...And So Forth

Death by Musette performing "Ushti, Ushti Baba" live at Frostburg's Mountain City Coffeehouse and Creamery, October 20, 2006

I am a regular reader of Christopher Reiger's blog, Hungry Hyaena. Aside from being an old and respected friend, Reiger is a voracious reader, astute art critic, and skilled writer. In a recent series of posts(+), Reiger wrote about his participation in the online, curatorial experiment "And So On..." The project asks artists to select two works by different artists who then select two works by other artists... and so on. What patterns would emerge in the organic network of aesthetic taste? I was intrigued and surfed right over to have a look.

To my surprise I discovered that the work of Michael Lease was among those selected. Lease collaborates with five other artists to create the online project, Sametime. Each night at 7:15, the artists take a photo and submit it with a caption. The result is more than a collection of beautiful photos. It is a small window into six lives-- humorous, mundane, and sometimes incredibly touching. Lease is a Richmond artist whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making two years ago.

To my amusement, I not only knew two of the selected artists, but had actually once caused them to be in the same room. In 2006 I saw Michael Lease perform at opening of "Waiting..." as part of the duo Death By Musette. I was lucky enough to book them to play at the opening of my show "Lost In the Park." Christopher Reiger came down from New York to see the show. Thus on the night of April 7th 2006 Michael Lease played the accordion several feet away from where Christopher Reiger snapped photos and drank wine.

While it's a pretty small item on the grand list of coincidence, it still makes me smile. There's a nice bit of symmetry between "And So On..." and the informal relationship of Lease, Reiger and myself. I wonder what other relationships exist behind jpegs on the screen. I don't expect that I'll ever know, but I take comfort in knowing that the relationships exist.