“untitled at the moment”

I hope that 2009 will be a great year filled with a lot of surprises.

Bill Beckley:  You were born in France, but you have lived a long time in the United States.  What is the difference between the aesthetics of the two countries?

Louis Bourgeois:  I’ll tell you a story about my mother.  When I was a little girl, growing up in France, my mother worked sewing tapestries.  Some of the tapestries were exported to America.  The only problem was that many of the images on the tapestries were of naked people.  My mother’s job was to cut out the, what do you call it?

BB:  The genitals?

LB:  Yes, the genitals of the men and women, and replace these parts with pictures of flowers so they could be sold to Americans.  My mother saved all of the pictures of the genitals over the years, and one day she sewed them all together as a quilt and then she gave the quilt to me.  That’s the difference between French and American aesthetics.

(An interview titled, “Sunday Afternoons: A Conversation and a Remark on Beauty” from the book  Uncontrollable Beauty)

A nice holiday postcard that I got at The Eastern Standard, a great local restaurant in Kenmore Square.

My mom gave me a Polaroid Land Camera - Model 95A that was originally my grandfathers.  She told me when they were at my grandmother’s house cleaning, they found it stored away in an old chest.  The camera will now be on display in my living room since I can no longer get film for it.

The advertisement / instructional manual that came with it was just as interesting.

My wife surprised me today and gave me an early Christmas present…a Daguerreotype in a plush red case.  The image is of a woman in a black dress with a white collar. She has a perfect part in her hair and a net holding up her hair in the back.

The snow finally stopped, but it’s still blistery as hell outside.  I’m hoping the rain that we are getting tomorrow will wash all of the slush away.  I hate the winter.

Please come to the PRC tonight,  Thursday, December 11th at 7pm for an interactive lecture with the prominent fine art and editorial photographer Larry Fink.

For over 30 years, photographer Larry Fink has been actively capturing the visual vernacular of the people and events that surrounds us.  From his earliest work in his books Social Graces, Boxing and Runway, to his most recent project The Democrats, Fink brings these social interactions out of the crowd and into our homes.

Lecture with Larry Fink
Thursday, December 11th at 7pm
Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences
5th Floor, Auditorium 522
725 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA

The BFA in Photography senior class at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design has continued a great tradition that I started a few years ago.  They will be hosting the 3rd Annual Photo Book & Print Auction, a benefit to help raise money for the publication of their Thesis catalogue.

Wednesday, December 10th at 7pm.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Godine Gallery

Contributing Photographers:

Richard Prince, Peter Beard, Abelardo Morell, Nicholas Nixon, Eirik Johnson, Laura McPhee, Barbara Bosworth, Jerry Uelsmann, Alec Soth, Alex Webb, Bobby Abrahamson, David Goldes, David Maisel, Elsa Dorfman, Eric Weeks, Gregory Crewdson, Henry Horenstein, Jason Fulford, Joel Meyerowitz, Lisa Kereszi, Mark Klett, Michael Grecco, Paul D’Amato, Paula Chamlee, Phil Borges, Rebecca Norris Webb, Robb Kendrick, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Saul Leiter, Stella Johnson, Suzette Bros, Thomas Roma, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Vaughn Sills, Vincent Cianni, William Christenberry, Elinor Carucci, Sante D’Orazio, Michal Chelbin, Brian Finke, The Snorri Bros.,Karin Rosenthal, Matthew Pillsbury and Edward Burtynsky.

For all members of the MFA Boston, you can get 25% off everything at the MFA Bookstore through December 7th.  So for you photo-book lovers out there, here’s your chance to get some at a nice discount.