Vonnegut, Hero and Legend has some kind advice about gratitude.
Tracey Emin Speaks with Jerry Saltz at NYAA
photo Mauren M Evans for Financial Times.
Last week I got to attend an artist talk with Tracey Emin at New York Academy of Art as she was interviewed by writer and critic Jerry Saltz. It was wonderful to see her in person and hear how her life had been affected by cancer, and how she is motivated, a fire under her, to make the most of her remaining productive years.
Read the article here on Isadore&Dunn Gallery.
I’m Here, I’m Alive — Financial Times
Margo Sarkisova — Of War and Peace
Margo Sarkisova, Black Sun Rising, 2022
Isadore&Dunn Art Gallery, (for whom I am a co-founder) put up a show this season from Margo Sarkisova, an Assyrian artist from Ukraine who has had to deal with life under attack from Russia’s full scale invasion in February. The work reflect the anxiety of an artist whose world is on its head, from a time where her future and her safety were very uncertain.
We thank her for sharing these prints and her experience in the hopes that it sheds more light on the real human experience of living through such a difficult situation.
See the show here.
re: Suicide
Every time we lose somebody it is shocking. It's jarring. And a suicide feels especially surreal. These public people that we all feel a little ownership of even though we may not know them... The ones that touched us. It hurts.
Its hard to have seen it coming. Maybe it's impossible. Even if you know somebody personally, a friend, your family, even if you know they are in trouble. Just look at Andy Spades note on his late wife... They had issues, she had her own as well, like any person does, and they were working through them. But it I'm sure it feels like he's been hit by a truck. Blindsided. How could it not?
For both Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, outwardly they seemed to have incredible successful lives. Bourdain was literally globetrotting, eating the best food all over the Earth. Even I had a Kate Spade bag (Jack Spade). Her work touched most everyone. Reading about their family and friends, their personal lives seem pretty great as well. Which only adds to the shock. The people around them, closest to them, often didn't know the truth or depth of their own struggles. And I find it a sort of sad reality of being a person that:
As well as you know anyone, there's a lot you can just never know.
We communicate, some things get through, other things you only half understand. Partial understanding, generalities. Maybe what we perceive is correct, or at least in the generally area, but we never really get the whole picture. It's people misinterpreting or misunderstanding each other all over. Its missed connections all over the world.
My family unfortunately had to deal with a suicide in the last couple years. For us there was an attempt, a close call... And this person had family come to aid them, professional counseling. It was a serious wake up call. All hands on deck for us. And we thought that was the path out. They got help. We were there for them. It was scary and serious but they would be okay. And yet we were wrong. They tried again, and this time successfully.
And so even knowing there was a serious problem, and there was a whole family reaching out, concerned. Everyone trying to help, to offer a kind ear or understanding; This person still left us. We couldn't save them.
I don’t know what the lesson in that is really. I guess just that we should be kind to each other. To know that everyone is dealing with a lot more than we can hope to know. Even and especially people close to us. Even when you've been given ample warning that they are hurting or need help.
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Be excellent to each other. Take a deep breath of appreciation for those you love in your life. They are all so precious.
And if you need help, if you are having a hard time, know that the people around you care about about much more than you can understand in the same way. Talk to someone. People do care about you. I promise.
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