Art I'm Looking At: "Mt. Peace-more"

I came across this today at A.P. Giannini School, in San Francisco. My photograph makes it hard to judge scale, but the mural is about 40 feet wide and more than 15 feet high. It's been there for years, but it's sprouted a portrait of President Obama since I last saw it, head and shoulders above the other denizens of "Mt. Peace-more." I don't think this needs much comment, but it interests me on a number of levels. It's interesting that an addition was made to the original mural, it's interesting that the Obama bust is positioned to dominate so completely, it's interesting that the portrait has been copied directly from Shepard Fairey's poster of Obama that was itself copied--without attribution--from a photograph of Obama by Mannie Garcia. As Vladimir Nabokov once said "Everybody loves a metamorphosis"--or something to that effect.

Miscellaneous: Michelle Obama on the Arts--How Sweet It Is

Came across this news story today suggestive of the Obama administration's genuine support for the arts. This kind of activity is indicative of such a refreshing change in attitude from what we put up with during Mr. Bush's tenure.

Michelle Obama was re-opening part of the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York today. Coincidentally, the last time I was there former First Lady Jackie Onassis visited what was then the new American Wing. I was on my way to see the galleries (as she was), walking. I had stopped at the corner of 82nd St. and Fifth Ave., waiting for a light to change. Her limousine pulled up on 82nd St., right next to me. Surprisingly, her window was down. There she was, looking at me. When would that have been? Fifteen years ago? Twenty years ago? The light changed. The car turned left onto Fifth Ave. and it was gone.

Miscellaneous: President Obama (2)

The word "president" before any new last name always takes time to get used to, but I already like the sound of "President Obama" better than I did the sound of "President Bush."

It's official now. President Obama.

I wonder how long it will take our new president to stop talking about "this campaign." He speaks as if he's still stumping against Hillary. I suspect it hasn't quite sunk in yet--even at the White House. 

Miscellaneous: President Obama

Just back from a weekend of skiing at Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe. Ordinarily I'd have something to say about that, but my mind is on the inauguration tomorrow. Seems hard to believe that in less than 10 hours Mr. Bush (I've never been able to call him President Bush) will be gone. And good riddance. I will have to get up early tomorrow to see anything of the events before the actual ceremony--because of the time difference. You people in Washington will see more in real time than we will on the West Coast.

How many millions will attend? I would like to have gone to Washington, but it would have been pointless. I would have been distracted and far away. I would have spent my time searching through unknown faces in vast crowds. What would the chances have been of finding a familiar face among them? One in a million or two, I suppose. Stranger things have happened, though, much stranger.

Anyway, I wish him well. I expect to be disappointed--it's in the nature of things--but it's a pleasure just to think that we will have a thoughtful, articulate, intelligent person in the White House for the first time in years.