I've recently started listening to the podcast Strangers On A Bench, where musician Tom Rosenthal approaches people and engages them in conversation. I've listened to seven episodes and it is downright lovely. My favorite so far is #7 — The Disappearing Cyclist, which I've embedded below. There is a bit of course language in this one and if you don't want that, try Episode 2, instead.
You can of course subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to listen to the end credits of each one, as Tom performs a song based on the conversation.
The World of Wearable Art is something I was completely unfamiliar with. Here's their official description:
WOW is a world renowned wearable art experience, where an annual design competition culminates in a spectacular show combining theatre, art, fashion, music, & performance.
Liza Lou's Trailer is a walk-in sculpture made in and of a 1949 Spartan Royal Mansion mobile trailer. Themes within are masculinity, noir, stereotypes — all made with beads.
The video has Lou and curators discussing the piece and its transportation and installation at the Brooklyn Museum.
The piece reminds me of a friend's home in DTLA. He owns a 13,000sf building that consists of two floors. The top floor is his living space and the main floor has had rotating purposes in the 15 or so years I've known him.
For much of it, filmmaker Nirvan Mullick lived there, but for another era, they brought in an Airstream trailer and tarted it up into a nice living space, complete with lawn and picket fence. They would rent that out on AirBnB. It was quite interesting to be staying in a trailer and outside your door was a lawn, complete with outdoor furniture and such but then beyond your fence you were in a loft and outside those doors was downtown Los Angeles.
I mentioned the building in my post on Lem Dobbs as it appears in the film The Limey. I spent many nights in this building and I have grand associations of it with DTLA as it and Skid Row were all I knew about the area for many years.
J.A. Young (b. 1986) is a queer photographer / multi-media artist based in the American South. Their work draws on a range of influences, including cultural anthropology, world mysticism, the occult, and paranormal phenomena. Using both personal photographs and public domain archival images as raw materials, Young employs various methods (e.g., spontaneous print manipulation, dramatic recomposition, collage, and rephotography) to transform subtle feelings into tangible visual expressions.
For decades, the two men were lovers and travelers. They shared their own and collected Oceanic Art in galleries and "pop-ups" in over 40 countries. The scrapbooks and journals of their adventures, highlighted in the article, look like fascinating pieces. I wish I had known of them before my visit. I'd have inquired about seeing them...
Anecdote Alert
In early 2020, before returning to Toronto and the Covid lockdown, I visited Esnaar, the South Pacific home of the artists on Efate island. The house was in severe disrepair due to the advanced age of its caretaker, Pilioko (Michoutouchkine passed in 2010).
Near the property entrance, visitors had left their details scrawled on pieces of wood instead of a traditional guestbook. It was a striking first impression that didn't prepare me for what lay beyond the front gate.
Inside, I found Pilioki napping. But he quickly rose to welcome me and my companions and let us explore the property, happily answering our questions. He seemed energized by our presence.
The property was covered in art. The walls, doors, grounds, rooftops... Pilioko seemed to recently become fascinated with one particular shade of yellow, and many items I saw that day were that color.
Various art pieces at Esnaar, Feb 2020Detail, The Water Drummers by Aloï Pilioko, photo by me, February, 2020
I was taken with one painting in particular — of female Ni-Vans water drumming. If you're not familiar with the artform, see it demonstrated here:
I regret not buying the piece, though it would have stood out in my place, where most paintings are abstract.
After reading the White Fungus piece, I searched and found that Pilioko died in October 2020. No cause of death is listed in his obituary, and I wonder if Covid was involved or if the pandemic-induced loneliness (no travel to the island for over a year) affected the artist.
It's been over four years since his death, and I'm curious about the museum's fate. Was there a foundation or trust to keep it open, or has it fallen to developers eager to build on the south lagoon shore? Googling turns up no answers.
A few days after meeting Pilioki, I was having dinner at a friend's place on Mele Bay. My host has an original Michoutouchkine on his wall, and I mentioned my visit to Esnaar. His brother fetched a book on Oceanic Art, which had a chapter on the two artists, emphasizing their significance and foundational role in South Pacific art. My friend has had a home in Vanuatu for years and has decorated it beautifully with local art. Most expats I met in Vanuatu have left, but my friend still has a home there. I make a mental note to check if he knows what happened to the bizarre live-in gallery, Esnaar.
Old Things Never Die posts a terrific video on the complete restoration of a rusty tin football game. Very detailed, dialogue-free, step-by-step breakdown and reassembly.
Toronto vlogger Maurice Moves with another excellent video, this one on top-notch prep for international travellers. These are great tips that most travellers don't realize they need until it's too late:
