Morning Open Thread is a daily, copyrighted post from a host of editors and guest writers. We support our community, invite and share ideas, and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue in an open forum.
I’ve come to think of this post as one where you come for the music and stay for the conversation—so feel free to drop a note. The diarist gets to sleep in if she so desires and can show up long after the post is published. So you know, it's a feature, not a bug.
Join us, please.
Good morning everyone. I do hope you’re having a good Thursday.
I’ve spent my past weekend and part of the week in the hospital with my son. What I thought was a bad bout of the flu was actually pneumonia. He’s out now and recovering nicely, though the medical routine with breathing treatments and multiple prescriptions is a bit stressful for him. All in all, he’s in good spirits and our planned trip to the island last weekend will (I hope) take place this weekend. Since he’s still (technically) quarantined it could be the perfect place to spend a couple days taking in the sun and fresh air.
In any event, this Thursday’s featured artist is one I find more thoughtful—or at least more articulate about her process—than most artist. She’s self published three books and has had many solo shows since the early 70s. She has pieces in the Corcoran, the Guggenheim, MoMA, the Whitney, and many other museums. I hope you like Ida Applebroog’s work. She’s an artist that didn’t get serious about her art until well into her 40s—having been the wife of an academic and mother of four children before turning her attention back to her hometown of New York City and concentrating on her creative side.
“Ida Applebroog was born [Ida Applebaum] in the Bronx, New York, in 1929, and lives and works in New York. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received an honorary doctorate from New School University/Parsons School of Design. Applebroog has been making pointed social commentary in the form of beguiling comic-like images for nearly half a century. She has developed an instantly recognizable style of simplified human forms with bold outlines. Anonymous ‘everyman’ figures, anthropomorphized animals, and half-human/half-creature characters are featured players in the uncanny theater of her work.”
An independent documentary, Call Her Applebroog—shot by her daughter, Beth B—was released in 2016 and is available, though you have to pay for it. The trailer (which will not play on this site) is available at the link and is well worth a minute of viewing. A more personal portrait of the artist, I think it provides more insight into her work than Catherine Morris’ half-hour interview. The documentary is a very personal, but also accessible portrait of her mother and delves as much into her art as her wife’s story. There is one poignant section where, reading from the journal she kept while institutionalized after a nervous breakdown, she writes of her art: “Is this what keeps me alive or is this what makes me ill?”
Ida Applebroog’s work is provocative, it’s bold, it’s thoughtful, and it’s honest about power and sexuality—to a point that it may make some people uncomfortable. Enjoy.
Cheers all and have a wonderful day.
Note: This first video contains images of a sexual nature and may not be suitable for all audiences.
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Grab your coffee or tea and join us, please.
What's on your mind this morning?