I flew into L.A. this past weekend, got to rent a swwweeeet convertible Mustang, visited with my friend Maya. Then I drove up PCH to Ojai (fictional home of TV's Six Million Dollar Man) to drop in on a show at Nathan Larramendy Gallery. I'm in the show, and since I'll do just about anything to get out of town, I decided that would be a good excuse to go. Well, let me assure anyone who wants to drop in on a group show just to hang out that, unless you're into standing around awkwardly, you're making a huge mistake. What was I thinking? Not that the people who showed at the opening weren't pleasant; I'm seriously considering moving in with Steve and Celeste, parents of Allison, the new gallery intern. But, since I wasn't into standing in front of my own work as if on a lecture circuit, I spent most of the time either a) whining on the phone to Maya, pleading with her to let me come back and stay with her; or b) sit behind the desk counter trying to stay out of peoples' ways.
Let me make this plain: this is not to cast any aspersions on Nathan Larramendy and/or his gallery. It's actually a great space, and Senor Larramendy is a prince. After the opening I was invited up to Casa Larramendy, an amazing ranch in the Ojai mountains, where Brad served us a delicious meal and I got to meet/hang out with Brian Storts, curator/director of Queen's Nails Annex in San Francisco (and his cool lovely wife Rachelle). I don't run into many people with such crazy, intense energy as Brian; subsequently, it's not very often that I get all excited talking about art.
But there I was, all havin' a time talking, looking up at the stars in the crisp, black Ojai night. The next day, I took a different route, down through the mountains, hair blowing in the wind from my rented Mustang, listening to Engelbert Humperdinck at full blast...
It was all perfect, except for one thing. That damned art opening. It made me recall another recent trip, that to Marfa. That was a great trip, too, except for one thing. The art. Gotta remember to cut that stuff out of an otherwise good trip...
