Greetings 20x200 collectors and Happy Canada Day! (My Canadian friends so totally love me now, score.) This week's editions are also cause for celebration. We've got some (admittedly perverse) Ornithological goodness today and you should prepare yourselves for some fireworks in honor of the birth of our nation in the days ahead.

Speaking of fire... Lamar Peterson is burning down the (bird) house with today's We Live in Air. The edition is based on a giant original painting by Lamar that's part of the Ornithology exhibition. (Giant by our small gallery's standards at least.) It's so impressive! And perfect for the show in the ways that it is so different than the other pieces in the exhibition, and from the type of work I show in general.

Lamar's paintings are all about tension and the recalibration of expectations. Their candy-colored brightness seems so cheery but... well, in this case, the bird house set against the blue sky is on fire.

Looking at this painting, I can't help but think about recent gossip headlines regarding 50 cent's house being set ablaze. But, but, but the question is (was) can I, which led me to this conversation with my Art Critic Friend:

JenBekman: I don't suppose I can talk about 50 cent's girlfriend burning down his mansion [ed. note: ALLEGEDLY that is.] in this newsletter can I?

ArtCriticFriend: I don't see why not.

JB: Well, it would be funny

ACF: It's topical. I guess it depends what you're going to say.

JB: I just can't stop thinking about that story when I look at the painting. Because you know, when I first looked at it, I imagined the bird above being heroic somehow and fighting to save the house, but actually it looks like he (she?) is dropping bombs.

ACF: That all sounds like good material to write about.

JB: But of course there is that uncomfortableness of not wanting to seem racist, or rather be racist. Although, to an extent, I feel like that's what Lamar's work is about, in part. (I am totally using you, I'm going to put an IM transcript in the newsletter.)

ACF: I had a feeling this is where this was going

JB: LOL

ACF: It never occurred to me that commenting on 50 cent's house burning down would seem racist. It's a current news event, and it does have some very literal connections to the birdhouse. Also, the bird dropping that little glowing cherry bomb is hilarious.

ACF: Is Lamar black by the way?

JB: Yes, and as I said, much of his work deals with race.

ACF: I mean, if you know the race of the artist and that his body of work tends to explore identity politics, then somehow speaking about 50 cent's house burning down seems like an indictment of black culture, which makes the reference difficult.

JB: It's also possible that Lamar had it in mind when he did the painting

JB: I'm not quite sure when he finished it. So he's either capable of eerie foreshadowing

ACF: But that's the thing

JB: or wry yet uncomfortable ambiguous cultural commentary. (The latter actually being a given...)

ACF: Well, exactly.

JB: There you have it then!

ACF: And again, the purpose of art - I've always thought - is to inspire dialogue difficult as it may be. I don't know, it's sort of a cheesy thing to say but it's true!

JB: Totally true, and thank you for helping me write my newsletter! :)

And with the newsletter thusly written, I am off to attend to the other duties of the day. One of those duties being the perusing of resumes. I've started the search for an assistant director to work at the gallery, quite possibly the best job ever. Next to mine, that is.

I'll be back at work on another newsletter tomorrow, so watch this space for the fruits of my labors.