort of loses steam after awhile. But big news, I am about to open a gallery, after many years of not having one and doing real estate here in Hudson. I have been thinking of getting back to art and making jewelry. After all, what gifts do I have which are unique to me; not selling houses, as good as I am at that. Every housewife got their license in the past few years, so being in real estate was hardly special. My knowledge of arcane areas of art and the jewelry I make are however special and rare, although perhaps not every ones taste. So I put my house on the market and someone came along who wanted it, and who owned a building on Hudson's main street, Warren St., and who offered to trade it for my house. I immediately said yes, the building at 307 Warren is a charming two story building with a large open storefront with great windows, and a decent, very livable apartment above. It needed work but minor things for the most part such as paint, some work in kitchens and baths, but nothing major and all easily done. So we did the trade and I am in my new place, but not open yet. That will take a few weeks more, getting the lighting and displays in order, etc.

Here is a view of my new building and home, 307 Warren Street, near all the restaurants and next to the local Chinese restaurant, The Red Chop Stick! You can buy archaic Chinese jades and take out dinner right next to each other.
Here is a closer, better view of the new store front with a few pieces in it. 307 Warren has great windows, a great show place for furniture and objects. It is large enough for me to do a mix of things, from the jewelry which doesn't need much space, to sculptures, antiquities and perhaps even some antiques. For me it is like having my parlors on the street, my collection is my inventory, and now people can see what I have gathered over the years. I do look forward to being able to share it with people.
So keep an eye out, I will post as I get completed and give you a look inside. This will give you an excuse to come visit Hudson and see the gallery and the other interesting shops and galleries in Hudson.