i heart candice breitz

I would like to take a moment to speak of the awesomeness of Candice Breitz.

I love her most for her video work, and I feel very fortunate to have seen the pieces Mother + Father and Queen at the White Cube when I was in London (such a great art space). I feel even more fortunate to have seen her in person, talking about her work, at the Guggenheim about two years ago. She's incredibly charming, wonderfully animated and absolutely amazing. And I'm holding back, really.

In particular, I'm a huge fan of her "portraits", which consist of a wall of 30 monitors, each with the sound cranked up, showcasing one of 30 people singing along to the lyrics of a series of pop songs. Queen, for example, starts with 30 people belting out "Like a Prayer" in unison and continues through the Madonna repertoire. I'm so thrilled that you can now watch these on her website - and you should - but it doesn't compare to the power of actually seeing them in person. There is something incredibly moving and powerful about them. And yes, there's also something incredibly funny. I dare you to try and not sing along.

I just noticed that her show at Yvon-Lambert in New York, just closed (of course, always my luck), but if you ever get a chance to see her work in person, please, please do so.

the very hungry caterpillar

I wouldn't normally take it upon myself to blog about Google, but when I noticed this morning that they had treated their name to a The Very Hungry Caterpillar illustration to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the book by Eric Carle, I couldn't resist.

I'm kind of surprised (although I know I shouldn't be, this is the way of the world now) by the mass-marketing behind this book. The caterpillar no longer lives just in book form, but seems to have morphed into everything from greeting cards to dishware to plush toys. And I guess - yeah - also as a Google nameplate.

A few years ago, I purchased a The Very Hungry Caterpillar stamp, complete with a little die-cut hole. I was thrilled. I remember being pleasantly surprised to see the book as a stamp, because - although I had loved it as a kid, and remember it very fondly - it hadn't occurred to me that it was popular the world-over. I've since come to realize that many of my favorite books, Goodnight Moon amongst them, are vastly popular and marketed all over the place. I guess that's how I feel about most of the things that I experienced as a kid, that they were secrets whispered just to me.

I don't know if all of the marketing behind TVHC really has a point, but I imagine that if all of these other things had been around when I was a kid, I probably would have loved all of the stuff, too. But for me, the true beauty is still in the book and in the beautiful and simple illustrations contained within.

I think a good imagination can do the rest.

it's ok, you can laugh, I won't be mad

Postcard, from A Beautiful Revolution.

Love.