Skin deep

It's 10:23 PM Saturday March 13, 1999 van gos ear, Venice Beach California.

I went to an art opening tonight in Bergamot station in Santa Monica. Bergamot station is pretty cool; it reminds me of an industrial park full of newly constructed machine shops. About 10 buildings clad in pastel painted aluminum siding, arranged like a coral with a parking lot in the middle. Usually there are many art openings on a Saturday night; but tonight only one. The show was titled "skin deep" actually, there were only 2 works at the show that were obvious about reflecting the title. And those works were not even that deep. The piece I am sending you is a snapshot I took looking at a video monitor. On the screen was a lactating woman squeezing breast milk, Jackson Pollock style, onto a black sheet of paper. She then signed it, and the tape repeated. … I got very melancholy…It could not help but remind me of all the wonderful art I've flushed.
I saw another work of art that looked as though it might have been a colorist study reminiscent of Joseph Albers. There were two paintings hung side by side. There was also a tiny copy of each painting and its title. But the titles were reversed with respect to the position of each painting. (I will send you a picture) I spoke with the artist hoping I would get a chance to learn something. (I really love color theory) I asked him what his work was about. He said it dealt with language … with signs and signifiers. I said really…how? …He went on to say that the title on the left signified the painting on the right … I gave him a facial expression which said, "is that it?" and he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and nodding gave me the expression "what more do you want". Then he went on to mention he just left a 12 year relationship and the paintings were 2 foot by 6 foot just like a coffin. I was trying to be polite so I didn't ask him if he had ever seen a coffin. But the title of the show was becoming very clear to me. I asked him what he did for a living, he gave me that you dumb-shit look and said, "I am an artist…" I said, "wow you make a living from your artwork?" … Another you dumb-shit look and said, "I sell all over the world." After peeking at the price sheet and seeing $3000+ prices for most of the work … I started to feel my bowls move.

The Kount

woman lactating on paper