001 Julia Garcia

Long walks, high heat, More Adventurous

Jul 24, 2024

Realm of Light, 2024 | acrylic, ink, dye on canvas | 72 x 60 in.

But First

A quiet week this week, mostly trying to stay out of the heat.1 Had to downgrade to a mere 30min morning walk after a couple of days where I just never recovered. H and I had beers and watched a banger of a sunset in Red Hook last night before returning to Swoony’s. We’d gone early on, just as they were opening, and it was not quite dialed in. It was a much better experience last night. That whipped goat cheese with chili crisp is something I think about often, and I can never say no to a shrimp cocktail.

Julia Garcia

I was immediately interested walking into Slow Burn at GAA Gallery. I had been looking forward to Cuban-American Julia Garcia’s, debut New York show all day. Her works are full of the influence of flash photography, stock imagery, ads, nostalgia and memories that aren’t quite our own. I loved the captured, frozen moments from a very American childhood. A collected memory of a general childhood, more so than any one particular person’s. Some pieces feeling like they could be from the 60s, others from the 80s, others more modern. I loved the hard lines from the tape and the flowing moments of wet pigment butting up against each other.

The Collector, 2024 | acrylic, ink, dye on canvas | 72 x 84 in.

Julia uses a technique of controlled bleeding that felt very fresh and different from how I’ve more frequently encountered it in abstract paintings. She is carefully taping off areas to allow the acrylic, ink and dyes being used to seep and bleed directly into the untreated canvas. The effect is a visual representation of the uncertainty of memory. This body of work focuses more on the family, but I also enjoyed finding her previous work online which was more focused on Florida life, gators and the Everglades. Very much looking forward to what she does next. You can read more about her process in this interview with ArtNet (which includes a study for an interior that I’m obsessed with.)

The Party, 2023 | acrylic, ink, dye on canvas | 48 x 40 in.

(I saw this show back in April of 2024)

Five Books

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Ugh, finished this beauty recently. What an achievement of a novel. Where to begin. It is a marriage plot book, but so much more. It takes on the male POV as well, addressing the weight of the responsibility of providing, emerging technologies, advances in medicine, the disillusionment of marriage, and the consequences of not entering into it with your eyes open. The consequences of not knowing who you are and what you want, and the effect on those around you, it evolves class systems, and the importance of being a part of society. It’s 800 pages, but it could be longer. I want more time with these characters.

The Power Broker by Robert Caro

I’ve never hated the idea of reading a book so much but enjoyed it once I picked it up. I’m making myself stick to the 99% Invisible book club; otherwise, I will never finish it. I like the book itself and do enjoy reading it, yet I resent the idea of having to read it. I can’t explain. The physical experience was immensely improved once I cut it into two pieces, but that still wasn’t enough, so I will consume the rest as an audiobook. For me, that isn’t truly reading the book2 but I need to finish this in 2024.

Letters on Ethics by Lucious Annaeus Seneca

I know, I know, this is pretentious AF, but it’s so good. The letters are only a page or two each, and I read one or two before bed. This translation goes down incredibly easy. I’ve underlined like half the book. Nothing has ever changed, as evidenced by Seneca saying that back in his day people used to speak proper Latin. Dead.

Satantango by László Krasznahorkai

I have been reading this book for so long for no good reason. It’s great, but I think it just got lost in the shuffle while reading Middlemarch and The Power Broker. This is a book that would be a much better experience if read in a tighter chunk. Frankly, I’ve just done it wrong, but I must finish it quickly now that I realize I started this book in 2023 and it’s now July 2024. Better summary after I finish!

Playboy by Constance Debré

What a stunner. I read it in 48hrs. Which is not a massive undertaking at under 200 pages, but I was immediately taken in. A wealthy woman realizes she’s a lesbian, leaves her husband, quits her successful job as a lawyer to become a writer. Written in small vignettes with her much older lover, then her much younger lover. Interspersed with sections about the ex-husband, son, and father. It is incredibly straightforward, honest and concise, with moments so lovely and poignant. Not to mention pretty hot.

And Lastly

Rilo Kiley’s More Adventurous came out 20 years ago somehow. This was such a pivotal band for me in college. There weren’t a ton of women in emo and indie music at the time. (What I was listening to then. What I’m listening to now, honestly.) She was cool, she was feminine and beautiful and a force, the leader of this band. I found out more recently that when she was asked to join she said she would but that it would be her band now and took over. Obsessed. I copied her haircut, dyed my hair red, not because of her I told myself at the time, but from here, yes, 100% because of her. Still haven’t learned how to shred a guitar, will almost certainly try and give up several more times.3

I, of course, preordered the vinyl in my continued quest to own every album that I love front to back. And this is such a great one. A Man/Me/Then Jim?! I Never?! It’s all perfect. No skips. Where is our More Adventurous tour? Jenny Lewis has certainly seen that money coming in fast and heavy from her very successful Postal Service reunion tour last year (I cried several times when I saw it at MSG). A girl can dream.

What did you see this week? What did you love? What did I miss??