Take That Step #57

Hans Ulrich Obrist Posted this phrase written by David Hockney, who left us this week - one of the greatest artists of recent times

1) New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, wrote a great article about the Knicks victory:

But in this series, the Knicks showed greater maturity and tenacity. They never failed to display the well of composure that is vital to every comeback. When the Spurs locked down Brunson, or tried, the ball went elsewhere, zinging around the court, from player to player, as if in a berserk video game. Everyone, it seemed, had his moment. Deep into the bench, they played as a complete unit. Sometimes, a duo on the level of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, can carry a lesser cast to a title. This was not the case with the Knicks, not in the seventies and not now. The ethos of then carried over to the ethos of now. Savor the joy, New York. Soon enough, we’ll wake up to ordinary cares and the trials of daily life; the same dreadful leader (who managed to soil Game Three at the Garden with his sneery arrogance and snoozy indifference) will still be in office, for a while at least. But set such things aside for a moment. Savor the joy, so sure to perish, tarry still.

2) One of the coolest things I see happen when visiting the same exhibition several times is to change your taste. So often what, at first, I didn't like, or abhorred!, over time can win my heart, my eyes and VIP room in my repertoire. I've been so contaminated by artists who didn't touch me at first, that today I already doubt the conviction of my own opinion. And it's a delight to see our solid opinion loosen up.

When I watched the documentary about art critics Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith, "The House of Criticism", I loved the part where Roberta talks about it. She even refers to a text (called “I Was Wrong About Cecily Brown”) she wrote about her:

One of the obligations of a critic is the willingness to be betrayed, sometimes brutally, by your own taste, whose ins and outs you discover over a lifetime of looking. I could argue that Cecily Brown has become a better painter. But really it’s the often mysterious expansion of my own taste that we’re talking about here. With luck, you learn to see more and deeper. Peter Schjeldahl, the late art critic for The New Yorker, put it more aphoristically. When asked if he ever changed his opinions about artists he replied, “If your opinions aren’t changing, you’re dead.”

3) Speaking of good paintings, Comme des Garçons invited Henry Taylor to “decorate” the brand's new wallet collection. We want it now:

Henry Taylor

4) I don't know if you've already noticed, but I'm completely obsessed with New York. And I love the little secrets the city hides. Notice that in the photo below (I took it for you!) the street sign is brown on this side and green on the other side of the street.

Do you know why? When the sign is brown, that block is landmarked! Therefore, usually the more brown signs, the more charming and preserved the neighborhood is. Nothing against the new, but you know which kind of "modern" architecture I'm talking about, right?

5) I've been so in love with Amy Poehler's podcast, that I'm listening to the old eps as well. Her conversation with Indian comedian Zarna Garg is phenomenal:

Clarity is kindness.

6) The other day, I took some teenage girls to the Metropolitan Museum fashion exhibit. To make it exciting, I tried to go beyond clothes as attire and started philosophizing with them about the political aspects of choosing a look to wear before leaving home every day. I introduced some ideas by Martin Heidegger to them:

Dasein is a term for human existence. Literally translated from German as "being in the world", Heidegger used the expression to ignore traditional concepts such as "mind", "soul" and "subject". It emphasizes that humans are not isolated observers, but beings fundamentally defined by their active and practical involvement with the world.

Instead of being a closed subject inside a skull observing an objective universe, humans are already always "thrown" into a concrete situation (historical, cultural and social). Heidegger argued that we engage with the world in a practical and not theoretical way.

7) Nobody asked, I know, but I wasn’t impressed by Spielberg's new movie, "Disclosure Day". I only wrote down one good phrase to share here:

“Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know”.

8) Loved the result of 5 years of photos Austin Bell took of every basketball court of New York:

9) Marcel Proust”

Don’t seek new landscapes, develop new eyes.

10) Summer begins this week in the Northern Hemisphere. What a joy! I'm loving Matt Duncan and the song Juanita Bonita. Have a listen: