Mozz's got a new Single

So, I've been missing in action lately, drawing dots for Tauba Auerbach's new breakthrough abstraction works. Helping along roundtable of friends and assistants, I was filling in a slew of black acrylic watery dots. The dots are part of a half tone transformation from a crumpled up piece of paper when seen up close are just dots, but from at least 15 feet away looks like the original crumpled piece of paper. I think she just one-upped Bridget Riley! For an upcoming show at Deitch including Xyler Jane, Ara Peterson and Mitzi Pederson dealing with Popstractions.... go check it out soon in June. Tauba's been wonderful to work for and her fresh lemon squeezed on ravioli will forever remain a classic addition to my cooking lexicon. Here's to evolution in art, cooking and her move, everyone's moving it seems .... to .... New York.

SFMoMa Now Showing...

For some reason, the SFMoMa has paid all this advertising for the Lee Friedlander show across town. But it's kind of like saying the special on the menu for the evening is a bland hamburger, the kind of lunch you get for punishment on Hell's Kitchen for losing a round, when there is a beautifully complex frozen foie gras cured with sake, freshly caught sashimi and delicately robust arugula salad also on the menu in small print. The tightly curated and more individual pieces at the SFMoMa are simply wonderful. They are enjoyable in a sense that they make you feel like a kid on an art playground with friends and everyday objects transformed into something greater but not in a big showy way. In "Cut", curated by Henry Urbach, their new Architecture and Design Curator who also commissioned the visionary frozen BMW by Olafur Eliasson, Peter Wegner delivers two great installations: his photographs of upside down skylines which make you turn your head slightly and his sublime color piece of papers stacked on their side creating an industrial sunset. A Gordon Matta-Clark hallway shows his "Splitting" video documenting the physicality of sawing light through a house and slanting its foundation. Upstairs "wonderful" continues to describe the Joan Jonas video where you are transported to a playing field with her friends in the cold enacting games which could be warm up excercises for a Fellini film. Bundled up, they roll past the camera performing cartwheels, strike wooden blocks above their heads to make plonky sounds, follow chalk lines that lend structure to their movements, and have multiple conversations painting an audio depth of field for the camera. But perhaps the well-known name of Friedlander is a tool to bring in the masses and hopefully they will be lured into one of these other great pieces. Or, like the Guston exhibition that showed simultaneously with their well publicized Manet show years ago, perhaps the hardcore art fan can rest assuredly enjoy his or her trip in peace, while the general public cues up outside the museum in droves for what they have been told is important by textbooks. Afterall, their ticket stubs do help pay for these other shows, and illustrate how marketing can be successful. I guess... but maybe you decide.

Dream Date.

If you want to take your date somewhere private, somewhere other, somewhere magical, come to the Legion of Honor for their Cinema Supper Club. Completely unaware that they housed one of the most enchanting movie theatres in San Francisco, this quaint cinema house with hand-painted ceiling of winged horses and blindfolded maidens above, and comfy velvet opera antique seats below, made me giddy as a school girl, a Catholic school girl. That evening the screening was "The Ballet Russe" with a thorough introduction to the film by a knowledgeable and articulate programmer. The film was totally entertaining, educational, and chalk full of archival footage which brought the Ballet Russe to life. With regards to the film itself, my one critique was that I wished it included more on its originator, impresario Serge Diaghilev.

The kitchen and wait staff at the Legion Cafe have never let me down but for some reason there was a group with walkie talkies and badges at the entrance of the restaurant gathered round a cheeseplate chatting which kind of threw off the elegant ambiance of the room. Anyhow, initially trying out their restaurant for jazz brunch not too long ago, their dinner proved just as sumptuous, light and satisfying. Their aforementioned cheese plate which I was curious to try needed a bit more worldliness to it (Jack Cheese?). The menu selection is catered to an older crowd; fish and chips, but spiced up with special touches like tamarind ketchup, and meatloaf and mash potatoes were presented as a deliciously stacked mountain of homecooked perfection. I think it might give the cafe more of a restaurant feel if they painted some of the walls a richer, darker hue, because the high quality food deserves elegant surroundings. Or perhaps it's the best Museum cafeteria food, one will ever have priveledge of tasting. Next time, I might wear nice jeans and a jacket instead of a designer dress and heels?

Part of the Cinema Supper Club includes free access to the galleries without the daytime crowds. Having a somewhat private view is great as the Leibowitz exhibition takes some time to soak in with a video documentary, an entire nook of snap shots pinned onto bulletin boards, and noticing details like a Presidential belt buckle on George Bush, who stood like a proud warrior alongside Condie, Rumsfeld and the head of the FBI. The portrait was dated December 2001, shortly after the 9/11 intervention. Also on view, which is quite special to experience in the evening is a new installation of Dale Chihuly's works. Vibrant blown glass standing over 2 stories tall, the sculptures were in good company in the Rodin room and glowed outside in the courtyard. The contrast of the kinetic colorful work proves to be a wonderfully strong asset to the FAMSF collection breathing an unexpected contemporality into the classic atmosphere. Linked to an upcoming exhibition at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, the yellow Chihuly which seems as if it's growing out of their garden fountain is spectacular from a distance, like a mustard lorax tree from a Dr. Seuss story but up close its structural support kind of gives its organic quality away.

But, please do take advantage of the Cinema Supper Club while it lasts at the Legion. And, wear a coat because it can get quite windy up near the Sutro Cliffs. Driving recommended. Check the famsf.org site for program listings to this special affair and other events. I think they're making a wonderful attempt at programming exciting ways to access art and enjoy a refined and memorable evening out. Becoming a member wouldn't be such a bad idea. I think their offerings are unique and worthwhile, not trendy.

censorship is still prevalent

INDIA REFUSES MEESE SCULPTURE



A sculpture by Jonathan Meese has been turned away at the Indian border. As the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's Swantje Karich reports, Indian customs officials at Mumbai airport took a "drastic" approach to Meese's bronze sculpture Don't Call Us, We'll Call You, 2007, which was en route to the gallery Mirchandani + Steinruecke for inclusion in the exhibition "General Sweetie." According to Karich, the dealers attempted to persuade the airport customs officials to let the work through by citing "traditional Indian erotic literature." Just as the shipment was due to be checked again, the official in charge gave up and simply sent the sculpture back to Germany.

collector craziness.. our names on your babies

KOOLHAAS SUPPORTS CEMETERY PYRAMID



Rem Koolhaas has added his support for plans to build a giant cemetery pyramid near Dessau, Germany. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Ijoma Mangold reports, the Dutch star architect participated in a gala event last week at Berlin Hebbel-Theater. Koolhaas presented the results of an international architecture competition launched last fall. The final four designs were selected by a jury that included the architect, as well as the designer Miuccia Prada.

Dubbed "The Great Pyramid," the cemetery, in a sign of peace, would be open to all religious beliefs and nationalities. A five-hundred-foot-tall structure could hold up to five million stones and might be expanded to include more. According to the association Friends of the Great Pyramid, more than a thousand people have already reserved a stone and want to have their ashes kept in the structure. If the plan goes forward, a stone may cost around one thousand dollars.

But the residents of both Dessau and neighboring Streetz—where the pyramid may be built—are not so happy about the plan. During a "pyramid party" held in Streetz last year, some locals attended with the banner WE DON'T WANT 500,000 DEAD PEOPLE. "All the same," writes Mangold, "it's completely conceivable that the project will succeed. There are many terrible things in the world that have met with success."

Karl the Kaiser

Karl Lagerfeld is a relentless force in fashion designing over 4 collections a season- Chanel, Fendi, Lagerfeld Gallery and Karl Lagerfeld (might have sold this). You can tell he never stops thinking and working by the looks of his atelier... If u wanna see Karl Lagerfeld's over the top ring collection, him being totally cunt about his life- the man knows how he wants to live, why he wants to live and not love, and hear about his mother, whom he prolly gets his succinct style and no nonsense from, go see Lagerfeld Confidential at the Roxie Cinema which screens til Thursday.. and again, go support indie film houses. They need you... I'd be sad to see them close. Historically, this may be the first movie house to open in San Fran according to their site. I know it's the first movie house I went to when I moved to SF when I was a lil' pink haired punk of 18 to see some Frank Zappa doc or something.

Anyway, it's really cool...and u get to see him as a child, awww... in super 8 which is always icing on the cake, no?

A Tribute to Susan Sontag by Annie Leibowitz

San Francisco still continues to satisfy my need to surround myself with beautiful things including the views and landscapes which will remain forever new to me even if I've seen them a million times. From Golden Gate Park stretching to the ocean, the easiness on the eyes is there for the taking. As I trekked to the Legion of Honor again for another wondrous daytime adventure, starting with a delectable brunch of Scharfenberger chocolate muffins, which Eddy gulped down with "yums" and I, savoring my minty fruit salad, the most crabbed out fritata ever, and a delicious belini, was surprised to encounter the Annie Leibowitz photography exhibition already opened to the public. Not thinking I would be interested in her imagery which, in my mind, seemed to pervade every pore of Vanity Fair for the past decade, I surprisingly found integrity in a body of work which gave due homage to friend, critical writer and fellow photographer, Susan Sontag. A personal heroine of mine, Sontag, during her terminal and fragile times leading up to her last days after she was diagnosed with cancer can be seen intimately through Leibowitz's ease of camera, in her private home, airplanes to see Paris one more time, last bicycle rides with friends and carrying Leibowitz's baby (whom she birthed at age 50). It was a really beautiful way to give respect to her confidant and close friend in a survey show of which I'm sure she had to edit thousands of photographs from.
The one here, displays the intimacy of Kate Moss and Johnny Depp, giving Leibowitz this unsaid kind of, "yes, we'll do anything you want for the camera, because we trust your vision completely" and that is what makes this show interesting. There is a genuine trust and respect inherent in all her photos, reflecting from a total and willing honesty on both ends of sitter and shooter. And to give yourself completely to someone else is a beautiful thing.
Afterwards, we hiked through the Sutro Hills and discovered that whistle that you can hear for miles along with the sea lions at night if you sit quietly enough. It's a metal form of architecture similiar to a short lighthouse stranded a mile away from the coast visible from the cliffside. Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooo...