Posts from the ‘muse’ Category
A rooftop view towards the East 70’s.
Jeff Koons, Coloring Book, 1997–2005. High chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating; 222 x 1311/2 x 9 1/8 in.
A double please. Hirst. The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. The scum floating at the top of the tank was quite captivating.
Linda Carter’s wonder woman costume surrounded by a chthonian darkness which I found surprising as she has always held a bright and special place in my heart. I really wanted to get a good look at her bullet proof cuffs. 
A CUTLET. A blind agitation is manly and uttermost.
–Tender Buttons. Objects, 1914.
My friend Mr. RM of West Palm Beach once told me he thought that Alice B. wrote the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas and not Gertrude Stein, as Stein’s works are incomprehensible and The Autobiography is not.
I’ve always enjoyed reading about authors rather than reading their work. Gertrude Stein was my first favorite person to read about. She said things of which I had never heard. “It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.” It thrilled me. This, Picasso’s portrait, was on the cover of one of my favorite biographies that I read in high school. I used to stare at the cover; imagining it. It became a symbol for me of, that which was beyond where I was, so when wandering through the MET ten years ago I came across the portrait, it surprised me. It was not unlike one of Thoreau’s deers in the woods.
See portrait in situ here.
I still like to sport a Gertrude haircut and I still fantasize about having a suit made out of brown corduroy and taking up with socks and sandals for long walks around Paris (It is not what France gave you but what it did not take from you that was important). The title of this post is Stein. The rest of the quote is, “If you do not enjoy it, why do you make a fuss about it?” My new motto. You can hear the interview from 1934 here.
in the life of the interior designer.
Portrait of a Lady; probably Mary Parsons, later Mrs Draper Lely, Peter (painter) c 1665. It’s unfortunate that the Fitzwilliam Museum does not show their paintings on line with frames.
I always remember Bruce Chatwin’s book On The Black Hill. Adult twin brothers live in their family home in the Welsh countryside. They have a fear of antique pickers coming to their door.
Driving around on Friday afternoon, I was so hungry that I couldn’t decide where to go. I was lost in San Diego then suddenly there was a Greek Restaurant on the right. A lamb burger sounded delicious. After some tricky parking maneuvers, I was inside. It was painted the colors of the Greek flag, so I sat outside. I wanted a lamb burger like I used to get in Seattle; uninspired gyros instead–sometimes you can’t wait. I used to go to the Greek in Seattle because it took me back to Greektown, Chicago. The mnemonics of place. The restaurant in Chicago was blue and white as well.
Flowers in Carlsbad were a hope of something new. I have seen masses of flowerbeds. At the time they seemed like masses–a huge geranium bed my grandfather grew for cuttings. His greenhouses would be full up during Flower Season. But Carlsbad became more a reminder, of noisy trips in grade school. There were no greenhouses to report, I did at least once smell the musty fragrance of wet dirt.
Objects of Desire: The Lives of Antiques and Those who Pursue Them. Is a brilliant book. (Brill if I were a Mitford). The whole book is about beauty and how it develops, and as with many things through time and money.
Highlights:
1. Fine Points of Furniture, 1950 which created a code of beauty. The book diagrammed pieces into: Good or Better or Best which helped to develop a whole new code of beauty in Early American Furniture–revolutionary really.
2. The Palladian Architect, Robert Adams was said to have said that what is important is the idea of a chair, not the chair itself.
3. The idea of an object rising to “an appropriate level” in the market.
PS. The photo of me chasing the Peacock was at Kedleston hall, I think, but I could be confusing the possiblity of peakcocks on that property with the Lady Curzon Durbar’s Peakcock Dress–which would mean that photo was taken at some other English Country House. Where ever it was, I recall there was a tea shop.
Unfortunately (or fortunately–depending on how she used her time), Persephone had to stay underground for three months out of the year. My roommate’s sister has referred to our apartment as a cave. I did wish to be a spelunker having been fascinated at an early age by caves, but the problem with living in a cave is that it is damp. On top of living in a cave, as a friend pointed out today at lunch, to be located backed up against a hill in a slight valley doesn’t help matters. It is however Spring and I see the occasional hummingbird out my window as I type and the yellow Ranunculus I bought on Wed. are looking almost fresh. I finally got my CA driver’s license, and this morning I went hiking in Torrey Pines Reserve with my hiking companion who described to me the naming of Pinus Torreyana. 
The pink rectangular pillows were custom made out of Princess 602 by Kvadrat. The yellow pillow is made out of a vintage memo sample from The Cresent’s home decor department circa 1970. In lieu of a headboard, (in process) the first figure of three of a tri-fold cardboard divider–a stage prop from the 70’s–is at the side. The painting is a vintage oil taken off it’s stretcher that a past client was going to throw out which is supposed to depict workers in what a friend told me are the rice paddies outside of Beijing. The building in the background is the Temple of Heaven. The small litho is a vintage still life. 
