Does the world need another book about van Gogh?

I love art books and have a substantial personal library myself.  They are costly and my space is limited, so I really take advantage of the award winning San Francisco Public Library.   It is the best!   

The other day I spotted a new van Gogh book on the shelves — Vincent's Portraits Paintings and Drawings by van Gogh by Ralph Skea from Thames & Hudson.  I asked myself, does the world need another book about van Gogh?  

The answer is yes!  This is the book.  

This rather small volume is well written with details that are both concise and organized focusing on van Gogh’s portraiture.  But the true reason I have taken the time to post about this book is the images.  With most art books about popular artists, you tend to see the same images over and over. Even though van Gogh’s body of work is limited due to his sadly short life, I have always had the feeling, you’ve seen one book, you have seen them all.  The brilliance of Skea’s book is that he has included so many portraits that rarely if ever appear in other books.  Our library has another book by Skea, I have requested it.  I suspect I will be asking the library to acquire his other art books as well.  If you don’t have access to a good library, go to your local, independent bookstore and get a hold of this one.

Then They Came For Me

Spent the afternoon at a powerful photography exhibit Then They Came For Me  that documents the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.  Some of the photos were familiar, but many I was seeing for the first time.  The exhibit includes work from Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, as well as photography by incarcerated Japanese American artists Toyo Miyatake and Miné Okubo.  The exhibit even includes clandestine images that recorded this unjust chapter of American History.

Along with this show in the Presidio, you can also visit the history museum at the Officer’s Club which has extended their exhibit  about the internment.

Admission to Then They Came For Me  is free and the exhibit is up until May 27, 2019.

Hot Wheels Mail Art

The moment I saw the newHot Wheels stamps at the post office, I immediately knew I had to make some Hot Wheels-themed mail art.  Growing up in a cold, snowy city, Hot Wheels were a winter toy when my brother and I ran those orange plastic tracks all over the house and raced the cars. I spent a rainy day painting those tracks, this is the result on its way in the mail.

Marzipan Mail Art

It’s always nice to have friends visit from Germany, and when they bring me a big box of Niederegger Marzipan, well, I’m in heaven.  I love marzipan, and Niederegger is the best!  I made the pilgrimage to Lübeck a few times many years ago.  I resisted eating it all quickly, rationing the delicious pieces carefully and saving the foil wrappers. Now, after some recycling, cutting, and gluing, it is time to send some Niederegger-themed mail art back to Germany.

Winter Mail

A rainy winter day is perfect to sort through some of the mail art I received over the holidays.  The recent batch includes collages, ATCs, amazing envelopes, post office postcards, a pair of duck footed kids (love those) and Sally Wassink’s fantastic 2019 calendar – this year in a stamp format.  This is a list of what’s shown here:

1. Sagebrush Moderne – California 
2. Kerosene– Québec, Canada
3. Katerina Nikoltsou – Greece 
4. Jokie X. Wilson – California
5. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. Peter Müller – Germany
8. Sandra Lefever– Florida
9. Fleur Helsingor– California
10. Serse Luigetti – Italy
11. Melissa Wand – Wisconsin
12. Sally Wassink– California 
13.  Donna Stroud – Washington 

Bay Area Scene Paintings

I said to the woman at the front desk, “It’s funny how I have to come down here from San Francisco to see Bay Area paintings…”   She laughed, and apparently they have been hearing comments like this a lot at the Hilbert Museum.  Yes, the best Bay Area art exhibit right now is down in Orange County. Bay Area Scene Paintings is on view until April 27, 2019 and well worth checking out if you’re down south.  

Plenty of artists I was unfamiliar with.  A bunch of lovely work that even featured the hideous and long gone Embarcadero Freeway. I actually am glad that freeway is preserved in some paintings.  Jack Laycox’s 1959 painting shows when it was brand new.

Will we ever get to see these up north? I would never expect them to make room for an exhibit like this among the baubles and schamtas at one of those San Francisco museums.  But the Oakland Museum needs to step up and show this work.

2018 Holiday Card

As the year ends, I always send out a card to celebrate the holidays and commemorate the coming new year.  Rarely would they be considered traditional Christmas cards.  Whatever is happening the in the world, I strive for an optimistic message (this is 2017).

As the year concludes, with all the problems in the world and the embracing of ignorance and denial, it is a challenge to remain optimistic. As the smoke was clearing from the latest devastating California wildflowers, this is the card I came up with.  Happy Holidays….