On Friday evening I braved the wind driven rain and the G train for a trip to Long Island City to see Marcus Romero’s new work showing at The Space Gallery. Marcus paints fantastic starscapes and landscapes, which are alternatively based on science and science fiction. If they were less delicately worked I could almost imagine them adorning the cover of a sci-fi paperback. What is evident from looking at the show, which contains both small pieces a few inches across as well as those covering entire walls, is that Marcus is a painter. By that I mean to say that he loves and is comfortable with working with paint as a medium, applying it in layers and reworking his paintings until they have a luminous, almost lacquered quality. The Space Gallery was crowded with artists, friends and well-wishers. For me, who is regularly caught saying that I hate contemporary art, it is always refreshing to see a small gallery mount efforts that really support artists and the work that they create.
Paris, Again
I don’t need anything special in Paris. I could be completely happy doing nothing more than walking around, drinking coffee, and reading the newspaper. I don’t mind the perpetually grey skies. They enhance the atmosphere created by the narrow cobblestone streets, the tin roofs and red chimneys of the Haussman era apartment buildings, corner cafes with their sidewalk seating and the murky, contained mirrored waters of the Canal St. Martin. There’s more photos on flickr.
Mmmm! Yeggie Tagine
I want to give a huge shout out to the restaurant Le Berber, located at 62 Rue Crozatier in the 12eme arrondissement. It can be surprisingly challenging to find North African restaurants with vegetarian options and sometimes those that have them are often really expensive and not very good. Not so with this one! Not only are they reasonably priced, but they made us vegetarian tagine, even though it was not on the menu and the mixture of piping hot vegetables, dried fruits and spices in the tagine let me know that it was as fresh as could be.
Gainsbar, Gent
In lieu of singing kareoke at a disreputable student joint, Wim and Annelies took us to Gainsbar. Related to my other favorite bar in Gent, Pink Flamingoes, if only by the kitchy decor, this tiny bar is devoted to Serge Gainsbourg. It also seems to have a fair amount of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet represented in its decorations, but somehow it all works together. From the twelve-year-old Charlotte Gainsbourg sulking over the door from her album cover of “Charlotte Forever” to the “yeh yeh” cocktail, this is the work of someone with vision. It’s also probably the only bar in Belgium where you can’t order beer, but no matter, the specialty drinks and decent wine is good enough.
Gent Again
Two hours on the Thaly’s rail and another hour on the commuter train (because we took the local train that goes by Aalst, despite Wim often warning us that it “leaves first and gets there last, remember the story of the tortoise and the hare?”) landed us in lovely Gent, Belgium. Gent also goes by Ghent or Gand, depending what language you are speaking (Flemish and French, respectively). In Belgium it matters very much what language you speak. For a little country with so much history the divisions between language groups and geographic areas can get pretty intense. However, one could say the same about Brooklyn. I described Gent to my friends in the US as similar to a cool college town, but with canals, a castle from the middle ages, a transfixing number of cobblestone allies and an important place in art history.
Unexpected Paris
I’ve been reading a book about travel writing and one thing that the author stresses that is important for travel writers is to be open to the unexpected and be willing to investigate. I felt this advice boded well for me when, thinking I would write some cute piece on “romantic Paris,” I tried to go to the Musee de la Vie Romantique, but it was closed during the installation of their new exhibition. However, I found something even better on the Rue Chaptal, near the museum. There was a small impasse coming off the street and I noticed the sign said “Bibliotheque.” Noting there was a garden, I decided to go in, because I love the gardens and courtyards in Paris hidden behind outer, street facing walls. I was not disappointed in the least. This, comfortable, renovated library with futuristic looking chairs, computers and newspapers available for browsing is snugly located in an 18th century hotel particular. They’ve kept the details like the fireplace, frescoed ceiling and moldings intact, and reading Le Monde in such a salon-like setting felt like a truly unique Paris experiences.
NYC Grassroots Media Conference
I will be participating in the NYC Grassroots Media Conference on March 2nd with my colleagues talking about connecting teaching strategies for visual literacy and media literacy. I’m really looking forward to this conference and hope those in the NYC area will make it! If there’s nerdy media, art and museum educators coming to the conference, I hope you’ll make it to our workshop!
“Void” at Magnan Emrich Contemporary
I’ve also decided to start writing more on the riffRAG blog. As an attempt, I wrote a review of Monica Paez and Nicolas Consuegra’s excellent show “void” there. Please check it out here! (http://www.riffrag.org/blog/blog.html)
My Favorite Pastime
While I enjoy waking up to NPR’s morning addition or the BBC world service (I also used to fall asleep to the BBC when I lived in Oregon) I have a favorite new radio show: Fair Game with host Faith Salie. A mixture of political commentary, sketch comedy, interviews and musical performances, all pulled together by Faith’s valley girl voice had me first saying, “This is NPR? I just can’t believe it!” While Terry Gross she is not (thankfully), Faith is an upbeat and critical host. I now I find myself looking forward to each weekday evening between 8 and 9 when I can cook dinner and listen to Fair Game. My favorite segment? Bathed in Glory, which highlights really hideous things people do, like run over a 17 year old and then sue the deceased boy’s family for damages to the car. Last night I even found myself in the kitchen after I had finished dinner (and the dishes). I realized I was engaging in a very old fashioned pastime: sitting around, listening to the radio. If you love WNYC as much as I do, today is the last day of their fund drive, so donate if you can (I am guilty of not donating this time, but next time! I swear!).
Guide to New French Slang
The other night G. gave me a special French test, part of in concerning gastronomie and the other concerning verlan and argot, aka French slang. Needless to say, I did o.k., but not great. However, I found a helpful site that explains new verlan, which is incredibly grammatical, to use thick headed English speakers. My favorite part is that it’s not the spelling of the words that are reversed, but the syllables.
Killerfemme 