11.05.2012

Homemade hot sauce, 'Old Man' animation, new Bird

This will probably be my last artRecs for a few weeks -- Thursday morning I set off for roughly three full weeks of travel. I've tapered off the writing a bit, but a new piece was published on the Art House America blog since my last post:
In other news, Image journal has announced the lineup for next year's Glen Workshops. Hard to believe it's already time to register again!

:: Sandy's impact ::
Though the storm hasn't yet produced any art I'm aware of, it's unfortunately taken a great deal from some artists and galleries who stored work in low-lying areas.
Some of Mako's works, seen in a basement drawer in the
Dillon gallery, October 2011
  • Mako Fujimura reported via Twitter that the Dillon Gallery, which had some of his work, was under 12' of water and "there were significant amount of works destroyed, including the most recent Elm Grace." When I was there last October, I so remember going down to Dillon's basement with an assistant, who opened several drawers to show me some of the letter paintings from Mako Four Gospels project. Other Chelsea galleries also lost a lot of work, Business Week reports. The New York Times also reports on the galleries' losses: Where Creations Faced Destruction.
  • On the music front, a small but respected record label housed in Redhook, Brooklyn, lost a lot of equipment and files, which weren't covered by any flood insurance (due to the landlord's refusal).
I'll keep you posted as I hear more, especially about any benefits or other efforts to help East Coast artists recover.

:: film & television ::
:: tunes ::
:: visual art ::
:: reading/food for thought ::
  • As I've probably mentioned before, I really love what little of Dave Hickey's writing I've read, especially one essay in his book Air Guitar. However, I've also retained a lot of his thesis in the shorter volume The Invisible Dragon -- and there aren't many books I read that long ago that I could still summarize. All that to say, I therefore perked up when I saw his name come through my Twitter feed ... in an announcement that he has supposedly quit the art world. The piece that followed was an interesting look at the current state of the fine art world.
  • I'm not a huge fan of books by and about celebrities, but Dwight Garner's review of The Richard Burton Diaries is enticing.
  • Purists are probably shuddering at this, but some guy figured out how to make a plastic guitar with 3D printing or something.
:: food ::
  • I've been cutting back on cooking a tad, pre-trip, but recently I made a quarter batch of this hot sauce recipe, using regular serrano chilis. It makes about of pint of the condiment, which turns out beautifully if you roast the peppers first. This is an easy recipe for occasional cooks, too -- after roasting the peppers in the oven (split them in half, brush lightly with oil, then roast at 400 until they start to char), you basically blend them up with a few other things. I found it kept several months in the fridge.
  • When I get to Chicago, I hope to visit a bar called the Aviary, which apparently makes a pretty wild hot chocolate. I plan to try Tasting Table's recipe for reproducing it once I get back, though I'll have to make my first ever purchase of tobacco.