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This is on the table tonight to see us into the New Year. I think it’s the second year we’ve tried the recipe, so I still don’t know what I’m doing!

This painting of an injured Polar Bear on crutches visiting a doctor was painted on the side of Bloomingdales at the local Palo Alto Mall. It seems depressingly seasonal and rather strange!

Christmas is a silly holiday that stirs up all sorts of emotions and attachments to the past. The American expectation and belief in this all mighty family holiday with snowmen, big gifts and all things sugar and spice is absolutely crazy. I do like some of the traditions and fun food stuff, but can’t really follow the religious aspect. I thought by referring to it as X-mas I was negating that; well according to wikipedia, I’m not…..

The word “Christ” and its compounds, including “Christmas”, have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern “Xmas” was commonly used. “Christ” was often written as “XP” or “Xt”; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as AD 1021. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for “Christ”), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.

The labarum, often called the Chi-Rho, is a Christian symbol representing Christ.

Nevertheless, some believe that the term is part of an effort to “take Christ out of Christmas” or to literally “cross out Christ”; it is seen as evidence of the secularization of Christmas, as a symptom of the commercialization of the holiday (as the abbreviation has long been used by retailers). It may also be seen as a vehicle to be more inclusive.

The occasionally held belief that the “X” represents the cross on which Christ was crucified also has no basis in fact. St Andrew’s Cross is X-shaped, but Christ’s cross was probably shaped like a T or a †. Indeed, X-as-chi was associated with Christ long before X-as-cross could be, since the cross as a Christian symbol developed later. (The Greek letter Chi Χ stood for “Christ” in the ancient Greek acrostic ΙΧΘΥΣ ichthys.) While some see the spelling of Christmas as Xmas a threat, others see it as a way to honor the martyrs. The use of X as an abbreviation for “cross” in modern abbreviated writing (e.g. “King’s X” for “King’s Cross“) may have reinforced this assumption.

Larry is the owner of the luxurious house we’re dog sitting in out in Stanford, California. His dog Charlie Brown is a bit of a handful, and has even chewed a fixable hole in the lining of my favorite jacket to try and get some gourmet licorice I’d bought. In general though he’s a well mannered dog that just wants some attention. We’d only met Larry briefly as we’d arrived at 2:30am and he left for LA the next day at midday. Here’s his long list of achievements: a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, founding co editor of the Journal of Democracy, and co director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies of the National Endowment for Democracy. He has also advised the U.S. Agency for International Development (whose 2002 report, Foreign Aid in the National Interest, he coauthored), the World Bank, the United Nations, the State Department, and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations. On top of all that he’s presently a Professor of Sociology and Political Science at Stanford University and has written two books – “The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout The World” and “Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq”

Larry’s not someone I plan on talking about politics with (I’d probably stay away from religion too).

…especially as I won’t be able to buy any while attending Sundance this year. I found this bottle of High West Rye in a store in San Francisco. It was promoted last year at Chefdance during Sundance Film Festival 2008, and I haven’t found it anywhere in NY that carries it yet! I keep contacting the owner and suggesting liquor stores.

It was nice to see the actual Marcel Duchamp “Fountain” although it didnt change its meaning or enlighten me anymore than just seeing it in photos.

These two were hung next to each other at the De Young. Above is Lisette Model (Reflections, NYC, Fifth Avenue circa 1940) and below is Lee Friedlander. They’re terrible images of them from my iphone. Amanda preferred the Friedlander and I definitely preferred the more flattened space in Model’s work.

This one below is from MOMA’s “Brought to Light: Photography and the invisible. 1840-1900” It began as a pretty interesting exhibit, but soon turned into a very technical and historic look at the use of capturing scientific information. Of course it’s interesting to look at the affect of photography on all aspects of life, and this exhibit was pretty thorough. The image below interested me because of its title is “Spark made from surface of the body of a prostitute – well washed.” by Jakob Ottonwitsch Von Narkiewitsch-Jodko. (Amazing name if nothing else)

I forgot to get the name of this artist at the De Young, but I just liked the construction of a mosque with bullets and weapons. Maybe it seems a little easy to get and not pushed as far as it could be, but the structure stood out among the rest.

It doesn’t make sense that you can get in a metal tube with wings and leave the ground with a group of people. It didn’t make anymore sense today that we were only 2 hours late to take off with all the snow that’d fallen. The pilot warned us of severe turbulence, which he’d correctly predicted. It was one of the worst take-offs I’d been on in a while. (maybe since my plane was hit by lightening above London in 2005) Anyway it seem like in 2 hours we’ll land and all will be well, just 7 days to recover until the next flight. The picture below is the Virgin America interior that looks like a nightclub.

I liked this mural on the west side highway before I even knew he was my undergrad professors mentor at Yale. We’ve even hung out with him over at George Parrino’s annual parties where he took quite a liking to Amanda and sang her songs, asking her to be his home nurse. Can’t blame the guy for trying. Like everything else in Manhattan, real estate has fucked up something perfect.

Not many people get to have something like this on their website -

“You are my mentor.  For years, I always asked, what would Knox think of my painting?”

- Bob Rauschenberg

This was the framed image that got excluded from the show. It was exactly the same background as the Sri Matterji cult that was next to the school image, and the backgrounds were too similar. Scotty would know this guy!

Here is the Sri Matterji cult from a kids school up at Naddi that matches the view

Pratt, as with most other schools, is run by a bunch of head scratching monkeys who don’t seem to know their arse from their elbow. I’m hoping that my final experience with this ineptitude is the fact that every teacher I have had this semester, and almost every student I’ve talke with seem to think the semester ends on December 22. Well, suprise surprise, I just met with Donna Moran (Head of School of Art and Design) to get my thesis statement signed, and she informed me that in fact school ended on Tuesday. That means that entire departments and even a whole body of students are going about their school career as if they still have work due. CLASSIC! Unfortunately I’m sure Pratt will shine through with another fun moment of confusion.

My photograph’s focus on my surrounding landscape and emphasizes the spaces between objects or buildings.  This interest of a places emptiness and the relation between distance and scale allows me to represent the Buddhist philosophy of Shûnyata or “Emptiness” Emptiness is neither existence, nor non-existence. It is this in-between state of mind and place that I focus the camera on. This ‘meditation’ on emptiness allows the viewer to realize the true beauty of such simple areas. Emptiness is a statement about priority, we should consider the bigger context of our experience in order to live more wisely and wholesomely. Through the direct and precise descriptive realism of photography, my images allow the viewer to really sit and see the empty spaces that are so often ignored.

….and here is an image that went with it

It’s also a good opportunity for me to show some images of the other people I’m showing with. It’s been a pretty cohesive group and it’s been a pleasure to share this week with both Nick Hamilton and Megan Berk. Here are some of Megans paintings and Nick’s photos