Booze, Cakes, and Serenity
Like many people, I have an e-mail account I almost never check, and recently when I went in to delete the accumulated ads for Viagra, low mortgage rates, and penis enlargement, I also found an announcement for the birth of Zara Simone Park, daughter of artist Joe Park and his wife Deb Gassner. Zara was born June 21, and if the pictures are any indication, she is already heartbreakingly beautiful.
Speaking of belated sentiments, happy anniversary to both the Seattle Art Museum and the Henry! The Henry actually held a 75th anniversary celebration this past February, but since I mark time at the Henry from one summer gala to the next, I officially celebrated on July 11 at a packed event in which James Turrell's skyspace was opened to a lucky few. The rest of us drank, socialized, and took in the new exhibits, one of which features a selection of work by Claire Cowie. She'll be in residence through July 27, making work and chatting up visitors, so stop by soon and pay her a visit. That evening closed for me on a wild goose chase looking for more beer after the bar ran out rather early; I ended up in the Typing Explosion's little green room, sipping warm white wine through a Red Vine, which was quite disgusting.
That was a very swank week indeed, as I also attended one of many parties for the Seattle Art Museum's 70th anniversary. The highlight was a series of 71 cakes by Nicola Vruwink, each one inspired by a work in the museum's collection, and a video installation featuring a quick progression of faces of art-world people from age zero to age 70 filmed on the Asian Art Museum steps. If you watch the video closely, you'll see me. (Let's just say I'm in the second half, but just barely.)
I didn't actually see the video, since I was outside most of the time drinking some unbelievable concoction mixed by a sympathetic bartender. It really is true what they say about the press and free booze. But outside is where I learned that Misdemeanor, Jack Daws' famous "pot cube" sculpture (a quarter-ounce of marijuana completely encased in concrete and rebar which King County's art gallery wouldn't show), will be shown in the second part of SAM's International Abstraction exhibit, and also where I learned (unhappily) that Vruwink is moving to Los Angeles in the fall. You get all the gossip hanging out by the bar, is my rationale.
Finally, I want to congratulate Ben Beres on his theater-of-the-absurd performance at the Capitol Hill Block Party: Beres strolled lazily through the crowd with a foot-high blob of multicolored ice cream melting all over his white clothes. His serenity, his perfect poise, his unforced strangeness made it the weekend's best unexpected moment. And I'd like to salute the fates who put me in his path every time he's out wandering around, doing something weird. Thanks, Ben.
