Sunday, December 19th was a rainy day spent in the hills behind Novato, where I traveled and got lost with Herbert Gold, stumbling upon some sheep and finally landing at Barinaga ranch. There, I enjoyed a lively crowd of fascinating people, a beautifully designed home and adelicious meal of ram. The meal started with soup, led into other accompaniments and salad, ended with Marcia's cheese (in true Basque order and style). Here are some photos from this day: Herbert Gold (author), Marcia Barinaga (hostess and cheesemaker) and Don A. Glaser (Nobel prize winning physicist).
I come to Paris to be reminded that art and love are one and the same. Both are driven by a desire for wholeness, creativity, truth, surprise. At the Centre Pompidou, I saw a Balthus that was just donated to the museum. I haven't seen a reproduction of it anywhere and, standing there, I felt that coming all the way to Paris was worth it just to see this one painting. A new Balthus at the Pompidou, Paris Art, like love, sometimes involves transgression. Balthus said, " I want to proclaim in broad daylight, with sincerity and feeling, all the throbbing tragedy of a drama of the flesh, proclaim vociferously, the deep-rooted laws of instinct." I learned to love Balthus as a student in Wayne Thiebaud's painting class in college. From the perspective of the painter looking at a Balthus, one quickly sees past the erotic elements and is struck by his masterful technique, a method based on years spent on one painting, using paints hand mixed each morning by his wife,...