CNY - Chinatown Flower Market

It's one of those perfect San Francisco days: overcast skies, bright colors on the street, the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the new year. People were buying flowers, it didn't seem to matter if they were real or artificial. In the paper stores, there were good luck calligraphy on shiny red paper, ang pow envelopes with cartoon and traditional images, glittery decorations for the walls and paper clothes with dragons painted on. I bought a bag full of red paper and came home to make CNY cards for friends.

A Visit to Vered's Studio

I was invited to visit Vered's studio in Palo Alto on Thursday. Her studio is in the garage of her home and she has filled it with her drawings and bright images of the Star of David, the cross and the crescent moon. She has been working with these images for several years, letting her unconscious lead her in her quest for meaning and resolution.

Inaugural Ball

Festive hipsters attend the Obama Inaugural Ball at Electric Works.

LA Views

Fabric & Paper Compositions

Red Lanterns
Gold Rush

Centipede

I've been experimenting with fabric and paper. These pieces incorporate muslin, xeroxed images, ink, paint, hairnet and glitter. For technique see http://littlemailbox.blogspot.com/.

C-Town and J-Town LA

Chinatown
Japantown

I visited Los Angeles Chinatown for the first time this trip and was startled to see buildings that seem to be preserved from a 1940's Hollywood's image of Chinatown. The buildings looked like stage sets and one wonders if anyone actually lives in them. Or perhaps actors are hired to act like they work and live there. Japantown seemed a bit weedy too when I walked throught it one morning. What's with the pseudo-Oriental typography used in both of these neighborhoods? I thought they went out of style decades ago.

Disney Center/ MOCA

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles

Disney Music Performance Center

Saturday, as soon as we had lunch we drove over to MOCA to see the Louise Bourgeois show. We ended up parking below the street in an empty building lot. I didn't realize that we had parked in the Disney Music Performance Center until I crossed the street and saw the breathtaking Frank Gehry building. It gave off quite a lovely shimmer with the afternoon light reflecting on the metal surfaces. The MOCA itself was lovely, nestled between glass towers. The Bourgeois show was worth coming to, especially her early sculptures and her recent works. I have never felt jazzed about her penis and breast sculptures.

Car of the Future?

Went to a car show in San Jose to see what was on tap for 2009. The show was surprisingly sparse with hardly any carmaker showing innovation. Chrysler, so close to crashing, came up with this concept "green" car. It looked a bit like those Chevron cartoon cars - stubby with a big grin on its face. I've enjoyed my PT Cruiser since 2001 but am leery of replacing it with another at the moment. Let's hope Chrysler gets back on track and actually produces a line of green cars. The car I wanted to see, the Cube, by Nissan, wasn't on view, alas.

Legend: Myth and Memory

Went to a wonderful opening at Creativity Explored on Thursday evening. The works incorporate words and image in interesting ways. One wall was filled with sweet images of cupcakes and cakes but the words were about the struggles of being mentally challenged. Beautiful, moving pieces all.

Classic Movie Theater

The Rafael has a classic movie theater facade. The inside is pretty modern and stripped art deco. We saw Slumdog Millionaire here today. A harrowing but exceedingly well-done flick.

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy Year of the Ox! Spent two days cooking traditional New Year food including this nimono which consists of slimey taro potato, grey potato jelly, carrots, kelp, shitake and age in a broth of water, mirin, soy and kombu dashi.