Geez I returned to Wastebook, I guess I have to start over, it's against my better judgement but my better judgement was never very good! Without Wastebook I get next to nothing coming in on the pc. Stu Mead will return a message on the email but my son Peter not as often as he once did, he's busier now . Tomorrow is Thanksgiving a holiday I used to love which I'm not so crazy about these days, a big meal can mean gout.
So I saw Sam whose living in Boulder at Max's place, he looks good the exchanges with him and Max remain the same a sort of manly bickering, Peter is quiet more so than he used to be I think the spectacle of Max and Sam has always intrigued him what it might have been like to have a brother.
Still thinking about Yves Klein anxious to see the exhibition again, something about those huge galleries at the Walker thins shows out it's not easy to decorate that much space without thinning the aesthetic soup. As well where is the edge of contemporary art and historical contemporary art? The Yves Klein work does look more like historical modernism all the time. Warhol's work now is historical modernism whereas when I first saw it it was very edgy contemporary art. The thing about Yves Klein though is how his art seems to fall back towards historical modernism. The Yves Klein exhibitions do seem to hold up but they also suffer from our familiarity with this material. Does his work still seem contemporary, rather does some of his art still sting? The leap off the wall into the void sure does conjure up the image of Chris Burden's various self destructive body art works. Whereas Klein props things up with his theoretical mysticism and general show biz additives Burden is more raw and absent some greater purpose or theory. But some considerable physical risk attends both artist's work.It is difficult to say something remains the same (like Yves Klein) when the world has changed so much since his aactive years in t5he late 1950's and early 1960's. I think Klein fills the bill for an artist who fortells some of the future art we live with now I for one think he is an important percursor on Chris Burden's art and in general the abstract monochromatic painting that has continued to be an important part of modernist praxis, and in most ways Klein's early monochromes are what I enjoy most in his work and what I think looks most contemporary and has aged best of his works. But it's hard to keep contemporary when you've been dead for48 years.