Boston and Beyond

DC was amazing. It really had been too long. My last trip to DC was in early 2002, and it didn't feel like a good time in the capitol. It was twitchy;I remember flying in with five of my high school classmates and our history teacher. The country was in such rough shape and there were all these strange precautionary measures, and veiled paranoia was rampant. The effect was felt most profoundly on our arrival at Dulles. It was announced several hours into the flight that nobody would be permitted to get out of their seat for forty five minutes prior to landing. And it was the way it was done, not tidy, like at the beginning of the flight, as in, this is airline policy. It felt very ad hoc. Anyway things have settled, and everyone in DC is so full of "hope" it is disgusting/thrilling. It was a very flirtatious city, this time around, which proved a nice change from puritanical Toronto. Prompting the question why are Canadians were so prudish? Or is it me, perhaps I am lost in translation. And I can only say that having been bombarded with "damn, let me get some of that," and "white girl is fine" so many times in the District it was comical, and flattering. Nell and I were propositioned for a threesome, and trust me it has been a few years since anyone wanted to include me in group sex. Anyway, as I already posted Robert Frank was a highlight in DC, but Boston proved even more stimulating. I went ICA my first day in Beantown. That is after I checked in at the Palace - otherwise known as the YWCA.

ICA had a special exhibit of Shepard Fairey, who everyone knows because of the Obama image

But actually when you see his other work the Obama looks primitive by comparison. He is so critical and thought provoking that the Obama images seems placative and shallow in comparison.
The ICA also has a great permanent collection which features among others a couple of great Nan Goldins'.




That last one, reminds me of a very ex-rated internet conversation between and old friend and me, my last day in DC, which I wont repeat because it isn't proper. I only bring it up because it reiterated my point that celibacy has more to do with Toronto than it has to do with me? Maybe I am a better flirt at home in America. Anyway, I digress.

Thursday I went out to Brandeis, and had a sincerely depressing day. I am not sure why. I mean the art could hardly be considered a let down, but i don`t know if it was worth the train trip to Waltham. I missed a train back to Boston by three minute, and had to wait two hours. I was not impressed. One thing that did impress me was the special exhibit of Hans Hoffman, and what was particularly remarkable about it was that I loved it. And that makes me different than every other twenty something art snob - and o to be different. Paul and Virginia both HATE Hans and I felt good to have found my own voice and aesthetic eye, even if I couldn't articulate what they were missing. The Hoffman's had so much energy and vitality, and the guy was seventy in 1950, when he produced his most influential work.


After I got back from Waltham I went to the MFA, which I wasn't sure I was even interested in, and thank god I went. MFA is amazing. It is, as Paul said, one of the most important museums in the country. And they have some amazing work. I was only a little disappointed that the modern and contemporary wings are under construction. And on my way out, after the Hoppers and the Pollack, the Holzer, and the Kara Walker, I saw a Karel Appel, which actually made me jump up and down with glee. Appel is so little known in North America and I have never seen another piece of his work anywhere outside of CoBrA - so I definitely felt like I was in on a secret.


I didn't make it to the Isabella Stewart house, which was disappointing but I guess the solace there is that I know it isn't going anywhere. But Boston had plenty of other successes for me. Not only did the Bruins beat Ottawa while I was in town, but I got to have dinner with my Aunt Debbie and Uncle John who I haven't seen in probably a decade, at least. And then Friday evening it was over and I found myself on the Fung Wah bus, to NYC's Chinatown.

So here I am back in "the City" and today I met Virginia at her studio at Hunter. To take a look at her latest work. Then I went up to Robert Miller, to see the Niedermayer show. Luckily Paul had a few minutes to spare and so we did a Chelsea tour together. I am not sure what the rest of the weekend will entail, but I am getting more and more excited to see my mum Monday at the airport when we head down to Guatemala. It is sure to be almost as good as Lisa eating the dark meat of a chicken wing in from of a Gauguin. Forgive me the bad inside joke.