Wishing you...

 

Horizon (line)

Sketchbook Spreads 15-17
block printing, ink, and  hand-stitching on graph paper
7 x 9.5" opened (each)

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

The myth of Keith

Happy Birthday to Keith Richards...
As he says at every concert, "It's good to be here, it's good to be anywhere." So play some Rolling Stones today and toast the man who will probably outlive us all.

I have been working my way through Keith's autobiography, a hefty volume simply titled Life. As a rabid Stones fan, it is required reading to say the least. And knowing their history backwards and forwards, I wasn't expecting any groundbreaking revelations. But what did surprise me was the compelling conversational tone in which he conjures his memories.

He writes the way he sings or plays a riff. There is an unflinching honesty and directness. He offers up his entire self, down to the bone. The memories, the history, the myths, and in the end you realize something that he himself has never forgotten, that Keith is just being Keith.


Sketchbook Keith
linoprint and  hand-stitching
4.5 x 7"
(Keith always seems to appear in my sketchbooks. )

copyright Kate Castelli 2010 

To the bone

 

The Defeated

Beyond surprise, my ribs start up from the ground.

After I had sunk, the waters went down.

The horizon I was making for runs through my eyes.

It has woven its simple nest among my bones.

{W.S. Merwin, from The Moving Target, Atheneum 1963}

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I became enamored with W.S. Merwin when I found a poem of his on the London Underground a couple of years ago. I admired the brevity and haunting confidence of his verse. His work is direct, but it lingers with you. That is how The Defeated remained with me, and Separation before it.

Simple Nest
ink on vintage end-page with handstitching
4.25 x 5"

copyright Kate Castelli 2010

So what is it about chairs?

Self portrait with chair, Paris.

After three years, I'm still trying to figure it out. Chairs are defined by their functionality, but this functionality is only defined by the presence of people. Empty chairs imply the absence of people. It is in this absence that I can see the chair.

Recently I have become fascinated by the space around the chair, the void, the negative, and how that defines what I see. What is not there is still felt by what is, and so the chairs remain.


{Tonight}

Chairs at Twelve Chairs
Opening reception, Thursday, December 9, 6-9pm.

Come see a lot of chairs, enjoy some jazz, and have some festive food and drink!

Twelve Chairs
319 A Street, Fort Point, Boston
Red line to South Station

Chairs at Twelve Chairs

100 Chairs installation view at Twelve Chairs in Fort Point, Boston.

The chairs are strung in rows of 20 in front of the old industrial elevator doors and the factory windows.

The whole installation glows warmly in the afternoon light.

Cast shadows...

I had a great opportunity to create a new installation version of the 100 Chairs project. Because the space had these fabulous brick walls and high ceilings, recreating the 20 x 5 grid on a wall wasn't physically possible. I was initially intrigued by the huge industrial doors and wanted to use them as the backdrop for the work. My final solution was to utilize the corner and the industrial doors as well as the huge windows to "activate" the space. I am thrilled with the final installation.


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Chairs at Twelve Chairs is on view beginning today through March 2011.

Opening reception is Thursday, December 9, 6-9pm.

Twelve Chairs
319 A Street, Fort Point, Boston
Red line to South Station