Happy Spring!

To all who enjoy spring, Happy Spring!
To all who celebrate their New Year with the beginning of Spring, Happy New Year!
To all who celebrate Nowruz, Happy Nowruz!
To my fellow Iranians, better days will come and we will celebrate a truly green Nowruz!

Happy Green 1390!



My Haft Sin, Chickpea Chateau, Austin, March 20th 2011,
Nowruz 1390

Daily Austin Happenings ...

South by Southwest is here in Austin. I have not gone to any of the events yet; for some reason I have not even passed through the downtown area in the past week. Of course my distance from SXSW has not discouraged me from blogging about it. Well, Austin has become weirder because of it and that makes me a non-participant fan. Aside from SXSW Austin is welcoming spring by little purple and white blossoms.

The sad art history news this week was the death of Leo Steinberg. He was a great art historian who was considered one of the three "Kings of Culturberg" along with Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg. His print collection (3200) is held at the Blanton Museum of Art under his name. Here is more on Steinberg.

Tonight is Chaharshanbe Suri. Traditionally Iranians celebrate Chaharshanbeh Suri on the last Tuesday night of the year by lighting bonfires. Like the past years, this Chaharshanbeh Suri provided yet another resistance opportunity for people in Iran. I salute their courage and wish us all a Green Charshanbe Suir.

Leo Steinberg

White Ceiling

There is something in the blank look of sadness; something that scares them,
it scares some away to a long walk to nowhere,
it makes some to turn the lights off,
and the others just close their eyes.

There is something in that sadness that scares them,
and makes me adore the white ceiling above my head;
it does not escape me,
it just stares back with a blank look of sadness.

White on White, Malevich, 1913

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