Last night I really enjoyed Morley Safer's interview with Julian Schnabel on 60 minutes... mostly for the artists hilarious meltdown over what Robert Hughes wrote years ago. First Schnabel was offended that Safer even brought his nemesis up. Then Schnabel wouldn't drop Hughes as the subject. (tsk tsk, overreacting to a critic is a telling sign of massive insecurities and a more self aware artist knows how to take a punch...). As far as press goes Safer is a pretty pleasant interviewer... why get all Khan vs Kirk with him, why attack Safer so personally as a proxy for Kirk (erm I mean Hughes)? Still, I admire Schnabel as a film director (though all the footage which was lost then resurfaced in Downtown 81 certainly laid the groundwork for Schnabel's own Basquiat film) but as a painter he's a second or 3rd rate practitioner compared to his contemporaries Basquiat and Anselm Kiefer. Still I need to see his latest film The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

Yes, the calls to action for saving MOCA (and calls for new leadership) as an autonomous institution keep growing. Here is the new non-facebook mobilization page.

Never been too bowled over by Schnabels work. However, I've heard he's very nice in person, especially to other artists.

He also has had some of the coolest art studios I've seen. Very spacious and industrial. Lots of elbow room. His Gehry designed house is interesting as well.

Apparently, Morley pushed the great big red button labeled "do not push."