Austin: Two Museums, Two Exhibitions

Are you looking for some visual stimulation in Austin? Great, there are two exhibitions to see this month. Visit the Blanton Museum of Art for Recovering Beauty: The 1990s in Buenos Aires and Austin Museum of Art for New Art in Austin: 15 to Watch. Recovering Beauty is on view from February 20 to May 22 and 15 to Watch will be on view from February 26 to May 22.

Benito Laren, Buscando precios (Searching for Prices), 1991

The Happy Resident of Chickpea Chateau!

After half an hour of complaining about my graduate life, that covered my poverty, lots of work, no romance ..., I hesitantly asked "Am I pathetic?" and he said: "not really, you eat lots of potatoes and you are poetic, but you are definitely not pathetic." And his answer made me the happiest resident of Chickpea Chateau.

Chickpea Chateau, February 2011

Missing Monsieur Dubuffet!

This is my exam semester; I have to pass four exams and I am not looking forward to them at all. The reading load for each is so brutal that I get to spend very little time on my own work with Monsieur Dubuffet. Today I have noticed that I had surrounded myself with the black and white copies of his paintings. He is everywhere; on the fridge, on my desk, on my laptops' screens, I have even used paper copies of his paintings as book marker here and there. I think it is clear; I miss him!

Jean Dubuffet photographed by Arnold Newman, 1956

Winter!

The new semester has begun with pain. I keep myself busy, trying to expand my memories of that condensed week; the magical week that we finally gathered like a family. Finally there we were. It was short.

The new semester is cold; colder than winter. Everywhere I go, every face I see, every hand I shake, freezes me back into loneliness. The cluster of their bodies, their kind eyes, and their warm voices are weirdly distant when I happen to them as if leprosy; they pass through me making the small city and the smaller citadel of migrants colder than a usual winter in Texas.

The new semester has begun and I keep myself busy, waiting for the winter to pass through me!

Rain in the Forest, Malaysia, January 2011