“Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
-Oliver Sacks, Gratitude
How would you look back at your life if given the chance? What would stand out to you as the things that mattered most, and what could you have spent less time on? We march through our time often blind to the wonder and privilege all around us, but what if we stopped to reflect, made it a habit, really made time to relish the miracle of our existence?
Dike Blair joined us to talk about his show at KARMA, which runs until October 26. The works are something of a departure from his norm, with no sculptural pieces in this collection which spans two rooms. In the first room, viewers encounter images of skies rendered in wash on paper, and in the back room, oil paintings of his swimming pool. All of the works are exactly the same size. To learn more, listen to the complete interview.
Hein Koh sat down to discuss her show, Hope Springs Eternal, which closes October 19 at Anton Kern Gallery. Koh often works with cliche in her work and when titling her shows, seeing humor as well as meaning in them. This particular cliche title originally comes from a poem by Alexander Pope, and speaks to the idea that, no matter what, in the face of adversity, humans retain the capacity for optimism. This resonates strongly with Koh, who recently went through treatment for breast cancer. In her work, she creates depicts a character that came to her after giving birth to her twins in 2015. To learn more, listen to the complete interview.
A few words to keep in your pocket
How might your life be different if you began treating each day as an opportunity for gratitude for even the smallest things?
Outings
Join me at R & Company in Tribeca
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android, please click here. All weekly essay pieces are here in a shareable format. The full archive of interviews is here.
More books to read
Ours is a community of readers. Tell us what books you’re reading now by adding your titles to our reading list here. Praxis user Lisa Gizara is reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin
Opportunities
The Stanley Bleifeld Memorial Grant awards $5,000 to a U.S. sculptor with a mature, nature-inspired body of work, excluding workshop pieces. The 2025 jury includes two sculptors. For more information, visit the website. Deadline is November 4.