JANguarte

published in EN ROJO, Feb 27, 2014

From: Lillian Mulero
To: Jan Galligan
Subject: Querido Jan
Date: SUNDAY 1:44 PM

You are there, and I am here, and this is the first time this has happened since we began writing our column ARTISTAS EN PERFIL.

Last Wednesday I attended the opening of the Festival de Cine Internacional de San Juan @Cine Metro and then went to a gallery opening @Agustina Ferreyra with our friend Betty.

 I loved the show "OPEN" (or rather NOPE as the neon work reads). The artists are a duo with a 2 year-old child, known as Claire Fontaine, (the artists not the baby :)

 It made me want to know them personally.  By far the best presentation @Agustina's tiny but highly formal space.

 Five art works, clean and fine, cool and crisp, almost fill the room.  Like a Buddhist raked garden. Ironically because the materials are what would constitute refuse, like plastic. Remember my exhibition called "Plastic- Pleasures"?  But not all is trash.

 Very japanesey, clean and perverse and elegant.  They're French, which makes sense.

 I'm not going to describe each work. Hopefully the gallery's website has fotos u can view.

 Please, let's not talk about the bills today.

Luv U

Lillian Mulero
Santa Olaya, PR  

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From: Jan Galligan
To: Lillian Mulero
Subject: PLASTIC PLEASURES
Date: WEDNESDAY 4:44 PM

How could I forget? That was one of your most interesting exhibitions here in New York's Capital District, and since I am now with the archives @75GRAND, I took the trouble to dig out examples from that show. My favorite is your sculpture of three women's heads floating downstream in a red plastic snow sled placed atop a grand piano.

Lillian Mulero, PLASTIC PLEASURES, sculptural installation, 1999.

Yes. I was able to see all the works in the exhibition by logging onto the gallery website. I see now why it recalled your own PLASTIC PLEASURES. I also read the press release for the exhibition and I especially like how Agustina describes their work as being “a variation of the Herman Melville character Bartleby’s -- famous sentence “I would prefer not to.” It calls for a pause, a reflection, because everyone knows that saying “no” is always more important and more painful than saying “yes”.” 

Exterior view of galeria Agustina Ferreyra, Claire Fontaine, OPEN, 2013

This is an incisive observation not only about the process of making, or viewing, art but also about the process of trying to slog one's way through the daily mire. So, NOPE, I don't think we should talk about those bills today. But, please tell me more about the Cinefest and what you and Betty thought about the films you saw there. BTW: what was Betty's reaction to the OPEN exhibition?

Con carinos,

Jan

@75GRAND
Albany, NY 

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From: Lillian Mulero
To: Jan Galligan
Subject: I'D PREFER NOT TO
Date: THURSDAY 6:14 PM

I think Betty enjoyed seeing the exhibition though she didn't really comment.  She does like things that are over-the-top like the Claire Fontaine Burning America piece.

The story goes that the 1st time that this action took place, burning a sculptural map of the USA – they accidentally set fire to the Queen's Nails art gallery in San Francisco.   "Sometimes it makes you wonder about the people going under." Stevie Wonder.

Claire Fontaine, "America (Burnt/Unburnt)," 2013

As to the Cinefest, I was only able to see the premiere movie, Hugo, Paco, Luis y tres chicas de Rosa, a Puerto Rican film which I enjoyed very much.  Echos of Pedro Almodovar -- funny macrabre magic-realism. Tonight was the award ceremony which I couldn't attend. 

This morning I mailed out all the bills at our local Post Office. (What's her name) wants to know what's the story with El Jefe? Why have you been away so long?

Luvya,
L.

PS: Claire Fontaine's pee bottle, "Votre familia is a pisser because in a way similar to , "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" it is just a photograph – there is no urine.

Lillian Mulero
Santa Olaya, PR 

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From: Jan Galligan
To: Lillian Mulero
Subject: Doo-doo-DOO-doo; Doo-doo-DOO-doo
Date: FRIDAY 6:13 AM

It's truly a Wired Weird Web. With Skype, txts, Instant messages, facebook, and Google+, I'm virtually there with you, never any farther away than your iPhone, kindle, or iPad. I went to the Cinefest website for information about the film you saw, but because I was using instant translation, when I copied the film title into the google search box, it came out Huey, Dewey, Louie, and all the information from google was about those Walt Disney ducks.

The Internet Movie Database says that the film is not scheduled for release until February, 2014, so you saw the world premiere, which I confirmed while reading an article about the Cinefest that I found on Terra Networks in Chile. Then I watched the trailer on YouTube. The most amusing part was young Paco repeatedly whistling the theme from The Twilight Zone. Do you think anyone even remembers that tv show these days? I learned from the Caribbean Cinemas blog that the Rodriquez brothers, director and screenwriter, created the film as a Puerto Rico, Argentina co-production, using actors from both countries and filming in both locations. The New York Times indicates that Edmundo Rodriguez has been very active, directing five films since 2004, but the reviews for all the films have been mixed, at best. Magic-realism is difficult to handle in cinema. You can show people floating in the air and ghosts walking through a room, but it's hard for the viewer to suspend disbelief in order to accept what's going on.

Although I can't send Edna at the post office a phone txt or email -- maybe I'll mail her a postcard. Can't decide if I should address it to her – or to you, and then hope that she reads it anyhow. 

BTW, thanks for paying all the bills.

Con carinos,

Jan

@75Grand
Albany, NY

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From: Lillian Mulero