Bibliophiles

Growing up in Guatemala, my favorite room of the house was my father’s library. The books I read over the years are as much a part of my self as the blood and bones and living tissue in my body.

This year, HRM chose a collection of eighty illustrated books about nature as Luca and Olin’s Hanukkah gift. Their appetite for reading can only be described as voracious. And even when we are not reading to them, they often open the books and discuss them with one another.

Gracias mami, you are the light of Hanukkah for our family.

Happy Holidays!

Beyond this door

Beyond this door are three mountains. The first two are tough but manageable climbs. The third one though - Homyeong Mountain - is a straight up thirty minute ascent. Today there was ice on the road, snow on the ground and when we finally got to the downhill a minus ten wind chill that leaves a Guatemalan guy doubting his own sanity.

But what a great day it was: testing the limits of my endurance and remembering that a body has dreams and ambitions of its own, every bit as worthy as those of the mind and spirit.

“The Street Becomes” at MoMA, NYC

Early days in the making of a monograph for “The Street Becomes”, I had an opportunity to publish it with Smithsonian Press. It seemed very fitting, since this body of work stemmed from my Artist Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution. 

However, in essence, SP wanted a coffee table book, annotated with academic references. I envisioned an artist book, which reflected my aesthetic intervention and repurposing of source materials and which obeyed a personal criterion outside the purview of academic research.

So we parted ways. 

Seven years later and a few evolutions forward from my initial book dummy, “The Street Becomes” was published by Meteoro Editions in Amsterdam. 

Sometimes a good book hides a better book - and this publication was well worth the wait.

I am very pleased to announce that the first institution to acquire the book for its collection is the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Artist Talk and Book Signing in Seoul, Korea

Next Saturday 11/13 at 6PM, I will be giving an Artist Talk and signing copies of my new monograph “The Street Becomes” at Same Dust, my favorite photo bookstore in Seoul.

Welcome to THREE

I remember when all they could do was lie on their backs, swaddled and cozy in their cribs, looking up at their mobiles turning musical circles above them.

These days, they speak in code:

“Drop the needle” means: Papi play Thunderstruck by AC/DC.

They are very specific about their favorite things. Olin likes a white Tesla, Luca fancies a red Porsche convertible. They prefer their seafood boiled rather than fried or baked.

They can be pretty subtle about getting the things they want: Luca inspects our recycling bin at home, casually picks up an ice cream wrapper and asks: who ate this?

They keep very high standards: Olin sits with me for half an hour correcting my accent as I read him books in Korean. Whenever I ask him if I got it right, he lowers his eyes and says quietly: try again, one more time.

When I get back from riding - elated, sweaty and mud spattered - they give me sly, sidelong glances and shy smiles that say: Papi you were out having fun without us again?

Don’t worry boys, we will ride together someday! And that’s a promise.

Meantime, welcome to THREE Luca and Olin.

May it be our best year yet!

They are not boxes

“Olin, did you see that flatbed truck full of boxes?”

“They are not boxes, Papi. They are crates”.

Eco-friendly

Papi, it’s a Tesla.

Two thousand

2000 kms riding in Korea.

Check!

Same Dust

Same Dust is a favorite bookstore in Seoul, specializing in newly released photo books. Today I had the most fascinating conversation about The Street Becomes with Alan Eglinton, the store owner. Every time Alan made an observation, he would pull a book from his shelves. Or sometimes the reference might also be poetry or cinema. As in the case of ‘Le Dormeur du Val’ by Rimbaud.

“C'est un trou de verdure où chante une rivière

Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons

D'argent ; où le soleil, de la montagne fière,

Luit : c'est un petit val qui mousse de rayons.

Un soldat jeune, bouche ouverte, tête nue,

Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu,

Dort ; il est étendu dans l'herbe sous la nue,

Pâle dans son lit vert où la lumière pleut.

Les pieds dans les glaïeuls, il dort. Souriant comme

Sourirait un enfant malade, il fait un somme :

Nature, berce-le chaudement : il a froid.

Les parfums ne font pas frissonner sa narine ;

Il dort dans le soleil, la main sur sa poitrine

Tranquille. Il a deux trous rouges au côté droit”.

— Arthur Rimbaud, Le Dormeur du Val

Hot off the press!

Seven years in the making, yesterday I received copies of my new monograph “The Street Becomes” in Seoul. What a thrill to finally hold it in my hands.

Here’s a video flip through of the book to give you a better idea of what it looks like:

https://youtu.be/PGeSHnv2xpA

Published by Meteoro Editions, Amsterdam. Book design by Studio Lin in NYC and cover design by otro bureau in Mexico City.

Thirty percent of this edition is already spoken for but copies are still available from Meteoro:

https://meteoroeditions.com/The-Street-Becomes-J-Permuth

A particularly thoughtful and insightful review of the book by Arturo Soto for ASX is available here.

Nuance

What makes me proud of my kids? Nearly every day they give me a reason. But most often it’s their growing mastery of language. I say: “did you see that red car?” And Luca answers: it was burgundy. Or I point to “that man wearing a blue jacket” and Olin suggests: maybe indigo, papi.

Gets me every time.

To get away

You go on vacation to get away - but also to get closer.

coming in / going back

I will miss Yangyang, Hajodae and Goseong and the quiet time with my family by the shore.

But a busy Fall season awaits in Seoul!

“On turning 10”

For the past ten years, curating the i3 Lecture Series for the Masters in Digital Photography Program at the School of Visual Arts was a great joy and an important aspect of my professional life. I’m so pleased to have curated an exhibition of seventeen wonderful artists who are all past presenters of the series.

The exhibition titled “On Turning 10: An i3 Family Album” opens on September 18th in Brooklyn as part of this year’s edition of Photoville.

Featured artists:

Jon Henry, Richard Renaldi, Tommy Kha, Gabriel Garcia Roman, Elinor Carucci, Valerio Spada, Robin Schwartz, Lissa Rivera, Pixy Liao, Lucas Foglia,Tema Stauffer, Gerald Cyrus, Inbal Abergil, Cecilia Paredes, Muriel Hasbun, Jennifer McClure, Chris Verene.

It’s time to go

Luca and Olin, it’s time to go…

Guys, let’s get going…

Vamos gordos, we need to go back and have some dinner…

Mami will make something delicious for us…

Maybe there will be ice cream? Let’s go!

oK… a bit longer then… 

but we go in five minutes!

The last to leave

We’re always the last to leave the beach.

And the boys still cry when we do.

A little reward

The past few weeks were all about cramming for my Korean language Finals at Kyounghee University, which I passed! Officially, I’m no longer a “Beginner” but I’m still far from being able to talk about art and culture. However, I can handle small talk with strangers at the beach and making myself understood.

Now that the semester is over we are taking a few days break by the shore in Yang Yang, on Korea’s beautiful Pacific coast.

Like a Child

Countryside, early AM. A green brown smell of leeks and horse manure hangs in the air.

I cross paths with a grim-faced, rail-thin octogenarian riding a rickety old bike.

On the way back we meet again, this time he’s barreling downhill towards me. His face is open in a wide toothy grin, gleeful, like a child.

Love letter

If I say: Luca, did you save a hug for Papi today? He looks for his brother and hugs him instead.

When we sit at the table, if Olin’s chair is not positioned right, Luca gets down from his own and pushes it into place.

When Luca serves himself from a plate, he serves his brother as well. 

If he likes his food, he turns to Olin and says: try this, it’s delicious!

When Olin cries, Luca stops whatever he’s doing, considers the situation and tries to make things right.

Olin’s creative spark, his sense of adventure and his free spirit are a constant inspiration to his brother.

Twins will fight every now and again. Perhaps about the toy they both want at the same moment, or about who gets to go first at doing something new.

But even when they do fight, they’re back to being best buddies in a heartbeat.

If Luca was able to write a love letter it wouldn’t be meant for HRM or I. 

The envelope would read: Olin.

1000 kms

This week I reached my first one thousand kilometers bicycling in Korea. I hope there’s thousands more to come!