Of Libya, Dentists, and Art
NYT: Two Said to Tell of Libyan Plot Against Saudi

WASHINGTON, June 9 — While the Libyan leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was renouncing terrorism and negotiating the lifting of sanctions last year, his intelligence chiefs ordered a covert operation to assassinate the ruler of Saudi Arabia and destabilize the oil-rich kingdom, according to testimony of two participants in the conspiracy.
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President Bush has conveyed to the Saudi royal family [ed: ie., his true masters -- cue Michael Moore, waiting in wings] that he is going to find out what happened in the alleged conspiracy, according to a diplomat. [ed: betcha he'll get to the bottom of this a lot faster than, say, discovering who outed Wilson's wife]
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"We are going to really jam Qaddafi over this, but there is no pretext for regime change," the Saudi official said. "What is in our interest is to keep the caged animal in his cage."

Sound eerily familiar?

Cozying up to Qaddafi is not just a monstrously idiotic thing for this admin to do, but is (of course) all about oil.

Good evening, people. After complaining for 2 days about 90 degree weather, a front has passed and, yes, I am now so cold, slamming windows shut, turning off fans, pulling on a sweater. It has plummetted to 59 degrees and is rainy and likely to be for several more days. What can you do? It will force me to stay in and do some art, that's what it will do.

Nothing new to report today, except went down to Wicker Park (after a dentist's appointment) to take a look at a show called "Undergraduated" at the Up the Stairs Gallery, folks selected from the SAIC BFA show this spring. It wasn't officially open, however, but the doors were because it was so hot, and I snuck a look around. Had wanted to see Noah Marchal's "Satellite" in action, but it wasn't doing anything, since not plugged in. Got chased out by gallery type, but had a chance to look at a giant wall of fairly stylized portraits by Peter Hoffman before leaving, and I think I remember them from the SAIC show. They looked much more impressive and particular in a space that was big enough to present them as a large group.

This might be an interesting space to keep an eye on. It's just around the corner from the Flat Iron Building which houses more artists than I can count (plus an Occult Book Store).

My first glance thru the Evanston + Vicinity Biennial didn't really impress me too much, though I'll admit it's a lot of paintings to absorb. I couldn't find a coherent sense to it, though I admit I must go back and look again.

I adored the show 2 years ago, even though I didn't perhaps care for individual pieces. I thought that as a whole it was brilliant, light, white, open, varied, but with several quite focussed anchors -- like Eric Wert's giant painting of a plant (a begonia? can't quite remember) at one side, to Kat Chow's wonderful formal fashions, to the kid who did the big photos of himself falling thru air (can't remember his name right now) in the other main room. See? 2 years later I can still remember it, though I'm not sure I'll remember much of this year's show.

But, as I said, will go back and look again...

And did I mention I have a piece in the new juried show at the Wilmette Public Library -- opens this Friday 5-8? Hope all you Chicago area folks can come.

***CORRECTION***: The opening is 6:30 to 8:30, an alert reader informs me. Sorry if I've screwed up anyone's plans.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:35 PM | | | Link |