dario robletonurses needed now 2006 33 1/2 x 26 x 6 inches 85.1 x 66 x 15.2 cm framed: 41 1/4 x 34 1/4 x 9 inches 104.8 x 87 x 22.9 cm homemade paper (pulp made from soldier's letters home from various wars, ink retrieved from letters, cotton), colored paper, thread and fabric from soldier's uniforms from various wars, WWI gauze bandage, braided hair, crepe, cast military medal, needles, ribbon, colored pencil, pen, foam core. via d'amelio-terras.com
i saw this dario robleto piece at the slash: paper under the knife exhibit at the museum of arts and design. it's a piece that would seem easy to overlook as "cutesy" but i stopped long enough to read this line: "when your heart strings break, i will mend them."
i became interested in the materials that he assembled--some were real remnants from people's lives, war-torn lives. the concept and culture of mourning, "the nature of belief, faith, and doubt in relation to loss and materials" are central to much of robleto's work:
“across history and cultures, the mourning process has left behind some remarkably original and novel forms of thinking...there is a creative potential to loss that is distinctly human and a key to understanding humanness itself. will this unparalleled level of loss propel us as a whole into completely new ways of thinking?” - dario robleto, via the houston chronicle
*** he considers himself a "materialist poet"--i don't know exactly what that means (creating a visual poem out of lost and found materials?), but i like how it sounds... the titles of his works suggest a poetic sensibility: time measures nothing but this love; daughters of wounds and relics; a century of november; no one has a monopoly over sorrow; fear and tenderness in men / a color god never made.
have a look at this slideshow and note the materials that he assembles. do think it's fascinating? or a bit precious?morbid? plain weird?
***
mr. robleto's work was also featured on the cover of a recent yo la tengo album:
at war with the entropy of nature / ghosts don't always want to come back 2002 (this is no mere cassette picked from someone's garage or a local flea market...) cassette: carved bone and bone dust from every bone in the body, trinitite (glass produced during the first atomic test explosion, from trinity test site, c. 1945, when heat from blast melted surrounding sand), metal screws, rust, typeset audiotape: an original composition of military drum marches, various weapon fire, and soldiers' voices from battlefields of various wars made from e.v.p. recordings (electronic voice phenomena: voices and sounds of the dead or past, detected through magnetic audiotape)
is it possible for women to pull a groin muscle? do we call it something else? an adductor?
whatever it's called, i'm pretty sure i've pulled it. and i've got bruises on my right cheek, and both knees. but was it ever worth it.
***
there's a tuesday night dance class ("fame") at my gym (crunch) that's taught by bethany (who is officially my favorite ny gym instructor). it purports to teach us choreography from or inspired by the film and the television series. none of these short routines are familiar to me, but the individual moves are--it's jazz, baby, pure jazz. all drama and flair and FUN. i was doing "drop and recovers" and splits and crazy cat-like leaps, as if i thought i could dance! and as if it wouldn't kill me.
*** bethany amazes me not only for her ability to properly break down choreography for untrained dancers like me (and make us feel completely unselfconscious while we struggle through our pirouettes) but also for her musicality. there is nothing that kills a workout or a fitness class faster than a poorly chosen soundtrack--for me, this means no "ibiza" remixes and no world music. no cyndi lauper. no spin doctors. (can you tell i'm recalling actual bad experiences?) oh, and no variations on a theme of jessica/ashley simpson, either.
at crunch, there are a few teachers who will offer a great balance of new and "throwback" dance tunes (prince, janet, madonna). but bethany pushes the boundaries like no one else. i've taken her dance and spin classes and there are always surprises in her playlists. for example, i never imagined a scenario where i'd be subjected to john mayer (no such thing), keane (is it any wonder), george michael (father figure) and fleetwood mac (you make loving fun) and the pointer sisters (automatic) in a spin class--and that i'd be laughing and singing along. (i couldn't quite believe she made it all work.) but it works because she really understands tempo and cadence and she choreographs to it perfectly.
tonight we had a little prince (kiss), some viva la vida, and this imogen heap song (which i will be listening to all day tomorrow. sorry neighbors):
the final ("performance") part of tonight's class was set to a moderately quick david gray song--i think it was please forgive me?--in any case, we danced to it at half-time, nice and easy.
but with a few minutes left, she asked if we wanted to up the tempo. (yes!) i tried to guess what ass-kicking, high-energy, i-will-survive, anthem-like finale she would play for us.
then i heard the opening bars of i'm on fire. i was doubting this right away (bruce springsteen? you cannot be seri... ) but then we were off! no time to think. we danced double-time, and she wasn't kidding, it was so quick, i was tweaking little muscles in my thighs, and bruising myself coming on and off the floor, trying to keep up. we did it over and over, and i tell you it was a little thrill. so unexpected, that anthem, but a pretty perfect ending.
don't believe it works? come to class next tuesday night...
i've spent the last couple of hours sitting in our family room (the basement) with my dad, half-watching a college basketball game (sun devils vs. blue devils) and half-looking for a good thanksgiving poem to post. I had with me on the couch the thickest poetry book I could find –a good old norton anthology--but not even part of one, from yeats to baraka, seemed right.
admittedly, the ambiance i chose for this exercise wasn't really poetry-friendly (dick vitale's "alliterative commentaries,” even though i've heard them all before, are still pretty distracting).
i could have gone to my room, re-started the search in relative silence and with several other books to peruse. but i wanted more to just sit in a room with my dad, to be around in case something came up that we felt like chatting about. or he thought of a good joke. i decided to save the poetry for another time.
after both my parents called it a night, i got my second wind and started singing a favorite george harrison tune (remember, the family is asleep, so i can do this out loud) and it occurred to me that this song fits the giving/grateful theme as good as any poem. or maybe it’s late and i’m crazy. anyway, it’s where my heart is. hope you like it.
i’ve been on a george jag for the last couple of weeks so here’s one more. it's really quite good live.
rafael nadal in his first match of the WTF in london. photographed by julian finney/getty images. via yahoo sports.
this is a fairly common shot, but with uncommon shadowing that sculpts every fold in his shirt, and creates mood and mystery in nadal's profile. nov 23, 2009. photo by julian finney/getty images. via yahoo sports.
the year-end championships for the atp are underway, or as "mfw" so smartly announced: WTF is happening.
my favorite player is struggling as we speak in his first match against robin soderling, and my enjoyment level ebbs and flows with his fortunes.
but the tournament is being played under bright white and blue lights at the O2 arena in london. everyone in the stands is bathed in blue shadows. and photographers are given instant mood lighting for photographing the on-court action--side shadows sculpt angles, and if a player tilts his face toward the lights, to hit a serve or an overhead, he's got a glow that's near to heavenly. dreamy conditions for photographers, i'm sure! there's rich contrast in almost every photo i've seen so far.
the yahoo sports tennis page hosts one of the best galleries--photos do not go up as fast as on the getty site, but these are un-watermarked, and they were up today within a half hour of the start time. pretty efficient, and great.
i spent saturday afternoon down in my former neighborhood, walking around in the sunshine (with a scarf, but sans coat!), brunching on spring street and checking out the very handsome goods at the pop up flea.(oh, give me money and a man to shop for and i know where to go and do some damage.)
but my favorite part of the day, not surprisingly, revolved around the discovery of a new coffee place.
saturdays, on crosby street, is a small coffee bar attached to a small surf shop, and it appears to cater exclusively to men and the women who love to see them in only the finest surf gear. among their offerings: hullabaloo boards, alex knost wetsuits and lightning bolt shorts, select dry-land goods (i especially like their ties) and surfing-related miscellany (wax, books, dvds, best made axes - not sure what the axes are for? but i like them). some of the brands are a mystery to me (a non-surfer) but my friend (a surfer in his soul) was agog. he took a careful, admiring eye to and for pretty much every single piece in there.
i fancied the lattes, made artfully and strong by josh, one of the owners. as we sat with our lattes on the wooden bench in the front of the store, across from a row of surfboards and i talked about my week, it was impossible not to notice my friend's eyes widen and gleam--he was mesmerized by the surfing movie that was being projected on the wall behind me. i knew that he was dreaming about the next time he could hop on a train to long island to see if the surfing would be as perfect as josh had described it minutes before, that he was longing not to be in that very cool shop, drinking perfectly nice coffee with a perfectly nice girl, but out on the ocean, alone and at peace on his board.
and i laughed to myself because i found it impossible to blame him.
*** saturdays is every day at 31 crosby st (between grand and broome streets), nyc. m-f: 8am-8pm sat: 10am-5pm sun: 11am-6pm
the charles engelhard court, in the metropolitan museum of art's new american wing. 
the charles engelhard court, in the metropolitan museum of art's new american wing. 
the charles engelhard court, in the metropolitan museum of art's new american wing. 
the charles engelhard court, in the metropolitan museum of art's new american wing. 
photo by josep lago/afp/getty images, via yahoo sports
dario robleto nurses needed now 2006 
at war with the entropy of nature / ghosts don't always want to come back 2002 
two of my favorite people: lovely t and rafa in barcelona ....
britney spears chicken cheetos casserole (alleged). it's not pretty, but it's entertaining.
jess in a favorite shirt.
rafael nadal in his first match of the WTF in london. photographed by julian finney/getty images. via yahoo sports.
this is a fairly common shot, but with uncommon shadowing that sculpts every fold in his shirt, and creates mood and mystery in nadal's profile.
saturdays, on crosby street. photo © anita aguilar
more boards...photo © anita aguilar
