been a terry border fan for years now (i especially like horatio of the highwire). this lecture he gave at gel is neat. [thx jim]
Apr 29, 2010
terry border redux
Apr 24, 2010
Apr 23, 2010
sourdough baguettes
the sourdough culture, having been killed twice by negligence, is back and vigorous. salt, water, yeast = baguette.
mimosa
an installation of motion-sensitised flat OLED lighting panels from phillips, designed by jason bruges.
Apr 19, 2010
inside the volcano
EO-1, controlled by goddard SFC takes a photo of the inside of eyjafjallajökull. left is visible spectrum; right is infra-red. more at nasa.gov.
Apr 18, 2010
97 polysiloxane hoses 3.0mm, compressed air, 2010
Apr 16, 2010
Apr 15, 2010
essentials
some quotes deserve re-posting:
I always get into arguments with people who want to retain the old values in painting—the humanistic values they always find on the canvas. If you pin them down, they always end up asserting that there is something besides the paint on the canvas. My painting is based on the fact that only what can be seen there is there ... If the painting were lean enough, accurate enough, or right enough, you would be able to just look at it.frank stella
No matter how radical the pursuit of presence, the work of art will always fall short of that purer art that is its telos. It points beyond itself and lacks the plenitude it demands.karsten harries, on frank stella
Apr 7, 2010
Apr 3, 2010
art
good art often seems to us mysterious because it resists the easy patterns of the fantasy, whereas there is nothing mysterious about the forms of bad art since they are the recognizable and familiar rat-runs of selfish day-dream. good art shows us how difficult it is to be objective by showing us how differently the world looks to an objective vision.
iris murdoch, the sovereignty of good
sandwich theory
here in the northeast, it is a clear nearly-spring morning (we have to say that, in case it actually still is winter) and the dawn chorus has just been and gone. i am up at 6.20am, for reasons that will be detailed anon, and have just breakfasted on a toasted burrito of my own confection (turtle beans, chipotle morita, aged cheddar, avocado, cilantro and red onion, cholula, on a wheat tortilla). i could eat these every day, they're so tasty.
today, i made a tactical error: i folded the herbs and cold avocado into the burrito and toasted everything slowly on cast iron. i had forgotten that, in some things, there is an absolute minimum number of steps required for satisfactory results. when added only at the end, the cilantro, onion, and avocado in one of these toasted burritos are the requisite cold and crunchy counterpoint to the soft, warm cheese and beans.
which brings us to theory. great sandwiches almost always have contrast. few of the sandwiches i love are uniformly one or another temperature, which is why most of the truly great sandwiches must be made to order and consumed instantly. the two top of mind are: 1) the grilled english muffin, sweet butter, honey, and sea salt; 2) the toasted focaccia or sweet baguette, olive oil, cheddar, tomato, scallions, black pepper.
1) has to be cold and rapidly melting butter, cold honey, salt, blazingly hot muffin. 2) has to be a warm, crusty (but still tender) bread, thinly-sliced, ripe, cold tomatoes, thinly-sliced, cold scallions, cool or room-temperature cheddar, olive oil, and lots of fresh black pepper. this is also a sandwich that can only be eaten satisfactorily standing up at the kitchen sink, with crumbs and juices raining down as you go.
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