DAILY MAGAZINE
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THURSDAY

I'm working at home this morning,,,, last week was so hectic it's nice to be able to have some space to myself.... the punk is out teaching....... i went to see Seafood play live last night... which was pure joy.. there kind of rocky indie,, slightly 90s retro,,, I've got this one LP by them, "When Do We Start Fighting,,, "
from the library and was really into it,, so i thought i'd check em' out live... it was a good gig,, but i was SO tired,, i just sat on the side drinking lime and soda pretending i was in my living room,,,, it was so Fxxking loud though,, i'd been at the arts council earlier for a seminar,, which wasn't so hot,, it was supposed to be about globalisation, but they just kept talking about the 80s black art movement... and i couldn't ever work out the connection..... then before that we'd been to Chuck's new show at the R.A.. for some early morning preview... the big guy was in full effect, putting the finishing touches to the show... i think it's a mixed bag,, there are winners and losers there,,

SATURDAY

hey, it's saturday,, party day.. we got a Chinese and rented a video-- well that was this evening,, today had to get some frames for zoo,,, i was very near to getting frame rage,,,, i was so pissed off,, i was going to spend all this money on frames,, like 500 quid,, and the fuck wits weren't going to cut the paper to fit inside them for me... british service,,, what is it like? so i thought fuck it,, i'll stick the work up with nails.... if i'd had more time i would have sent them off,, but by the time i got round to it all the framers were booked up with frieze mania.... so nails it is.... after the frame incident i went and picked up our new sculptures from keith talent gallery,, they wrapped them in bubble wrap for me and i asked for a plastic bag.... then i took them on the bus back to whitechapel tube,, art transport at its best..

i watched a film called 'the weather man'.... have you seen it?? it's got nicholas cage in it,, and he plays a kind of successful guy who's also a bit of a loser,,, a successful loser... it's easy to relate...

THURSDAY

spent most of the day in frieze yesterday..... it's a fairly mad time----- art wise there was not so much hot shit,,, literally,, a couple of things,, one or two galleries stand out... you know.. there where lots of famous people floating about---i saw jamie oliver and would have quite liked to speak with him,,, but he looked slightly rushed,,, but I'm a fan of what he does,, and i guess he's interested in art otherwise he wouldn't have been there,, anyway,, whatever,,,,, but frieze for me is about seeing people,, walking around with all this art as a backdrop,, and every now and then you talk about the work.... i quite like it.... i like talking about art with my friends and people i don't get to see that often because they live abroad...... so that was the fair,, then just toward the end i meet this curator xabier arakistain,,, who's a friend of emma's,,,, and he was with this artist caron geary,,,,, so i was like what are you doing after, and she's like,, i've got a gig in deptford,, and i'm like, fuck, dude, that's home for me i'm coming,,,, so we eventually got a in a cab to deptford,, and caron's putting her crazy outfit on in the back of the cab,,, this fucking, like negligee gimp mask and shit...... and of course arakistain is this 6 ft. transvestite with a 2 ft. wig on,,, so we made quite a team,,, me in my cord jacket and all,,,, then when we got to the venue in deptford,,,, it was fucking mad,,, just like all these punks going wild,,, i was like fuck,,, they should have made this the official after party of frieze... this is where it's happening...

WEDNESDAY

just got home from the turner --- sometimes i feel so happy and full of joy, then i realise it's a fraudulent joke,,, there's no point or escape from the cave, it's damp and black and the tunnels go on for miles---- chislehurst caves.... dinosaur junior, it's all in a days work,,, and then i come home to a computer scene and an android and both of them are asking me questions but none of them are capable of caring........

so the turner prize,,, well i couldn't really see the show,, so i guess i'll go back another time,,,,, i hope mark titchner wins anyhow or maybe rebecca warren,, then again,,, tomma abts' painting suddenly had some effect on me this evening,, maybe because they're so quiet and self-contained,,,,, so any of those 3,,,, but the thing is,, as i was saying to someone earlier,, art, ,,,,, art just is not about prizes,,, and anyone who thinks it is is a mug.... not only that,, but if you look at the people who have won the turner prize,,, are they the best artists anyhow and do they have the best careers in comparison to the people they where showing with?... i just don't know....it's kind of useless--- i can't tell you anything..

THURSDAY

my curatorial seminar group had a meeting with hans ulrich obrist at the serpentine...the big guy came over well,,, you know,,, i kind of thought he might be a bit robotic,, speaking on two phones at once kind of thing,,, but he was ok,,, he spoke about museums and what they can do now when commercial galleries are...

.....hang on...hang on,,, i've just seen an advert for the new bbc art show,, 'the power of art',,, now you know that shit is going to piss me right of,, i don't know if it's the bbc, or art shows in general or both,, but i can't stand the way they always have to use annoying posh white men to make these show,,, it drives me fucking mad... why don't they get a cool black guy to present an art show???.....

arseholes.

anyway, yes,, hans... he was good,, he thinks there's still something museums can do...

then tonight i had to meet someone at the NPG, so i checked out the david hockney,, i like hockney,, always have,, it's an odd show though,, because it's just portraits,, so it seems a bit random somehow,,,, one thing i thought when looking at it though,, which i never thought before about DH,, is that he's a real flatterer,, he flatters his sitters,, it's a bit like he draws people how they might see themselves at their favourite angle..

then i went to this phil frost show,, he's a kind of street artist from the us,, i'm not sure about the work,,, but i was meant to interview him,, but he wasn't about... then i went to another graffiti show by a guy called shok and some brazilian street artist,,, i preferred this second show,,, but it's an interesting little sub scene developing...

SUNDAY

we went and saw "the devil wears prada" yesterday... it was a bit of a let down--- kind of like a feature length episode of 'sex in the city' or something,,, one detail i did like was that the main honcho bitch character had an alex katz painting in her house,, other than that it was a bit of a movie without substance,, but for a saturday afternoon,, who cares...

it's all a bit boring in terms of my life currently and for the next few months as i'm working on a big publication,, so i'm not going to go to many openings or seeing much art other than stuff for the publication.... anyway,,, i'm cooking curried goat right now,, it takes a long time,, so it won't be ready till tonight,, i put plantain in there as well..

WEDNESDAY

there's this one-eyed cat i see every morning,,, it must stay out all night,, i think it's good luck to see a one-eyed cat in the mornings.. then anyway,, i had some work bullshit to do early this morning then i went to this thing... it was an exhibition thing and the curator was talking about it to about 10 of us,, but the main guy, the curator, was speaking to david lammy,, the culture secretary....it really wasn't very interesting, but i don't suppose it's not a politician's job to be interesting....he seems alright though, lammy,,,

did i tell you about the jacques ranciere lecture? He's the name to drop if you want to get top marks on your homework...

oh yeah,, i'll tell you something else funny,, i was walking round the turner prize with that actor dude frazer james,,, and we came to the phil collins thing,, which isn't very good, but whatever,, anyway,, there's this thing in the phill collins piece were he wants people who've had their life ruined by being on tv to take part or something,,, so i was like,, frazer,, your life's been ruined by being on tv,, get in there...

MONDAY NIGHT / TUESDAY MORNING

today was quite meaty... i had to do a presentation at the dcms for david lammy and a few of his cronnies.... this had made me quite stressed for the best part of the morning,,, i really don't know why,, as i usually couldn't give an arse about this type of political B.S,, but for some reason i was virtually paralysed,,, anyhow,, i delivered the presentation with typical nonchalance and the rest of the meeting went well, then we had this reception thing for all of the people doing the same fellowship as me,, the turn-out was very impressive,, basically , every major museum director in london was there to show support,, it was a serious schmooze-a-thon... lammy made some speech,, and ended tellingly by saying,, i'm not going anywhere,,, -------------------so he's obviously got another job-----------------don't forget,,, you heard it here first......................... then i hot-footed it to the groucho for this harry hill book launch.

SUNDAY

good evening. I'm in a hotel in sao paulo,, i'm here for research and to check out the biennale. yes, i know i'm a jammy dodger, but you know, someone has to be... actually i arrived very early this morning and i'm feeling the strain.... been bopping round some of the sights,, checked a bit of the biennale,,, but you know,, it's sunday so i can afford to take it easy...

what do you want to know about sao paulo? it's warm but not too hot,, the vibe on the street is good,, the food is very good,, it's just been street snacks so far,, but all interesting stuff.. they sell corn on the cob on the street,, and you can have it on the cob or in boiled, wrapped in the leaf,, its 1R,, about 25p... i also ordered a drink that looked like Guinness,, but when i tasted it,, it was more like alcoholic super malt,,,,, do you know that stuff,, super malt?? anyhow,, it was much lighter than Guinness and even slightly sweet,, but still kind of like Guinness,, haven't had a proper meal yet,,,

the flight over was awful,, BA are really shit,,, the choice of films sucked majorly,,, who buys that shit for them? mr grey-blanderson....

anyway,, I'm kind of tired so i'll have to catch you later..

WEDNESDAY...

hi,, i'm still in sao paolo,,, i was feeling a bit travel sick yesterday,,, hopefully will be better today,,, i went to the museum of modern art yesterday,, it's in this great dome-shaped building with big port-hole style windows and a spiral staircase that runs from top to bottom,,,,,,, it's nice seeing a museum in a place like brazil,,, the historic references are so totally different,, i really didn't recognise most of the names,,, there's lots of modernist stuff from the 50s and opy style stuff,,, a few of the big names i recognised were there of course,,, a very early beatriz milhazes work,, which was good to see,, an ernesto neto sculpture,,, and a couple of small oiticica works,, which also had an interesting awkwardness to them......

i'll probably go back to the biennale this morning and i've got to do some research interviews later..

FRIDAY

last full day in sao paulo today,,, it's been a good week,, got lots of my research done,,, seen a few shows,,, went to the biennale,, and a nearby large show called 'paralella'.... there's interesting stuff in both,, one documentary in the biennale that i particularly like, by Francesco Jodice and a nice thomas hirshhorn installation plus a couple of other things,,, but i think the general consensus is that the biennale is a little bit directionless,,, the theme is something like, "living and working together",, or some such vaguery..... it's in a great building though,, and because it's free to get into,, there are lots of local, non-art-world-type people in there,, which is good,, there was an opening last night at a gallery called fortes vilaca, the artists made these kind of pheromone instruments which the audience could play,, so the gallery was super noisy with this constant screaming racket,,, the vibe was good though....... oh,,, i have to tell you about the hors d'oeuvres at this other opening we went to the other day,,,,, as you know,, i'm a bit of a private view hors d'oeuvres trend spotter, so i was keen to see how they do things in brazil,,,,, at first all seemed normal,,,, champagne,, a few vol-au-vent style things,,, nothing too new,,,,, then they started bringing these purple kind of milkshake things,,, if you've ever mixed ribena with milk as a kid,, that's kind of how it tasted,,,,, after that the flood gates opened,,, and this kind of cheese soup stuff started to circulate,, tiny pots of it.... then more cheese,, this time cubes of it, in a glass with whole chillies and olive oil,, so it kind of looked like a funky cocktail,, but when it came, it was just cheese in a glass...

Cedar Lewisohn