Starving, and artists

Speaking of starvation, as we sort of just were (see comment on previous post, and I would argue: yes, we are "feeding" most people in this country, but with WHAT?), and in following up on the "movies I've missed" theme: I saw Into the Wild. Beautifully done, in every way. Sad, in so many ways. Lead actor Emil Hirsch was amazing. Thought all the supporting actors were pitch-perfect: Hal Holbrook, Catherine Keener, William Hurt ... And can Marcia Gay Harden do anything wrong?

Speaking of whom, I also saw Pollock (finally!), which I also loved. In a way it was a good thing that the DVD got stuck in the middle - just at the point where Clement Greenberg, Peggy Guggenheim, Alfonso Ossorio, and Tony Smith are visiting the East Hampton studio. It took a couple of days to get a replacement from a different library, and I had a chance to figure out how all those people fit together. I'm working through a little mini self-conducted crash course in mid-century painting - reading a lot of gorgeously-illustrated and hard-to-lift books on Pollock, Frankenthaler, Johns, Rauschenberg, Diebenkorn, Still, and others. Realizing how brilliant Kirk Varnedoe was (reading his Mellon Lectures - Pictures of Nothing), and what a tragic loss his premature death was.

Diebenkorn, who, as a California painter, was a contemporary but not really part of this group might be my favorite. Went to see his New Mexico paintings in NY at NYU's Grey Art Gallery last week. Such colors! Luscious! (See above).