BEHIND THE SCENES:
2000 THANK YOU NOTES
7 February 2022

PART I

I was holding my breath this weekend watching every day to see when exactly the magic numbers would appear letting us know that we had managed in the past two years, pandemic and all to create a loyal Instagram following of two thousand. If you had told me in March of 2020 when I announced to my assistant from lockdown in London that I would replace my busy travels with a walk down the library shelf with my fingers, or notice things so much closer to home that I was noticing again, as if for the first time.

To say thank you to you all, I decided to follow last week with a bit more about our new set up here in Paris on Île-Saint-Louis. Had the second part of my library delivered last week, another twenty boxes, more books and bookcases and glasses and old carafes and other objects that had belonged to previous chapters of my life. Emotions rising like steam out of brown cartons and bubble wrap. Sometimes life takes unpredictable turns and you have it, the egg cup, or silver dish that belonged in another generation or continent. Safe keeping, I mumble to myself. Wondering what are we meant to do with all this history when every day is so vibrant and new, fresh and captivating, and there are all of you there that I have learned to share these thoughts with, as well as the work and activities of our artists and galleries.

What have we accomplished in these ensuing months of masks and shots; for someone who has always been petrified of injections the self talk and yoga involved in regulating my emotions and melancholy, well it has been a challenge, but art has gone on, literature has gone on, the earth still turns but not without letting us all know we have to help. In some small way we have tried to bring serious content to this new virtual community, thank you all again for signing on. I am touched by your confidence.

PART II

Hail the personal moments, save them as they slide through our fingers. We cannot wrap them and take them out years later. We can only breathe them. Which brings me to this post and my decision to start with a photograph taken of me at the Groucho Club in London one year before the pandemic. I was in a daring mood with my leg on the arm of the club chair by a fire I seem to remember. Not my mood all these months on. But taking a moment of excitement from showing you how sometimes slow bloomers like Pavlova II, (wanted to show you the two flowers on the windowsill by my desk) lead your eye out the window to the small garden below us. This photo was taken by artist Esther Shalev-Gerz who came over last week to help with the boxes, along with Julian Marshal.

And as we are in the realm of time passing and seasons and being in it all together, a glimpse at fifty years ago, taken by my father if I remember when I was just twenty. We have survived all two thousand of us, while others have not, and I don’t take this lightly. From my side of the desk, a hefty birthday looms in Pisces. Stay tuned and tell your friends to follow us too please. There is more where all of this came from I promise you. Thinking out loud is what we have been doing, and shouting about the great works of our collaborators and friends.

To be continued.