Art.Basel.Miami Beach --- Day 337

Walk: Mindful Body
Distance: 8 blocks and teach two yoga classes

I was talking to an artist-student-friend today after class, and she was telling me about Art Basel Miami Beach being the worst of things art and, for her, the best.  The worst for her was the wild abundance of the art and the rabid collecting by so many stretched, lifted faces in spandex and mink.  The best she felt was that it set her free. She has felt inhibited by wanting to appeal to buyers, but now that she has witnessed them in droves she feels released.  "Just practice" was the message that came to her.  Just go to her studio and make art as it comes to her.  Just practice like she does yoga, let it emerge at its own pace with its own voice.  Whether it will speak to anyone is beside the point.

SF Does Christmas --- Day 336

Walk: Noe Valley
Distance: 2 miles

Even in the charming, kid and dog friendly neighborhood of Noe Valley, signs of Christmas are few and far between.  On my walk there I only found a mail box so high up it would be difficult for Santa to deliver Christmas cards.



But one neighborhood over, the Castro, I found the Most tasteful and charming Christmas house I believe I've ever seen. 

And the question is.... ---- Day 335

Walk: de Young (last AOA public lecture in connection with  docent training), Presidio Heights
Distance: 3 miles



So, here are just a few of the questions that come up when researching,  viewing, or presenting  AOA (African Oceanic Americas) art:

- What is art? Same question as regards AOA art?
- What is the image from the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art above about?
- It is a New Guinea spirit figure, but what did or does that mean to the New Guinea people?
- Does/Did it have meaning for just one or a few connected tribes?
- Is it a fragment of a larger ritual object? (Most of what is seen in museums are fragments)
- It is made from mandrake root; what would have been the significance of that material when it was designated a spirit figure?
- We 'know' it is a spirit figure, but how do we know that?  Was this told to a Christian missionary? If so, was he/she told the truth?
- Who was the missionary?  Was he/she a white European or a converted native who actually did most of the conversion work among the native peoples?
- Who was the collector?  A missionary?  For his/her personal collection or for a public collection? A sea captain? For trade and profit?
- Etc. etc.

In this field of art especially the questions are truly never answered (as of yet); one leads to the next; and the answer to virtually all of them is "We don't know for sure..."

http://32minutes.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/new-guinea-art/  Here's a blog entry (with video link)I just found on the Jolika Collection in which the writer attempts to address some of the questions.

Also New Guinea birds are known as the worlds most beautiful (and elusive), and they Too are a source of "profound questions."  Here is a Beautiful! trailer the Cornell Ornithology Lab's Birds of Paradise Project. The lead in ends: As this trailer shows, the opulent plumes and fantastical dances of these 39 species astound us, leaving us with the most profound of scientific questions: Why? Watch them dance.

"Worthless" Eagle --- Day 334

Walk: Union Square (dentist) and Fillmore Street (just wandering)
Distance:  9 blocks or so

According to the government, this "combine"  (a kind of large-scale, three-dimensional collage that includes photographs, pieces of wood, a mirror, a pillow and a stuffed bald eagle)1. is appraised at $65 Million, and the heirs owe over $40 million in taxes if they keep the work in their collection.  But, according to MoMA to which it was donated and the heirs who received no tax advantage for the donation, the work is on the books as Worthless/$0.  After years of wrangling, the government accepted this arrangement withdrew its tax bill, and MoMA unveiled this extremely significant addition to its collection late last month - where it will join five other Robert Rauschenberg combines.

John Wronn

Robert Rauschenberg's "Canyon" (1959) at Museum of Modern Art.

The legal story is so complex I suggest you read it for yourself (along with a personal opinion) in a December 2 Wall Street Journal article by Eric Gibson. (Or just view the related video). A single sentence quote from it gives a 'feeling sense' of the article:  The arrival of "Canyon" at MoMA is the culmination of a five-year absurdist farce—one tinged more by Kafka than Feydeau—that involved the IRS, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the heirs of art dealer Ileana Sonnabend. It might have been laughable, except that the stakes were so high.

I don't know; I don't usually side with 'Authority/the IRS" but, even if they had to do it in an absurb way or just stumbled into right action in the process of being absurd, I think the government's actions on behalf of protecting wildlife was the correct priority.  To me there does need to be a barrier between dead animals (not just Bald Eagles) and "art."  But, thinking of all those moose heads and dead fish adorning fireplaces, bars and hunting lodges, I wonder where that barrier is. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324705104578151561581708972.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Paris on My Mind --- Day 333

Walk: JCCSF, Trader Joe's, Mindful Body
Distance: 2 miles, take 1.5 yoga classes, teach yoga class

My next (non) trip (after Berlin) will be Paris either this April or next Fall.  I really would like to get more conversant with some European cities, and 'everyone' in San Francisco loves Paris and finds it really easy to travel to.  Something to look forward to at this darker time of year. 

Delicate Debris --- Day 332

Walk: Mindful Body, Fillmore Street/Roam, Trader Joe's, Books Inc
Distance: 3 miles, take yoga class and acupuncture





First major winter storm just blew through the Bay Area. Almost hated to sweep the deck after it. 

Did They Have to Name it That? --- Day 331

Walk: Sundance Kabuki (The Fitzgerald Family Christmas), Troya Restaurant, Trader Joe's
Distance: 4 miles

So, Cinema Club again this morning.  The movie, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas,  was written, directed and starred in by Edward Burns.  There were no early screenings for any movie reviewers so our moderator was working with the same short blurb we all were before seeing it with us.  To wit:

The adult siblings of the Fitzgerald family prepare for their estranged father to return home for Christmas for the first time since he walked out on his family 20 years ago.

Between the title, anything to do with Christmas at all and then this blurb, I was not all that thrilled about walking through a mini-San Francisco deluge for this.  And I'd like to report my hesitations were wrong and the movie was excellent - or even good.  But, you know, it just wasn't.  It felt shallow and melodramatic like a soap opera, and there was nothing new to the Irish Fitzgeralds' disfunctionality and struggle about the meaning family.  So much better done by David O. Russell in his 2010 The Fighter which was nominated for seven Oscars, and starred Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, Christian Bale, and Melissa Leo - the latter two both winning Best Supporting Oscars.

Okay, that said, I will say after the movie has sunk in for several hours, I believe there might be (a lot of) people who would like the movie. The acting is good and the resolution well-handled and touching.  I would not recommend it, but I wouldn't say "Don't go."  It just wasn't for me.

Yoga in the Rain --- Day 330

Walk: Mindful Body
Distance: 8 blocks and teach yoga class



I know this is how many men feel when they begin yoga.  Not the least because I felt exactly the same way; when I began taking classes the back of the room was filled with all the men and me.  When the instructor said "Touch your toes" the back room people creaked over maybe 4 inches, back rounded, arms hanging out in space in front of them - and thinking something along the lines of the tin man above.

But when the rainy (or snowy or you name it bad weather) season arrived we stiff  back rowers noticed that at least we were moving, doing something, getting exercise instead of sitting around because the weather wasn't conducive to tennis, golf, skiing, biking, roller blading - whatever our sport was.  Yoga was the first challenging, coordinated- movement oriented activity I found that held my interest and wasn't weather related. And that last made a huge difference over time.

Over time I could make a class plan and actually execute it no matter what the weather.  No making a skiing, tennis, golf, whatever plan and then canceling due to weather.  This consistent availability of the practice provides a trustworthy opportunity for growth and deepening, allows yoga to be a reliable friend and sanctuary.  And, in this tin man's case, yoga literally saves him by bringing him in out of the rain where he will rust and keeping his -albeit stiff -  joints oiled.  If he comes often, he might even loosen up enough to be able to skip down the road in a famous movie.