Christmas is made for Electricity

In the 1930's, Lyndon B Johnson brought electricity to what is now (appropriately named) Johnson City. The whole town lights up at Christmas, especially the oak trees all over the lawn of the power company's offices. Funny, right? Santa and Mrs. Claus come up, they give horse-drawn carriage rides, and the whole place looks like fairyland. Amber and I were almost done, about an hour from Austin, when we saw this and pulled over. It was beautiful, although shockingly cold. And I got to pet the horses! OMG!Ponies!!1!

Prada Marfa

Prada Marfa got a whole lot of buzz in 2005, when it was constructed. It was funded by Ballroom Marfa, an organization that supports land and installation art. This particular installation is the project of Elmgreen & Dragset, an art team from Berlin. They've done some of my favorite pieces, including Powerless Structures (2004), which turned white cubes upside down, inside out, suspended them in air, and then installed them in the Tate Modern.

In any case, it was awesome just to see it. In the middle of absolute nowhere, outside Valentine, TX, a Prada boutique appears. Its shelves are lined with shoes and bags from the Fall 2005 collection. The door, however, does not open. It's self-enclosed, and it will remain that way; there are explicit instructions never to maintain the building, allowing it to gradually fall into ruin. Advertising/art/architecture, and everything in between. Some people find it glib, but I think it's a good reflection of the art market done in a way that doesn't make you earth-shatteringly sad.

Caballos de Vigilancia

Fake Dead Horse Listening Outposts

These resin sculptures are outside the Chinati Foundation in Marfa. In WWI, the New York Times reported on men at the front using papier-mache to substitute for the carcasses of dead horses on the front, which could then be used as surveillence posts. Marfa has a long history as a military base (now it is a center for the Border Patrol, which even floats a huge aerostat above the area to radar for smugglers). Horses were a big part of it. Two of them were working when we were there, one playing bagpipe music and one playing an old-timey country song about Marfa. They're amazing, created in conjunction with Steven Badgett, and suprisingly comfortable. If you want to read more about them, go here: http://www.ballroommarfa.org/announce_marfa_sessions.html

Last Day on the Road (ohgodadinosaur)

So I'm already delinquent on updating my blog! How typical is that. I am in Austin, and have been since Sunday night. The rest of the road trip was great. We drove from Tucson to Marfa, TX on Saturday. This scary raptor was outside a McDonald's. I almost died.

In Marfa, we tried to find some food at 9 PM: no easy task in a town that small. For those not aware, Marfa is a tiny town in south Texas. Donald Judd, a successful New York artist, moved there in 1980.
--He built this city, he built this city on min-i-mal-ist arrrrrrtttttt.--
A lot of artists then were attracted to the Southwest because of the large tracts of empty, cheap land available to do whatever installations you liked. Now, the Judd Foundation and the Chinati Foundation are the local strongholds. They provide internships and residencies for artists. A whole town where the only economy is art. Amber and I stayed in the Hotel Paisano, where the cast of Giant stayed during filming in Marfa (its other claim to fame). Let me tell you, Rock Hudson could never have fit in those bathtubs.
This is my favorite aluminum box. There are about sixty of them, and they are lined up in three rows inside of old artillery sheds where German prisoners worked in WWII. They're all different, and in a mass, they make a big impact.

Tucson is Underrated

Yesterday started off the way every day should, with breakfast and massages. We left Palm Springs and kept on truckin' all the way to Tucson. Which, by the way, is an AWESOME town. We checked in to the Hotel Congress, an historic hotel where everything is kept as it was in the 1930's. Twin iron bedsteads, old radios, and an actual switchboard at the front desk. They have an amazing restaurant here, the Cup Café--we had an appetizer called the "Thompson Automatic," which consisted of eggrolls filled with chicken and gorgonzola, deepfried, with an Asian slaw. I never would have thought to put that together, but it was amazing. So after dinner, we went to Club Congress, a live music venue and bar that's in the hotel. There were four bands last night, ending up with Chango Malo (who are apparently famous in music geek circles). We met some great people--Barb, the roller-derby bartender; Brian from Chango Malo; Kenny, the argyle-wearing sad drunk; and Tony, the adorable little 22-year-old MAC makeup artist with the whole rockabilly nine yards. Can't tell you how much fun we had. Now I am out of my nun's bed and on to Marfa, TX.

Ghost Ride the Prius

When in doubt, find a Hyatt.

My mother's words will stay with me forever. And indeed, they came in handy yesterday. Fighting LA traffic, we didn't get to Palm Springs until after 5. At which point, we could have barreled through to Phoenix for another 5 hours. But cranky and not wanting to face the Mojave, my mother appeared like Obi-Wan, giving me sound advice. So we stopped, found the Palm Springs Hyatt, and went out for a fabulous dinner. Today, it's massages all around (Amber's basically crippled, and my back isn't so happy, either) before we move on to Phoenix.

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

So my eastward progression towards Paris began yesterday. Amber and I started on the road trip to Austin. It began well. We had hours of bad pop music and were confident we could make Palm Springs. Then, the weather struck.
I-5 was closed over the grapevine because of snow. So we diverted around Bakersfield to get to the Tehachapi Pass, but 2 miles passed the city, people were putting up cones and turning everyone back while an enormous snow plow advanced. So we went back west to get to 101, but we were stuck in traffic with everyone else. So this morning we're in Paso Robles after crisscrossing the breadth of California. But the road calls!