On Samuel Keller's leaving Art Basel
Post #809 • June 13, 2006, 9:52 AM • 13 Comments
(For JL, who should know that bad things like this are going to happen if he keeps putting Richard Wilbur in front of me, with thanks to ArtsJournal)
Entire circles of the fancy
Will reel - this morning, the paper
Proclaimed, paper-like, that in 2008 our
Local art world's answer
To decades of watching its sisters
Bounce into the rides of hunks,
Scented with turps and trunks
Full of dough, the stars
Whirling around like wind
Over their boisterous departure
Without us, though we are sure
That we are prettier and have sinned
Just as enticingly, if still young,
Is losing its Swiss maitre d'.
This joint was always classy,
Though the waiters have razor tongues,
The cortaditos never arrive warm,
The A/C dates from the Pleistocene,
And customers drink until green.
The new guy had better come armed.
2.
June 13, 2006, 1:56 PM
Well, maybe he just couldn't take any more fabulousness. I'm sure he's had enough for numerous lifetimes.
3.
June 13, 2006, 2:08 PM
Jack, I brought plenty up with me, by accident. Like cat hair.
4.
June 13, 2006, 2:15 PM
Actually, I was referring to Keller and his resignation. I don't think mere mortals like us can even begin to grasp the magnitude of fabulousness this guy has had to contend with day in and day out. It's got to be overwhelming. It's really too scary to contemplate very long.
5.
June 13, 2006, 2:27 PM
You're right, Jack. Such a fabulous life should be a TV show. Call it "Absolutely Fabulous".
6.
June 13, 2006, 2:51 PM
One can only hope that Keller will put an end to The Beyeler's Matissean dullness and AB(MB) FAB the place up a notch.
Bam!
(Aside: Yo, Miamians... I hope Alberto isn't being unduely torturous to y'all... I mean the storm of course, not AG Gonzales... we already know where he stands!)
7.
June 13, 2006, 3:25 PM
You are sharp with them acronyms, Marc.
Alberto isn't doing much here. But we got the whole miserable season stretching out before us
8.
June 13, 2006, 3:25 PM
You are sharp with them acronyms, Marc.
Alberto isn't doing much here. But we got the whole miserable season stretching out before us
9.
June 13, 2006, 3:26 PM
Franklin, that double post happened all by itself this time
10.
June 13, 2006, 4:11 PM
This tired old content management system needs an upgrade.
11.
June 13, 2006, 5:15 PM
Don't worry Franklin, it's probably just a hiccup caused by the NSA's 'content surveillance system', inadvertantly activated upon my mentioning the AG A.G.... I'll be more careful from now on.
12.
June 14, 2006, 12:08 AM
The poor guy. Keller, I mean. Think about it. Being pawed and slobbered over continually by all manner of major collectors, dealers, artists, agents, art mag people, (even more) clueless mainstream media people...it's horrifying. He probably went with the shaved-head look because his hair was falling out. I expect he figured he'd better bail out before he started looking like the picture of Dorian Gray. Yikes.
13.
June 14, 2006, 2:53 AM
Regarding the comment "he probably went with the shaved head-look because his hair was falling out"?
Maybe he was tired of people ripping on him as you are now!
1.
oldpro
June 13, 2006, 1:03 PM
And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where JL talks only to Franklin,
And Franklin talks only to blog.