Art in the cryptic sense of strand..

Being a graduate student has the advantage that, though you don't make a huge salary working sweathouse hours, other people sometimes send you to nice places to talk about your work . . and so I arrived in Santa Fe for a week in January..

Someone told me Santa Fe has the most galleries per sq. mile of land than any other city in the US. I believe them. I was disappointed with what I saw the first two days . . . too much art fit for the southwestern-decor bathroom (the kind where I wish someone would make a cactus cover for the john -- i'm convinced people would buy it). However after poking around the western side of town I quickly changed my mind.

Elaine Horwitch Galleries, 129 West Palace Ave, Santa Fe, NM
I walked in and, POW! WOW! . . . Sexy red statues, dalmations, paper mache mud horses, falling men, pottery that looks like worn leather briefcases (I received a stern look for touching one of them.), and much much more . . Better still, a proprietor willing to show the contents of the 'back room' to mere folk expressing an interest in the contents of the front room, though they obviously lack a hefty checkbook. I would have liked to have spent an entire day rummaging through the 'back room.'
The City Museum, just down the street. I forget the address.
It doesn't look big. It doesn't look fancy, but don't be fooled . . they put on some very risque exhibitions. I easily spent the better part of two days entranced by 7 TV sets seated around a large table with and 8th embedded in the middle, part of the Critical Mass Exhibition. The multimedia extravaganza focuses around the interactions among local residents and the scientists at the Los Alamos laboratory during the 1940s . . the a-bomb . . the threat to humanity, etc.
Where else can you sit at a table and be served viscera-stew by a television set?
Black On Black Pots
Yeah . . pinch pots, I made those as a kid, but whoa!! . . these are '''''way-cool.''''' Shiny black, opaque black, dusty black, all black, all together . .. and the secret ingredient is none other than horse manure! (!it's not just for breakfast anymore!). I couldn't resist such tempting objects. I bought one, a seed pot for the storage of purple pea pods.
If you want the quick way to Santa Fe Click Here to trip to the home page for spy.org. A good dose of extemporania from the Santa Fe/ Albuquerque area plus some maps of the area so you know where you are.

chez bleu . . .