INTRODUCTION with THERESA CHONG

On Sept. 11, 2016, I posted a note on Facebook that came to be the impetus for this blog.  I replicate that post here as my first post for this blog (there are older blog posts than this Introductory post because I moved over older "Living with Art"-type Facebook posts to this blog):

9-1-1: Tom woke me up with a jolt. He had been watching "Good Morning America." He rushed me to the television. We had just left NYC and, from San Francisco, we watched the first tower fall. For over three years, I had worked at the 103rd floor of One World Trade Center. Then the second tower fell. And we watched Charlie Gibson unable to see what was happening. We watched Mr. Gibson unable to process, thus see, the fall of the second tower -- a lesson again in how (1) people fail to see what they do not want to see, and (2) we see only what we want to see. Later, I made a scheduled class visit. I held up a newspaper's front page featuring "The Falling Man". I said that this image revised the image I have of my book BLACK LIGHTNING. I raised the cover of my book, which reproduced a painting by Theresa Chong. I said I could no longer look at my book cover or Theresa's painting (which hangs in my house) without seeing the falling man superimposed against its lines. Theresa had made her painting by standing the canvas on edge, thus, allowing gravity to dictate the fall of the black and white paint stripes. Gravity dictates ... so much. September 11--my Birthday for so many years, and still my *legal* birthday. A few years ago, my mother revealed that, actually, I was born on Sept. 10 but the village recorder the next morning failed to adjust the day since I'd been born at night. The revelation shocked, then brought extreme joy. I no longer shared the same birthday as the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. And I was no longer a 9-1-1 baby.

"Black Lightning" (she renamed her painting after my book title) by Theresa Chong

Here's the cover to my book:

You can see--compare the above images with--the iconic photograph of 9-1-1's "The Falling Man" available at this article on Esquire.

STELLA LAI

We like to live with works by an artist in depth. Here are some of the works by Stella Lai. I admire her works, partly for reflecting how she successfully made up a character, "Puchaa," whose name amuses me for being Mexican slang for "Pussy." Perhaps my favorite is her installation "DON'T TOUCH ME" which is featured below with a detail photo -- I'll always fondly remember how she'd visited the house with two other artists and her dealer and all busily screwed in those little heads on the wall. Afterwards, she signed the wall directly -- a signature I also appreciated for its anti-capitalist element.

PATRICK ROSAL

Patrick Rosal is a talented poet. But he also created a fabulous series of B-Boy sketches -- I interview him about these works HERE. And I'm delighted to have one of his B-Boy sketches grace la casa. Here's a sketch from the interview:

ALLEN BRAMHALL

Mi casa is blessed to house two lovely artworks by Allen Bramhall. Allen is not just a visual artist but someone close to my heart: a poet who has supported poetry as a former publisher (30 books!), critic, supporter of others' poetry presses and books, and author of intelligent and wise poems. He is a "poet who innocently turned to painting," and I'm glad he did!

BEATRICE WOOD

We've long lived with a Beatrice Wood bowl; we've admired her pottery for years. But when we visited her Ojai, CA home, we ended up taking home one of her sketches. It's moving, partly because of its inscription--both the title "Frightened of her dreams" and the fragility of the handwriting. She was 104 years old when she inscribed/made the sketch. If I live that long, I hope not to be fearful and fragile but always be in a celebratory mood for each additional day. But what do I/we know? Life is fragile...

("Frightened of her dreams")

(Detail)

DANIEL DOUKE

We've lived for decades with the works of superrealist artist Daniel Douke and the works remain fresh as ever! His "boxes" are so realistic that you could be nose to that thing on his painting that looks like masking tape, or a fold on the cardboard, and you honestly would say that is the real thing instead of (raised) paint on canvas. Interestingly, he once visited our home to look at these early works and he observed he would find it difficult to do them again as his body (hands) have aged out of the steadiness required to paint several of the superrealist details. So here are 3 of our 4 paintings -- which are always, by the way, endangered by movers as they keep thinking they're boxes for objects instead of the actual objects being packed:

Some links:
http://www.beartmagazine.com/exhibition-los-angeles-daniel-douke-at-peter-mendenhall-gallery/

https://www.nevadaart.org/exhib…/daniel-douke-extraordinary/

BRIAN LUCAS

Brian Lucas is a poet as well as a visual artist. I met him through poetry but have enjoyed living with his works for years!

CRISTINA QUERRER & ROXANNE SWENTZELL

This post features two artists whose works we enjoy in the house: Cristina Querrer and Roxanne Swentzell. I group them together because there is a set-up where Cristina's drawing is always next to one of Roxanne's bronzes -- I like the play between the two. 

We are also blessed with another sculpture by Roxanne--

and lovely small paintings by Cristina--

Cristina Querrer, by the way, is also a poet with a lovely chapbook, The Art of Exporting, from dancing girl press & studio (2011). Here's a review I wrote on it.

MOB, REANNE ESTRADA, ELIZA BARRIOS and JENIFER WOFFORD

I’m pleased to share that I live with the works of Reanne “Immaculata” Estrada, Eliza “Neneng” Barrios, and Jenifer “Baby” Wofford through their brilliant Mail Order Brides/M.O.B. project. Since they were photographed in a bathroom, I put their photos in a bathroom ☺ (just a half-bath so the works won’t be damaged by shower/bath steam). 

I’m also blessed to live with some of their works as individual artists. Like Jenifer’s fabulous Nurse and Bangka series as well as her drawing-sculpture involving whiteout against black paper and Eliza’s gilded half-erased suitcase… I delight in smart artists and these three are sharp as well as visually compelling.

ARVIN FLORES

I discovered Arvin Flores when one of his works was exhibited at some SF Manila Town gallery (you can tell my memory is failing me again when I can't quite pinpoint the venue) where Theo Gonzalves and Meritage Press were launching his fabulous book, STAGE PRESENCE. I took Arvin's work home and have delighted in living with it since. 

MICHELLE O'CONNOR

We discovered Michelle O'Connor about 15 years ago during one of San Francisco's Open Studios (where artists opened up their studios to the public throughout the city). We were her first "Collectors" -- I use the term because we would find out later that she treasured being able to say her art is collected. We had visited tons and tons of studios that day and her paintings were our pick; we thought she had such potential and wanted to encourage her. I think she wasn't out of art school yet. For several years, Tom had one of her larger works hanging in his office lobby; apparently she would visit his office lobby (grin) to take photos and look at her painting in such a context she might not have imagined would be possible. 

Perhaps a year or so after we met her, she was riding her bike in San Francisco, got side-swiped by a vehicle and died. Her father came into town to collect her belongings ... including her journal from which, her father would come to share in a telephone call with Tom, she had written about such relishing the idea that "Art Collectors" would appreciate her work and how much she enjoyed seeing her painting in one of San Francisco's skyscrapers. Tears me up even now just to think of her too-short life and the cut-off of potential. I am glad we helped her know that, as an artist, she was valued. May all artists know this about themselves and their works. Michelle O'Connor: R.I.P.

SHARON LOUDEN

I'm delighted to share some of Sharon Louden's art whose work we first discovered over a decade ago. We walked into one of San Francisco's art galleries where we ended up in the back room trawling through their drawers etc. There we found Sharon's evocative marks -- small gestures but whose luminosity lit up the entire gallery. 

Their charisma is probably not captured well by my iPhone camera. But they did first grab our eye for what they visually are ... only then for me to discover and adore that (according to the gallerist) the works were made after Sharon made one of her huge installation works. In other words, while the marks are deceptively simple, the artist found her way to making them only AFTER first making a much larger work (and if you google for images of Sharon's installation works you will find them multi-layered, smart and pleasingly dense, among other things). So I took the artist's process to be like poetry -- that the poetics underlying the minimalist poem can be encyclopedic in attention even as its manifestation might be a small poem. Anyway, even after over a decade, these works continue to delight with their presence -- thank you, Sharon Louden for your intelligent and compelling work:

ROBERT LOWE & V.C. IGARTA

This post combines Robert Lowe and Venancio "V.C." Igarta simply because they are hung next to each other.  Lowe made this 3-women painting that speaks to me as regards the poetry muse, including her multiplicities. Though the iPhone camera can't capture it, the painting's figures are paradoxically solid even as the thinness of each painted layer is discernible ... which I think also says something about the craft of poetry. That's why I put the painting in my writer's studio (tho I don't use the "studio" as the poet's studio isn't a room...wait, that's a different story...anyway...) right next to a portrait that beloved Filipino manong artist V.C. Igarta gift-ed to me. In the background of V.C.'s painting is an abstract figure; I once asked V.C. about it and he replied, "It just surfaced during the painting -- I think it's your Guardian Angel." 

Both paintings hang above kris swords ... which also says something about poetry 

(V.C. Igarta)

(Robert Lowe)

(We actually have a second Robert Lowe painting but that hangs outside the house in my husband's office.)