The Big Painting

Who Says You Can't?

Hello friends,

This week I’ve been in LA for an event with the inimitable Alix E. Harrow, author of the New York Times bestselling AND Reese’s Book Club pick STARLING HOUSE and it has been amazing. I’m writing this from the airport because working when in transit is my favorite productivity tool, and I’m thinking about something that came to me while I was at The Broad contemporary art museum. I took some time “off” and did some touristy stuff (The Infinity Room! The Last Bookstore! The Ripped Bodice LA!) and frankly it was just what I needed. Living in NYC gives me access to world-class museums that I never go to. I’ve been itching for some art and apparently I had to go across the country to scratch it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Above is Ed Ruscha’s Gilded, Marbled, and Foibled and it’s a PAINTING OF PAPER MARBLING. I could have stared at it for hours. I don’t know if you’ve ever done or seen paper marbling, but it’s ink on top of a water bath then artistically, gently, (or chaotically, if you’re my kid) swirled around in beautiful patterns. Then you place a piece of paper on top of it to capture the ink and pattern and boom, you have art. There are at-home kits that are fun to play with, and of course artisanal, historic, expert craftwork in this area.

AND ED RUSCHA JUST WENT AND PAINTED IT OUT. With a brush and paint and his brain. I really like Ruscha, because he paints a lot of words, and you know how I feel about words. I admit I don’t even know that much about Ruscha as a person or artist and I find that happens for me when I really love someone’s work. I don’t care about the person, just gimme the books, paintings, songs, etc. It’s when I don’t understand something, or don’t understand why I don’t like something, that I want to know more about the person doing the thing, in case it helps me better interpret the work.

What does this have to do with writing books? I’m getting there.