Saturday, January 16, 2010

Read.East.Listen: Assemblage




Assemblage: n. 1. a. The act of assembling. b. The state of being assembled. 2. A collection of people or things; a gathering. 3. A collection of items from a single datable component of an archaeological site. 4. A fitting together of parts, as those in a machine. 5. A sculptural composition consisting of an arrangement of miscellaneous objects or found materials.

Making a Cd (or I should say a collection of new songs 'cause I'm hemming and hawing over whether even to print up the recordings in Cd form) is constant assemblage: words, chords, musicians, calendar dates, funds. Putting things together, assembling, is living, really. Amid my own project business, I attended MOMA's 75th Anniversary Celebration, featuring a truly great assemblage of works that featured the museum's best-of exhibition of its very impressive collection. Amid the Diebenkorn, Dali, Brown, O'Keefe and Arbus was a room devoted to the Mission School, one of the latest recognized art movements of San Francisco, featuring Rigo 23s 'Found 'Lost Bird' Poster,' a collection of lost pet signs that was so simple and direct I had one of those laugh/cry in the crowded gallery.
Read: Epicenter: San Francisco Bay Area Art Now by Mark Johnstone
Eat: Winter Green Salad Salad is always a good excuse to put a bunch of things together.
Listen: 'Downtown Church' by Patty Griffin. Griffin did a Gospel album!! A collection of spirtituals (and a couple of her originals) produced by Buddy Miller. Can it be anything less than great?

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