The Opening

Sept 8, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

I had the opening reception for my first solo exhibit yesterday. It was a bit of a whirlwind day. I am not sure that I have had time to digest it all emotionally yet.

We had a great turn out and I sold a couple of pieces already. I am already thinking about what is next but - tomorrow - I have no capacity to contemplate that today.

There was a conversation with the artist as part of the reception and I talked briefly about the essence of the project. Its a good thing that I had some practice from the New York EnFoco exhibit as I kinda knew what points to hit and how to sum it up in a way that was accessible.

There was an elderly gentleman there who came in his wheel chair and he thanked me for what I am doing. He talked about how the current generation has no sense of death and how there is no longer news coverage of bodies coming home from war. He thought it was great that I was photographing the market and making people aware of what is what.

I was really touched by what he said and how he thanked me. I am aware of the greater implication of this project, but in the effort of not getting off on a tangent or making the project more serious and politically difficult, I tend to just stick to the basics. I thought that people could draw their own conclusions and inferences themselves. Not only did he understood the point that you can't truly respect human life without respect the lives of animals that die to feed you, he said so in public.

After my brief talk, few people came up to me and shared some personal stories of their. Stories of them growing up on the farm or how this one woman's grandfather wanting her to know where food comes from and took her into the barn and killed a chicken in front of her when she was 5 yrs old. I was overwhelmed and all I could manage to say to them was "Thank You." It was not until later last night did I began to understand how great it was that my art had touched these people enough that they would want to come up and share a bit of their personal history with me.

I am touched....

Practice what you preach

Sept 6, 2008
Los Angeles, Ca

Tomorrow is the opening reception for "Wok the Dog" exhibit at the LA ArtCore. My very good friend Brian is coming home from Portland to see the show and be supportive.

In honor of Brian's return home and of the show, I thought that I should practice what I preach in which ever way possible as an urban dweller, so I am roasting a duck. I bought a duck from Chinatown ($13 for an entire duck) and it comes with the head, beak, feet and all. I am beheading this duck myself. We played a little "Don't Cry" (Guns n' Roses) in honor of the duck and the life it had and down went the cleaver. I could probably find a way to hunt as Michael Polland did or raise my own chicken and kill it, but the heart of the ceremony today is more about that I am looking at this duck head on and am doing the final deed myself. That I do flinch from that final act that seperate a life from meat.

People ask me if I have a reaction to all of these markets and all the killing that I see. Of course I do. Yet somehow when I am far from here and the killing and butchering is not done as an assembly line, it bothers me a lot less. It seems a lot more humane and a lot less random, detached. While when I was down in Chinatown, I saw part of the assembly line that is behind the counter of men cleaning the poultry and it made me sad, depressed and disgusted all at the same time. Strange how even though dead is dead, the way in which the final act is performed could matter so much.

So for this meal that I am preparing today:
Roasted Duck with Spices (Jamie's Dinners, Jamie Oliver)
Sweet Potato Brioche (Crescent City Cooking, Susan Spicer)
Orecchiette with Roasted Tomatoes (The Kitchen Diaries, Nigel Slater)
Pan Fried Kale
Summer Berries with Bay Leaf Custard (Kitchen of Light, Andreas Viestad)
Brown Butter Cookies (Fat, Jennifer McLagan)


Anyone else would like to join us today or next time?