Day 3: More Desert X 19, home to E-ville

Day 3: More Desert X 19, home to E-ville

Weather: Cool, breezy, very clear, shorts for THB

Department of social calendaring: Oddly enough, we have managed to be in the Coachella Valley at the same time as many others. SA and DA are here from Portland with a wine group and their friends Al and Sue; SB from Tiburon is here for Modernism week and isolated in Palm Springs; YT and YT from Yokohama were going to meet us here and had to cancel due to family issues; and, of course FB and BB from Claremont have jaunted east on I-10 to meet up for the chase. For Desert X 21, we'll book a group of rooms at Two Bunch Palms Resort (just above Ghost Palm), everyone welcome!

After a short visit to the fitness center and coffee with our heart sugar cookies, we make final arrangements for our meet-up for breakfast with SA and DA. We were slightly confused because we thought they were staying at the Ritz...nope, they were at a Marriott golf resort near Palm Desert. 

They have friends Sue and Al along (we've met them several times) and it's breakfast at Paradise Cove. Those that ordered pancakes are really happy (women) and those that ordered eggs (men) seem satisfied. DA and SA treat!!

Very happy!

Satisfied

Off on the last day of the chase: first up is a house under construction with speakers spread throughout the work site. It required reservations and FB and BB are there well before 10am (their appointed time) and we're really early for the 10:30am. 

That's the original roof, saved as part of the construction agreement

Not value added in that the sound was pretty much unintelligible

We're both in the first group of  8 and there's not much to see, or hear enough to make sense. 

Time to say goodbye, FB and BB are heading home and THB and DB have several more installations to see.

Here they are in pics:

Yet another Wormhole

Grand Prize winner at DX19

The wind is blowing the plastic "fronds" creating both sound and sight: very impressive 

So authentic that there are even "dead" fronds lying around the installation

Post deluge road repair (this is the first installation we attempted to see, now the last one visited)

The word is out among the fashionistas: this is the best pic opportunity at DX19. Easily the most crowded site we visit, mostly because it is Saturday nearing noon and the weekend crowd is descending

On the way to the Ontario Airport we stop at Hadley; back in the day, Hadley and Trader Joe's went mano a mano for the dried fruit business. Lunch of a date palm milk shake with peanut butter added and two hot dogs with kraut, $16.

We are at the airport in plenty of time to make the 4:45 flight, sliding into the car rental return lot at 2:30. And, the flight takes off 1/2 hour late.

Recap:

• For all the travel THB and DB do, it is pretty unusual to run into significant problems causing changes to our plans. It was a bit of a shock to have a torrential downpour in a desert. Overall, while traffic in the area was disrupted, we managed to accomplish most of what we set out to do with the big exception: anything in and around Palm Springs.

Iman Issa installation

• Desert X 2019 was not near as exceptional as the videos and write-ups showed of Desert X 2017. Guess second acts are tough. 

• The last day turned out to have two gems: Specter and Ghost Palm, so it was good that we stuck it out. 

Both prop and text collaborate to offer a window into an expanded view that although implied is not fully pictured, leaving a lot of information to be desired in terms of exact function, location, and overall narrative. As a display, they are presented instead as autonomous fragments, with a life of their own, yearning to be perused in their temporary new home on the grounds of Sunnylands. Excerpt from Iman Issa attribution

• Does art need explanation? For some, the back story is really important in giving context and meaning to the art. Usually THB is just happy to be able to see the work (especially during the period when his eyesight was well below average). THB likes to think he's seen enough art that his eye is trained to appreciate good shit when he sees it. And THB has low expectations, very few pieces are big winners. The written explanations of the work were in general some of the worst art-speak THB has ever read. Almost none at DX19 came close to providing understandable context to the pieces. 

One of THB's homegrown scoresheets (DX19 does not offer stamps and booklets)

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• Even when art is disappointing, the chase can be a fascinating and entertaining. DB dug deep to find ways for us to see the work spread out over 100 miles given the on-the-ground dynamics. It's not easy overcoming a once-every-73-years event. So, maybe not just fascinating and entertaining, the chase can be a real challenge.

And, lastly: future art chasers? For sure, future readers! C&J at the library with the family librarian, LB