Toasts n Trust

It is September. [Not really. It is October and I see I forgot to post this. Better late than never.]
Earlier in the month, Julian Schnabel received the 2007 Gucci Group Award for remarkable film achievement. The Gucci Group agrees with little ol' me: Schnabel takes the cake.
Upon receiving the award, Schnabel said, "Painting can be compared to life, but is about optimism and faith. Artistic expression is the embodiment of hope." hmmm, okay. Faith in the new and optimism that there are different—better even— ways of doing things; but hope..? "the embodiment of hope..." Hope is "expectation with confidence, trust." Schnabel says, "Artistic expression is the embodiment of hope."
Oh, I get it! Artistic expression, which relies on the creative act, is a demonstration of trust in the infinite possibilities of the universe, trust in the possible. Yes. Yes yes. Art Saves. Trust in Art.

Venetian Cake - Pompeii Pink

Let me get on the bandwagon.
Julian Schnabel has built a building in NYC and the neighbors don't like it. Big news.
Big building. Big color.
Schnabel is a big artist. He needs those 18ft ceilings!
Seriously, Schnabel is a great big artist, a great big filmmaker, a big man with vision and there is always complaint - frenzied even - about someone doing something that commands attention.
Well it seems in building construction the man is as attentive to aesthetic detail as in anything else. Give it time, and the neighbors will learn to love it too. Italian stylings, 18ft ceilings, 3ft walls, French windows, brass railings, and 17 storys red. Well, yessir it's a big building -and I like it.

360 W 11th St. NYC
*photo for The Villager by Lincoln Anderson