Madame Bovary

 I had read Madame Bovary a million years ago. It was interesting re-reading it. I remember how little sympathy I had for Emma Bovary, how vain and selfish and shallow she seemed to me. She is all of those things. But at my age now I see how young she was and how constrained and I had sympathy with her rage and frustration and admiration for her willfulness. She still isn't likeable, but it's an amazing character portrait and an indictment on the oppressive restrictions of provincial life.

Eileen

 I loved Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh! She wrote My Year of Rest and Relaxation which was also very good, but this had a crackly, crusty, visceral drive to it, a momentum of emotional squalor and social disturbance. Her character was fascinating and dark and mean and smart. I didn't want it to end because I wanted to continue to hang out with this demented curmudgeon.

In the Dream House

 In the Dream House is a beautiful memoir by Carmen Maria Machado. It is about an abusive relationship. But this doesn't describe the beauty of Machado's language. She writes in short, evocative sections, each a poetic and crystal clear encapsulation of emotional dynamics. I felt incredible sympathy for her. I will read more by this writer.

Black Wave

 Michelle Tea's novel Black Wave revisits some familiar terrain of her memoirs. San Francisco in the 90s, queer arty druggy scenes. Her writing is insightful and funny and self reflexive. Even though nothing like my life, it is relatable some how. I would have loved this book if it had remained in this register. But something happens, there is the apocalypse. You see the inklings of this throughout, the environmental degradation. Little bleak background details. But when the character moves to LA, it ramps up. And the book opens up. There is a long end section where people retreat into a dream world and it so beautiful and sad and expansive. I loved this book.

In Reflection at Kentler International Drawing Space

Just because we are sheltering in place in the midst of a pandemic doesn't mean we can't see art exhibitions. An important fixture of Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood, Kentler International Drawing Space has a new show "up" - an online exhibition curated by young Brooklyn artists. Reflection: Selections from the Kentler Flatfiles invites viewers to question surfaces and to look twice at things. What the light takes in and what the light gives back. From Katsutoshi Yuasa's forest woodcuts where the light strikes through branches (pictured), Emna Zghal's delicate and complex watercolors depicting bark, to bewitching figurative pieces such as Nina Buxenbaum's surreal doubles and Stephen Negrycz's lovely charcoal nudes, the 16 works each in their own way offer a space and moment to absorb the immediate experience. Each is an opportunity for reflection and at the same time they speak to each other, echoing themes and imagery. This is what we need right now, to look at art that allows us to be with our thoughts. This show was curated by artists who study and teach at ART YARD BKLYN which provides art education to children, teens, young adults, and practicing artists in the borough. These curators - Kevin Anderson, Evelyn Beliveau, Vera Tineo, Fatima Traore, and Quentin Williamston - have done an amazing job during one of the most difficult times our country has experienced and it is a gift to us all.

Kentler International Drawing Space: https://www.kentlergallery.org/Detail/exhibitions/433#

ART YARD BKLYN: https://www.artyardbklyn.org/ 

Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night

Last year I saw the Wojnarowicz show at the Whitney, History Keeps Me Awake at Night. This is an artist who has long haunted me. The grit, the unflinching look at pain. The sexuality, bold, raw, unapologetic. I loved this show. Was in awe. I learned more about him. I want to learn more; I want to read his memoirs. It was also intense for me, in a nostalgic way I guess, to see how 80s his work was (duh). It was just kind of interesting how clearly I could see him as of his time, in a I only can given the passage of decades.

Warhol at the Whitney

Earlier this year I saw the Warhol exhibit at the Whitney, From A to B and Back Again. This was a glorious and immersive show. The vibrancy of his work, the confrontational aspect, making you look and somehow mocking you, our culture, at the same time. It was chronological, with artifacts and memorabilia, his magazine covers and his large scale silk screens. The social commentary in his work, the irony, and the humor all came across. It was fun and fantastic. The energy of the 80s -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.