I'll have two paintings in at group show at the Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL)

Wheee! Thanks HPAC and Natalie Jacobson.

Budapest-- szechenyi baths

The Széchenyi Medicinal Bath in Budapest is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is 74 °C and 77 °C. There are outdoor and indoor pools and you can stay there all day. Great people watching. You'll be glad you went. 

Budapest

Budapest is a one of the cheapest cities to fly to in Europe. It's worth checking out for a few days. Then you can fly somewhere else (say Rome) for much less than if you flew there directly from the US. 

Budapest is an old and beautiful city. There are plenty of churches and castles...

but also weird Soviet left-overs...

...I don't even know what is going on here. 

                                                  Budapest has a Blue Line (just like Chicago).

This is just the cafe inside a book store. 

Of course I had goulash...

...and potato chips served on a stick (with a side order of sass).

And one of the best things I saw, a painting of Leonardo DiCaprio sandwiched between two portraits of rabbis in a fancy tourist restaurant. 

Billie Holiday after a 1956 drug bust

This photo is usually only shown cropped, but the whole, un-cropped image includes her adorable chihuahua. Changes the tenor of the whole thing. 

More here: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/billie_holiday_drug_bust_with_chihuahua_1956

Marie's Pizza and Liquors

I have lived in Chicago my whole life and only now have I learned about the wonderful Marie's Pizza and Liquors-- a bar/package store/Chicago-only time travel restaurant. 

I met Jerry Saltz at the airport

 No one else seemed to care that Jerry Saltz was just standing there! Guys, it's Jerry Saltz!

Riverside Arts Center show-- May 8th to June 13th 2015

I just had a show at the Riverside Arts Center. I showed 11 of my gift paintings along with the actual wrapped gifts, satin, velvet, and fabrics I used in the paintings. At the show, I had a sign-up list where attendees added their names and email. After the close of the exhibition, I randomly chose people from the list to receive paintings as gifts. The sign-up sheet looked like this:

NAME _____________________________

EMAIL _____________________________

If you are selected to receive a painting you must agree to the following conditions:

1)This painting cannot be bought, sold, or bartered in the future. It can be re-gifted.

2) We (you and the artist) will be linked in a fiduciary relationship. You (the recipient) will be bound in an ethical relationship of trust and friendship with me (the artist), taking care of this painting indefinitely. Examples of our friendship may include: invitations to sibling weddings, texts, dinner parties, Christmas card exchanges, etc to be carried out in perpetuity. 

Below is the statement I wrote about the work.

It is a rare and exciting opportunity to see a painting next to its subject, to witness the choices, edits, and improvisations that were made by the artist. The time that went into each painting is visible and the steps of its creation can be pieced together by the viewer.

Each present painting is a gift, so why not treat them as such by giving them away? Lewis Hyde wrote in The Gift, “When a part of the self is given away, community appears.” My hope is that this act will allow us, the artist and the viewer, to bypass the transactional, commercial nature of art and instead connect in a more personal way.

A present is brought to a party as a gesture of goodwill. It represents the inexpressible and invisible value of relationships between people-- “the parts of the self” we offer to those we love. At the core of all my work is the fear that plagues many Millennials: the fear of missing out (on potential friends, on experiences). A party is an antidote to that fear. It is a celebration between friends of what we do have, of our time together.

I don't usually post poems but...

In A Room With Many Windows

by Jane Hirshfield

In a room with many windows

some thoughts slide past uncatchable, ghostly.

Three silent bicyclists. Slowly, a woman on crutches.

It is like the night you slept out on the sandy edge of a creek bank,

feeling the step of some light, clawed thing on your palm,

crossing to drink. You were nothing to it.

Hummock. Earth clump. Root knob wild in the dark.

Like that thirsty creature.

You could guess it, but you can’t name it.

Aventine Keyhole

I just got back from Rome and one of my favorite things there was the magical Aventine Keyhole. 

                                               First you walk up the Aventine Hill

You come to a beautiful gate

You walk up to the door

And you look through the keyhole

                    And there is St Peter's Basilica framed by perfectly sculpted hedges! 

Turns out the property is maintained by the Knights of Malta and it once was home to Alberico II, the ruler of Rome from 932-954. 

Visit http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-aventine-keyhole-rome for more.

Inside the Artist's Kitchen-- the Q&A

http://insidetheartistskitchen.com/blog/gwendolyn-zabicki-qa/

Gwendolyn Zabicki || Q&A

31 March 2015 by Kristina in Comfort Q&A Comfort-Kitchen - No Comments

Artist: Gwendolyn Zabicki*

Show: Cool and Dark

 

1.) What kind of artist do you consider yourself?

 I’m a painter. 

 

2.) What drew you to Comfort Station, and what did you do with the space?

 It’s such an unusual space, with odd walls and lots of windows. The space really did dictate where everything was hung. I showed there in July with Eleanor Ray and Greta Waller. 

 

 

3) What artist from all of history would you like to invite to dinner, and what would you feed them?

 I just watched Werner Herzog’s excellent Cave of Forgotten Dreams, so I think I would like to invite one of the Chauvet Cave painters who lived 32,000 years ago to dinner. We would eat steaks and scallops, maybe a nice salad. 

 

4) What is your favorite food memory?

 That’s a tough one. Going to Superdawg with my family is the obvious choice, but I think my favorite food memory would be the insane cakes my mom makes for my birthday. They have themes like “tea party lost at sea” and “pony smoking a cigarette while frying an egg.” 

 5) What piece of art do you secretly want to steal?

There are so many! I’d like to steal Self Portrait in a Wolf Fur Coat (1915) by Anders Zorn. I’d like to steal some of Amy Bennett’s paintings. They would be particularly easy to steal because they are so small. Slip them in your pocket, no one would notice! I’d like some Vija Celmins paintings,  a few Lynette Yiadom Boakye portraits. Maybe I’ll go on a crime spree. 

 

Self Portrait in a Wolf Fur Coat (1915) by Anders Zorn.

*Gwendolyn also works tirelessly to bring art to her community with the South Logan Arts Coalition.

Get the Recipe

Inside the Artist's Kitchen-- the recipe

I was interviewed for Inside the Artist's Kitchen. I made Manitaropita for them. It was fun!

http://insidetheartistskitchen.com/blog/manitaropita/

Manitaropita

31 March 2015 by Kristina in Comfort Recipe Comfort-Kitchen - 1 Comment

Just finding your way to Gwendolyn’s house is an adventure in itself. We happened upon some helpful neighbors who pointed us in the right direction. Juuuust down this path. Yep really.

Kitchen plant.

‘Fruit bowl’

A glimpse of the dining room.

Salt & Pepper.

There is even a chef’s knife hand forged in Vermont.

Manitaropita

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Filling Step 1

1. 24 oz Mushrooms
2. 3 Tbsp Olive oil
3. 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
4. 2 Tbsp Sugar

Filling step 2

1. 2 Bunches of Green onions
2. 2 Garlic cloves
3. 1 Bunch of Parsley

Filling step 3

1. 2 eggs
2. Lots of grated cheese, Swiss
3. Salt
4. Pepper
5. 1 Package Phyllo dough, Thawed

Instructions

1. 1. Chop mushrooms and fry with olive oil, soy sauce, and sugar. Set aside.
2. 2. Chop ingredients and fry with olive oil.
3. 3. Combine ingredients from steps 1 + 2 with eggs, cheese, salt, and pepper.
4. 4. Assemble. Visual directions below.
5. 5. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Some visual directions:

Open the phyllo dough.

Cut phyllo dough squares into 3 even strips. Cover unused pieces with a wet paper towel. Take 1 strip and brush liberally with olive oil on both sides.

Place some filling at the top of the strip and fold the top right corner down to the left side to form a triangle. Pro tip: Fold it like the American Flag. Continue cross folding until the whole strip is used.

A Helpful diagram we found.

Bake. Serve. Eat.

Some art around the house: