Roger Herman studio visit, and procurement of the goblets
Today Tif and I visited Roger Herman. I'd worked for Roger, indirectly, when I worked at Black Dragon Society years ago. He and Hubert Schmalix, the owners of the gallery, were quite the dynamic duo; conversations about anything with the two of them were always provocative. They were the first, or one of the first galleries to open in Chinatown - pilgrims of that art scene.
His paintings covered the wall of his studio and the imagery was both brutal and joyful. He'd finished the goblets. They are beautiful, emotive and whimsical, aggressive, and quiet, etc.. He was working on a book project with Laura Owens, and as I gathered he only needed 20 images for the project at most and there was a tsunami of imagery that will be whittled to a chosen few.
To slightly diverge from the path, I would like to mention my admiration of the structure of Roger's own relationship. The literal architecture of it reminds me of Diego Riviera and Frieda Kahlo who had two separate houses connected by a corridor. It didn't work so well for them due to who knows how many complications (some known), but I am inspired by the arrangement and think it would work perfectly for many, but especially for me. Roger and Aika have two houses that are connected; they each are the king, and queen respectively. Its important to maintain individuality in a relationship, and in this way they come together as individuals, and have their own environments to escape to, work in, and be alone in. My admiration and advertisement of this arrangement is subjective, I realize.
