by jad

Growing Up Middle Eastern Here (Readymade: Big Gulp and Mailbox)

Interstitiality. The service area in between two sections of artwork at the 9th Avenue gallery. x A central question in Gizelle’s exhibit is: what does it mean to grow up Middle Eastern here? This question speaks to a universal diasporic unease between “here” and “elsewhere,” but for those of us inscribed in Arabic script on a backdrop of Alpha Beta Charlie, the question cuts more deeply. Our very existence “here” rends us in two, like an act of betrayal. In many ways, I relate more to Gizelle’s parents’ experience than her own. I chose to come here as an adult. … Continue reading “Growing Up Middle Eastern Here (Readymade: Big Gulp and Mailbox)” →

by jad

Gizelle’s Belltown Show, and Modern American Masculinity

I kept saying that I’ve had Gizelle’s Belltown Art Walk show in my calendar for a year, and today my phone reminded me that we in fact did hang out exactly one year ago today, when I must have put it in my calendar, because it was already in there the next time we met up and she excitedly relayed her plans for it. I had a vague idea what to expect, but walking into the space still took my breath away, like “wow.” The sheer scale of these pieces, combined with the patient labor it took to make them … Continue reading “Gizelle’s Belltown Show, and Modern American Masculinity” →

by jad

Maximalism and Stolen Valor at the Cornish BFA Show

The word “maximalist” was used a couple of times in this year’s @cornish_artdept BFA bios, but none embodied it as fully as @masonsmixedmedia’s “explosion” of art titled something about a horse (?) – with so much to take in, I forgot to note it down. For reasons that will become very obvious, this work could not be contained within a single post. x Coffee shop and church pews through dirty and colored windows. x Mason Webb @masonsmixedmedia at the @cornish_artdept BFA exhibit. I laughed when I read the artist description of these pieces, itself a work of dada: 1, 2025, … Continue reading “Maximalism and Stolen Valor at the Cornish BFA Show” →

by jad

Being, Having, Seeing (More from the Cornish BFA Show)

“If all of the technical forces of capitalism must be understood as tools for the making of separations, in the case of urbanism we are dealing with the equipment at the basis of these technical forces, with the treatment of the ground that suits their deployment, with the very technique of separation.” (Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle, as featured in @cloecaroljane’s artist statement at the Cornish BFA exhibit) x “Being, Having, Seeing,” Cloe Caroljane Short @cloecaroljane at the @cornish_artdept BFA exhibit. Everything about this install – from the graphic aesthetic to the post-internet motifs to the naming convention (e.g. … Continue reading “Being, Having, Seeing (More from the Cornish BFA Show)” →

by jad

Strange Food and Little Makers: The Cornish BFA Show

I’ve been thinking about Luigi Ghirri again. Christine sent me a video about him, seeing something in his work that would resonate with me, not knowing that I’d already noticed that affinity a couple years ago. It was nice to have validation of my hubris. Here’s what Ghirri had to say about photography: “Beyond all critical and intellectual explanations, beyond all negative aspects it might posses, photography is, I think, a formidable visual language tor fostering this desire for the infinite that inhabits each of us. As I have said before, it is a great adventure in the world of … Continue reading “Strange Food and Little Makers: The Cornish BFA Show” →

by jad

Easter, Žižek, and Abolishing ICE

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Happy Easter to all who celebrate. x I didn’t pay attention to the calendar when I booked our tickets to see Žižek months ago—it was last night, one of the biggest nights of the year at work—so I didn’t end up going. But Christine did. Here’s the man signing my scrapbook (he said I was very wise to ask for his signature on that—don’t tell his publisher) in a photo that Christine took using her old PowerShot called “Pete.” Look at how this self-proclaimed Christian Atheist is … Continue reading “Easter, Žižek, and Abolishing ICE” →

by jad

No Kings, Kontra Kapitalismus

One of my greatest pleasures lately has been decluttering, particularly letting go of books I know I’ll not be rereading, if I’d ever finished them in the first place. Like unclenching a fist and letting the blood flow. Letting go. Letting recirculate. The simplest thing in the world, but not for me. I’ve spent my whole life holding on tightly. Refusing to let go of whatever I’ve clawed back from the jaws of oblivion. Sentiment becomes sediment. It’s time for the levees to erode. x No Kings. Kontra Kapitalismus. Sin banderas, sans frontières. نراكم غداً x Two over-processed smartphone captures … Continue reading “No Kings, Kontra Kapitalismus” →

by jad

Beauty in Banal Things (True Self, False Self)

I mentioned yesterday how my anti-car scruples have gone more lax in the past few years, with making a living in this urban fabric being the primary impetus. But there’s also the influence of the photographic eye. I don’t remember ever taking photos of cars in Lebanon; in fact, I spent a long time taking photos of buses. Over here, though, it sometimes feels like cars are the only finely-crafted aesthetic objects around. That says a lot about a place. As the closest thing to public art in deserts of the the capitalist real, cars are synecdoches of time and … Continue reading “Beauty in Banal Things (True Self, False Self)” →