Artist John Chamberlain

In addition to checking out the Longhouse yesterday I had an opportunity to attend a conversation between the classic American sculptor John Chamberlain and the director of the Parrish Museum in Southampton, Terry Sultan. John is well known in the art world for his colorful metallic pieces incorporating car parts and I learned his first car sculpture was actually created in town in Larry Rivers backyard. John spoke about his youth in Chicago and trying to find his way as an artist at the Art Institute of Chicago and Black Mountain College.

John went on to discuss his artistic process and career with highlights such as 2 inclusions in the Whitney Biennial, and over 100 one man shows. Chamberlain, who studied art history for a period, has always considered himself an Abstract Expressionist along with the other Hamptonites like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning . The concept of viewing his work through the frame of Abstract Expressionism gives his sculptures another dimension. In his hour long dialogue the 81 year old sculptor had a number of fun stories about his old drinking days and his associations with other artists.

A downpour with Howard Stern

I'm finally back in New York for a while and chose to recover from my jet-lag by heading out to the Hamptons. Unfortunately I missed the annual Jack Kerouac softball game that I was going to participate in (a local artists vs. writers game) so I went out to Southampton for lunch. I passed Howard Stern and his fiancee Beth Ostrosky in town and said hello- I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that the XM- Sirius radio merger has finally been approved. I've loved Sirius since it came out and I'm a big Stern fan but I've been aching for the MLB baseball as well and it's finally here.

I didn't photograph the couple because they had their bikes and helmets on and it felt intrusive but shortly after I saw them the skies opened up and it proceeded to downpour. My girlfriend and I ran into the Parrish Museum for a while which has an interesting show on artists that incorporate sand into their work. It was a pretty lofty show with work from artists such as: Picasso, Dennis Oppenheim, and Jackson Pollock (talk about diverse). One of my favorite pieces was Spencer Tunick's nude desert landscape- sure it's easy to like with all the nudity but I found that it's sense of design and location was alluring because the nude figure became more of a design element. On the way out we saw one of my girlfriend's favorite fashion designers Austin Scarlett of Project Runway in the museum waiting out the rain with us. I feel a bit weird even knowing who Austin is but I'm as an artist I find the show really interesting and I've become a big fan.