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I am reading a biography about Agnes Martin , the american artist, who spent so many years in or close to Taos. I started reading it, shortly before I departed for New Mexico last August. That said, it is obviously, that it takes me an awful long time, to finish the book. So, this morning, I started to wonder, why that was the case, and the first answer was: this book is demanding. You can not just read it. It often reads like a scientists paper in art history. Many informations on places, she lived, the artists and circles, whom one could encounter there, pages and pages of  descripitions of her paintings, which I would rather expect from a catalogue of a workshow, not from a biography. The book is often filled with knowledge, which did not help me personally, to understand Agnes Martin. Fact is: she grew more and more distant. Constructions considering her mental illness (schicophrenia), which probably are researched impeccably, but still, the artist remained distant, like someb...

Marina Abramovic is a perfomance artist. She was born in 1946 in Belgrad, a daughter of partisans in the army of Tito. She was raised to be like a soldier. Her mother never hugged or kissed her in order not to spoil her. Her performances often put her body in the center and are shocking, because they come so close and/or they put the audience in a position to participate, to cross borders. In her performance  Rythm 10  she plays with knives and actually hurts herself. In her performance  Rythm 0  she gave among others a gun and a bullet to the audience. 6 hours long, the audience could please, torture, ignore her, they were free to use the different objects on her. In the end she was naked and full of blood. Interesting how fast a crowd of people can turn into a mob. For me this is what Abramovic among other things wanted to show with this performance. "She is directly and boldly challenging the audience." In a way she challenges peoples very optimistic view on thems...

Today was the day where I dived into inspirational women artists lifes and works, by accident really. Going through posts on Facebook and finding exactly the right counterparts for my mood, for my longing, for my open questions. This  interview  with Marina Abramovic is fantastic. She is soooo smart and exceptional. I can not wait to see her movie  The Artist is present . I do not know if any of you saw the part , where her former lover and partner Ulay came to the MoMa. She did not know he was coming. Please watch it! It will touch you. She is so amazing, so present, so open and vulnerable. A true artist. A true creator. I understood, that you can only be an artist, a creator in what ever art or field, if you dare being this open and vulnerable. Everything else is a concept. My day of amazing women! I feel truly inspired and nourished. Thank you Marina Abramovic and Agnes Martin.

The painter  Agnes Martin  would have been 101 years old today. The interview with her is really inspiring and speaks deeply to everything I believe, to everything I think about. She lived like a buddhist nun or a mystic in the desert of New Mexico and tried to reduce her live, her art, herself to the essence of life, of being. A mystic and a great artist. In may a  new book  about her will come out. It was supposed to come out last march, celebrating her 100th birthday. So I hope it will come out in may! I think I might get it. Another book of writings by her  Agnes Martin: Writings/Schriften  is unfortunately out of print and if you try to get it second hand, say on Amazon, it will cost  you several hundred euros. Wow! Couldn't they just reprint it? I am sure it is a good book! Hello publishers, I am sure you could make some money with it! I wanna read it. Does anybody have it and would borrow it to me?