Fascinating news about my tooth!

Yes, I know people have been waiting for me to begin posting again. I know folks have been waiting for a brilliant treatise on contemporary photography. I know, I know, but what about my tooth?

I now have a temporary crown courtesy of the fabulous Chris Maurer. Rarely do people say that they love their dentist...I can say with certainty that I love my dentist, the world's greatest dentist, Chris Maurer.

God's Black House, 2006

Happy Holidays 2006

This is the beginning of several posts about the greatness of my holiday season...

First, at the open studio holiday party Randall Sellers of "The Great Drawers Hall of Fame" was kind enough to do some "sketches and answers" a la Isaac...
Here is Randall's suggestion for a Christmas outfit for Savannah, titled "A Jew at Christmas." Please note Savannah is holding a dreidel.




Now, here is Savannah actually WEARING the outfit suggested by Randall "Philadelphia's own master of Sketches and Answers" Sellers. Again, please note Savannah is holding a dreidel.






Here is a holiday treat! Cosmo Baker asleep on the sofa!

The poem of our address

Warm in her Hand these accents lie
While faithful and afar
The Grace so awkward for her sake
Its fond subjection wear --

Posting will be slow through Christmas

But will pick right up after the 25th!

As a child, my lady cried at the end of Rudolph because she thought that Santa was THROWING AWAY the misfit toys. She has continued to be that sensitive to this day.

my lady as she is tonight, still shielding her eyes from the misfit toys being thrown away.


elf about to "throw away" a misfit toy

Something Great

An assistant director for the Philadelphia Public Art Project has been hired, and it's none other than Savannah Roberts. Thank G-D something good is going on.

Charday right after emancipation

I love you, Charday!

A LOT OF PROBLEMS

a. My email has been down and I have LOST 2 DAYS OF EMAILS. If you sent me an email sometime in the last 2 days PLEASE RESEND IT! I DIDN'T GET IT AND IT'S COMPLETELY GONE! I know I've been saying for a year that I'm going to get it fixed...but I swear some time right after the New Year!

b. My cell phone is busted and only intermittently works. At this point just stand outside and yell for me…that would work better than email or phone.

c. Seriously you fucking assholes, a casino? It's completely possible that we will need to move out of South Philadelphia. I have no idea where we would go, this is where I want to live and I can't imagine being as happy anywhere else...but I genuinely believe that it's possible that our quality of life will be so diminished by this casino that we will have to move. I have spent a lot of time in the neighborhoods that surround casinos, in Atlantic City and in Las Vegas, and I know that if I had a choice at all, I wouldn't want to live in one of those communities.

d. A tooth just fell out of my mouth about 2 weeks ago and now I just have a giant hole in my mouth where my tooth was.

e. I am completely unprepared for Christmas

Jesus H. Christ!!!

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

The PA gaming commission board approved a casino to be built at Columbus and Reed Sts. Now, first I am filing a class action lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and City of Philadelphia on behalf of South Philadelphians within a 3 mile radius of the proposed casino site. The suit will look to recoup the losses in property value and losses in quality of life for residential home owners affected by the casino over a 10 year period of time, beginning from December 19th, 2006. Get ready to pay.

You know what you fucking selfish bastards? You are in for a long fight.

Justin James Reed

Over a year ago, I went to Tyler and gave a little talk and did some crits of the graduate students and it was at that time when I first saw the work of Justin James Reed.

I have to say I am RARELY interested in someone's work right off the bat and I'm even less inclined to like the work. Not so with Justin James Reed! His photos were beautiful and contemplative, and his printing was amazing... his color photos have a very specific tone and the prints are simultaneously crisp and muted. Anyway, Justin has been working on some South Philadelphia images and I suggest that you check them out. I also suggest that if you can get hands on the carmel corn made by Justin's wife, do it! It's fucking amazing!


Photo by Justin James Reed- Broad Street . South Philadelphia . 2006

Best signs.

I have been at many political events...rallies, protests, civil disobedience events, and so on and so on.

I would just like to acknowledge the best signs I have ever seen. At a gay pride rally about 17, 18 years ago I saw these two people dressed in full clown suits and one had a sign that said "Ho-Mo, Ho-Mom, Proud to be the mother of a gay clown" and the other sign said, "Jesters for Justice."

Oh, those were the days back in the eightys! Back when it was still really transgressive to be gay and a whole new lesbian identity was forming post- Holly Near and pre-Tribe 8 and at a gay pride rally you could see a mother and son dressed up as "Jesters for Justice" with no irony.

Email

I can't get email today...my server is down...but I am praying it will be back up TONIGHT! Sometimes this happens but it doesn't last more than a day.

Broad St. Project

What if there was a project where over a period of a year one photo was made on each block for the entirity of Broad St, with every block's photo made by a different photographer. Over 100 Philadelphia photographers would participate, I don't know exactly how many blocks Broad St. has. And then the end project culminated in a book!


699 N. Broad St.


Corner of Broad and Federal


1100 block South Broad


4200 block N. Broad St.



can someone get working on this?

Isaac Mizrahi Update

Looks like my rerun got rescheduled...keep checking at Style Network. I honestly don't know why my show isn't on everyday!

Holiday Open Studio!

Seriously, does the phrase "great times" mean anything to you?



December 16th
11AM-5PM
838 Cantrell St.
Philadelphia PA 19148

Guggenheim

OY! I just shipped off my prints for the Guggenheim Fellowship application. Let me tell you, applying for a grant is not that great for me. The Guggenheim was especially difficult because they want photographers to submit actual prints...that's hard for me for a few reasons. First, I show my photos as part of a larger installation, e.g. I-95 or the slideshows. Second, I show the photos in a variety of ways...color photocopies, ink-jet prints, projections, web. Anyway, as usual I was fucking nuts about "what should I send, what should I send?" until today when I just sent off 20 photos (and a cd of the 2006 slideshows, which wasn't requested, but seemed right)

Here's what I ended up sending


1. Detail I-95 (Camden Crack) 2005

2. Detail I-95 (Victoria’s Hysterectomy Scar) 2004

3. Detail I-95 (West Philly Mattress) 2004

4. Detail I-95 (Camden Mattresses) 2002

5. Detail I-95 (Daddy Tattoo) 2004

6. Detail I-95 (Monique Showing Black Eye) 2006

7. Detail I-95 (Man Nude on Bed) 2005

8. Detail I-95 (Mom Were OK) 2005

9. Detail I-95 (Alzheimer’s) 2003

10. Detail I-95 (Marines Billboard) 2004

11. Detail I-95 (Everything) 2005

12. Detail I-95 (Mattress Flip) 2002

13. Detail I-95 (Let’s Roll) 2004

14. Detail I-95 (McDonald’s) 2005

15. Detail I-95 (Man’s Back) 2004

16. Detail I-95 (Bulletholes) 2004

17. Detail I-95 (You Can Feel Good About) 2005

18. Detail I-95 (TV on Second Floor) 2005

19. Detail I-95 (Nina) 2002

20. Detail I-95 (Giant Mouth Pleasures) 2005

The greatest 1/2 hour of television ever.

My appearance on the Isaac Show is possibly the funniest thing I have ever done. Also, please note that this is the gayest 1/2 of television ever.

It's on again Monday night, at 8PM. Seriously, don't miss it.

If You Break the Skin Update

I watched the rough cut of "If You Break the Skin" today and I have to say that it's pretty amazing. Today was the first day I fully understood what the film is about; It's about a summer project at the ICA where 8 kids learn to make a documentary about me.

TOMORROW! TOMORROW! I LOVE YA, TOMORROW...YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAY!

Tomorrow! See me starring in Annie (off-broadway) as I add a little flavor to my portrayal of Daddy Warbucks!

OK, the above is a lie. BUT! You can see me on the Isaac show tomorrow getting a style transformation AT NOON TOMORROW!

Special thanks to...
Korey
Elizabeth
Suzette
Isaac

Old Projects

1. Many years ago I made an installation that could best be described as a small medical research lab, aptly named "Whirlforce Medical Research Laboratories." This installation was in the spare room next to our bedroom in our old house and included many different kinds of mammal organs for dissection and a number of prohibited drugs, some street drugs, e.g. cocaine and heroin, and some legal drugs that I wasn't supposed to have, e.g. chloroform and ether. After having had this installation in our house for over a year, we packed up a van (and believe me, this van was totally packed) and brought it to Indianapolis to show at the Indianapolis Installation Festival. I opted not to bring the cocaine and heroin, but I did bring the ether and about half way through our trip I decided to pour it out at a rest stop because it's super flammable and it's probably not a great idea to be driving with ether in the car. So I pour out the ether and then to make sure that I've poured it completely out I look right in the container and inhale quite a bit. I didn't realize this until after we started driving again and I suddenly couldn't really feel my legs! And apparently I was totally yelling! And I was laughing hysterically! I was all ethered up! So we had to pull over at the next rest stop and call poison control and apparently I was talking so loudly on the pay phone that my lady could hear me from the bathroom. I do remember the woman saying, "Did you say ETHER?" Needless to say, I didn't drive for the rest of the way to Indianapolis.

2. Around the time of the lab I was doing a lot of outdoor projects, and one of the projects was a series of "public chalkboards" where I painted usable chalkboards on a few walls in the neighborhood. Last night I had a dream that I created a pair of shoes that had a snug rubber cover that fit over the sole of the shoe...and the sole was an eraser that you could use on a public chalkboard. You could easily convert your shoe to an eraser and back again. When I was half awake I was thinking that was a good idea and then I fully woke up and was like, "Who the fuck would ever need an eraser shoe?"

ISAAC MIZRAHI AIR DATE!

This will be the first of many airings...whoooooooooooo!!!!

Airing on Style Network...

THIS TUESDAY AT 12PM...

12 p.m.: Breaking Out of Casual - Episode #210
Always casually dressed photographer Zoe Strauss needs a fashion boost for her big gallery opening. Isaac visits actress Anne Hathaway during a magazine cover shoot.

Zoe Strauss Wikipedia Page

New! Zoe Strauss Wikipedia Page! A neutral as it can be when it's written by one's own mother.

Zoe Strauss and Lynn Bloom's Holiday Window Display

yeah, how's this motherfuckers!!!

The day after the day that will live in infamy

Oh Christ! A giant piece of one of my molars just fell out of my mouth! Oh for Christ's sake...please with this middle age!

Recommended: African American History IS American History exhibit at the Rosenbach

"African American History IS American History…
From the horrors of the slave trade to the struggle for equality and justice, stories about race are among the central narratives of American culture from its beginning to the present. No significant historic era in this nation has gone untouched by the oppression of racism or the African American community’s struggle for dignity. It follows, then, that the extraordinary collection of American historical materials at the Rosenbach Museum & Library would include abundant evidence of the African American experience.

The first major exhibition at this museum to engage this subject, Look Again attempts not to display merely a category of “African American collections” but, instead, to re-examine all of its American historical collections. By inviting you to join us in re-looking at and re-thinking the books, manuscripts,
and fine and decorative arts in the collection through the lens of the African American historical experience, we ask you to explore African American history as inseparable from American history."

Open though February 25!

I have switched over to blogger beta and I really can't stand it.

An interesting fact about Zoe Strauss

I am 36 years old and I have been in a couple with Lynn Bloom for 18 years. This means that I have been with Lynn Bloom for half of my life.

Holiday Open Studio!

Hey Friends,
If you are coming to the holiday open studio extravaganza, bring something you'd like to share with others.
I will have Hebrew National "pigs in a blanket." And remember, unless over 100 people show up, you are sure to get a present!
Love,
Zoe Strauss

December 16th
11-5
838 Cantrell St.
Philadelphia PA 19148


Special Guests include....

Zoe Strauss
Lynn Bloom
Ilene Baker
Savannah Roberts
Christine Settino
Pastor Steve from up the street

and many more!

Possibly the World's Biggest Problem

If I was to surmise our most pressing global issue by reading the unsolicited emails that I receive, it would be obvious that penis size eclipses all other problems in the world.
I get about 50 emails a day, at least 50, offering me various penis enlargement methods. For this week the text has been variations of the following spam...

"Small weenie not big problem anymore!

Don't tell me why your meat is so small,
I will better help you to make it really Bigger!

Why bigger? Because over 72% of all women need a longer
member to satisfy their desire!"


Now, is penis size such a huge problem that I'm getting this many emails about it? Are there that many men with "small meat" that I must be bombarded ALL DAY LONG with these remedies? I am completely serious in asking this question, because I don't really know from penises...is penis size a problem we should be focusing on in a global forum? Can people weigh in here?

I will be happy with one of these

Foxwoods article in today's Inquirer

Yes, the irony that the Pequot Tribal Nation is trying to build on land in South Philadelphia at the expense and protest of the current residents is not lost on me. However, irony be damned, if people try to build a casino down here I will burn it down.

Actually, if the Lenni Lenape said that they were building a casino on Delaware Ave I would be VERY unhappy about it...but what could I say? Don't force residents out with a greedy and immoral land grab? Oh shit! Deja Vu!

Holy Shit! Lance Bass and his boyfriend are breaking up!

OH NO!!!! I mean not as bad as Bobby and Whitney, but still...



And there's worse news...Rip Torn, star of one my #1 movies of all time (Defending Your Life) was arrested for a DUI. I'm not sure if everyone knows how much I hate a DUI. Just don't drive you stupid assholes! So that was very disappointing, although I am smitten with this mug shot.



And am I the only one who gets Rip Taylor and Rip Torn confused? I can't be!