Scots

Just found some notes that I wrote and had in my car when I lived in Scotland at the Little Keithock Farmhouse near Brechin in Angus. I used to have a Russian made Lada for a car. Perhaps the worst car ever made in history.

muckin = clean
croft = small farmhouse
jine = join
kill = overcome with weariness
swir = unwilling to work
auld Nick = the Devil
tint =lost
fit like? = how are you?
besom = broom
deen = done
barra = barrow
widna row its leen = would not hold it's load
siccan = such
soss = dirty wet mess
strae = straw
swipe = sweep
greep = gutter in the byre
fell sklite = fall heavily
neep = turnip
ben = through
soo = female pig
booin'doon = bending down
goon = gown, dress
midden = refuse heap
riggs = strip of ploughed land
tyke = dog
bumbee's byke = beehive
lang syne = long since
tyne = lose

Vandals at work

A public art piece in Richmond worth more than $1 million was vandalized this week, prompting the president of the Vancouver Biennale to call on police to treat it as a serious crime rather than an act of mischief, should the perpetrator be caught.

"This was vicious and intended," said Barry Mowatt, president and founder of the Vancouver Biennale, which brings large public art installations from all over the world to Vancouver and, more recently, Richmond. "It should be treated as a crime."

Read the whole story here.

At the end of the day...

Yesterday things picked up a little and some more artists at the AAFNYC showing with Mayer Fine Art have broken the ice.

Yesterday Sheila Giolitti sold four of her paintings, I sold my cool drawing of "St. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara", more Matt Sesow's sold as well as one Novie Trump sculpture and one of Rosemary Feit Covey's super cool "Peep Show" boxes and one of her wood engravings

In walking the fair a little I've really become quite fond of the breath taking photographic wax encaustic work by Leah MacDonald, represented by Galerie BMG from Woodstock, New York. MacDonald has some of the most innovative and sexiest work that I have seen in a long time.

Encaustic Photography by Leah MacDonald"

You never know...

Elderly couple comes by around noon or so, and spend a lot of time looking at one of Rosemary Feit Covey's "Peep Show" boxes. I spend a lot of time talking to them.



These custom made boxes each has a set of 10 wood engravings which are inserted into the box and "peeped" through the keyhole. They are engravings of women in various state of being disrobed, objectified and enjoyed. Not exactly the genre of art that one would expect your stereotypical 80something couple to acquire for their collection.

They express interest and walk away to look at the rest of the fair. "They are major collectors," whispers the gallerist across the aisle from me.

A few hours later they return and buy the piece.

Only in New York.

Dawson on One Hour Photo

The Post's Jessica Dawson has a really good article on the One Hour Photo exhibition project at the Katzen.

Read it here.

I have a pic in that novel show.

Gopnik on Abramovic

I for one, agree with Blake's review of the Marina Abramovic MoMA show, but Aline Martinez doesn't.

Read her letter to the WaPo here.

At the end of the day...

The 1,000 point drop in the market yesterday was buzzing through the crowd coming to the Affordable Art Fair in New York. However, having done this fair many years, it seemed that Thursday's attendance was quite good considering it was a Thursday, so there were mixed signals: good crowds + bad economic news = slower sales than preview night.

Also, last night was "Brooklyn Night" and the crowd seemed younger and more interested in the open bar for wine and beer and the cool DJ who was actually playing music from a record player... than in artwork.

At the end of the day Mayer Fine Art ended up selling Sheila Giolitti's second largest painting (a major sale), a few more paintings by Matt Sesow, and as the lights were being flickered at 9:30PM, one of my large drawings ("Eve and the Lilith"), which ended up being acquired by the Sonya Spann Collection.