Here and There

Well, well. Today came the news that Don Fisher, founder of the Gap, et al., has decided to scrap plans to build a world-class art museum in San Francisco’s Presidio to house his world-class art collection.

Without going into detail, and off the top of my head, the proposed museum now joins the likes of BART in Marin County, light-rail on Geary street, and, most recently, American Apparel in the Mission district.

Pat yourselves on the back, San Franciscans. Never will you be forced to progress or enter some modicum of normal, decent, civilized society. No, your streets can remain filthy, your homeless can remain outdoors, your mentally ill can go without treatment, and your non-native, eucalyptus-filled forests can remain “pristine.” Oh, and you can keep protesting whatever the hell  you feel like, all at once. Michael Jackson died? What better time to speak out against land mines in Afghanistan?

The city I live in and love is a fucking embarrassment.

Thx: Kottke.

I love his art, and always have.

He was 82.

It’s amazing. Seattle artist Chris Jordan makes art of truly mesmerizing detail, and every bit, zoomed at every level, offers commentary on who we are and how we live.

I’m speechless.

And suddenly the campaign looks really good.

I know I’m not telling too many people something they didn’t already know, but many (if not most) American newspaper mastheads were designed by one person. His name is Jim Parkinson. And his work is phenomenal.

A few months ago, Dwell’s website launched a staff-driven blog. It’s a well-presented assortment of world art and architecture goings on. Check it out.

I like art, but I’m no patron. I just like what I like, for various reasons.

I just saw that Sol LeWitt, someone whose work I’ve come across from time to time in my life, most memorably at PS1, died.

I appreciated LeWitt’s fusion of color and geometry, his three-dimensional structures coming to resemble some vague advanced childhood toy, a la Erector Set.