National Geographic, Kuwait, 1991, photo by Steve McCurry, courtesy The Annenberg Space for Photography
The photographs at the Annenberg Space for Photography of National Geographic magazine are cinema-size, faces larger than life, their suffering and innocence unbearable but attached to your memory forever. There are also animals filled with destroyed beauty and a haunting … Continue reading
Henri Rousseau, The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897, Museum of Modern Art, New York
I heard a rumor that some artists went to visit Henri Rousseau and were shocked that he put one of his paintings on the floor for them to walk on because he didn’t have a rug. Was he naive? Crazy? … Continue reading
Lou Reed and Mary Woronov, circa 1967, photographer unknown
I was sitting in my car is when I heard that Lou Reed had died. The announcer went on to say that although Reed was not as famous as the Beatles or the Eagles, bla bla—I almost rear end the … Continue reading
Georgia O'Keeffe, from "Flower of Life II" series
If sex has been around in art for so long, then why do O’Keeffe’s vulvalistic flowers generate so much special negative attention, as in the phrase, “Yeah, she’s good but I don’t like her—too obvious, too sexual.”? Is this because … Continue reading
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, The Abduction of Psyche by Zephrus to the Palace of Eros, after 1808, probably before 1820, Oil on Canvas, Norton Simon Foundation
We all know that for a long time artists used to use the Greek myths as an excuse to paint nudes, confident that men never tire of female flesh being offered up in various religious costumes, but what about the … Continue reading
Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West façade, 1894, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
For me Monet stands between two of my favorite artists who played with the disintegration of the object rather than it’s creation, J.M.W. Turner and Anselm Kiefer. Turner’s objects sailed forth only to be obliterated by light as if they … Continue reading
Vincent Van Gogh, Self-Portrait, August 1889,
Oil on canvas, 57 × 43,5 cm,
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C
The first time I saw Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait it was in my mother’s bedroom, hanging on the wall opposite the two Gauguins that hung over her bed. I liked the two Gauguins—they seemed happy and far away—but the … Continue reading
Donald Judd, Untitled, 1968. Stainless steel and plexiglass, 33 × 68 × 48 in. (83.8 × 172.7 × 121.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
What is this love of simplicity that gave us the great barren art form of minimalism and its regressive culmination in the blankness of a simpleton? The real master it serves is industry because simple is just cheaper to make … Continue reading
Mark Rothko: Untitled (Seagram Mural), 1959, oil and mixed media on canvas, sizw: 265.4 x 288.3 cm. Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc. Copyright © 1997 Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel.
The sublime or supernatural, the spirit of myth timeless and tragic, these are states to be imagined, honored or worshiped. They are not created by color fields, as the Abstract Expressionist would have us believe. Barnett Newman’s red canvas, Vir … Continue reading
© 2014 mary. All rights reserved.
The first time I performed with Mike was the early eighties in the Yonemoto Brother’s performance of Godzilla on the Beach. They asked me to play Godzilla and since it was the lead, I said yes. Beyond monster mumbling I … Continue reading
© 2013 mary. All rights reserved.
She rides her bed as if on a swan through generation after generation. The years roll off her back—they mean nothing to her. Her lovers come and go, but she will see them later wobbling on their canes, looking at … Continue reading
© 2012 mary. All rights reserved.
Here’s to LACMA for giving us one of the most essential shows of the decade. Usually I go to judge art, this time I was there to learn. How would you feel if in every mirror you did not recognize … Continue reading