the new york art book fair 2012.

photographer paul mpagi sepuya.

a chris burden book at the nero table. he's most famous for his early pain and danger performance art but also makes ingenious  kinetic sculptures.  some are massive, some miniature. industrial art toys that will titillate anyone fascinated by the romance and menace of  machines. current work.

below, artist mishka henner was very genial. i was looking at his book no man's land. "this is great!" i said.  "i'm the artist!"  he replied, "they're google photos!"  i thought i'd seen them before, but i realized i was thinking of nine eyes, curated by jon rafman, which is very different though also comprised of google street shots.

mishka henner (right, below) also had this fabulous work at the fair- astronomical.  i'd like to own it- i think it would help me keep things in perspective!

yale press had a roy lichtenstein book. i met roy lichtenstein once.  he did a limited edition print to raise money for bill clinton's first presidential campaign. my friend mark steitz was the director of opposition research at the democratic national committee, and had given me a ticket to the vip inaugural ball. during the primaries i had drawn a political cartoon for him that was used in a regional dnc mailing.

before the ball mark took me to a small cocktail party.  it was thrown for a little cabal of notable people who had worked in various behind the scenes ways to help get clinton elected.  among them were garry trudeau and al frankin...

"there's someone i want you to meet" mark drew a man over. "mr. lichtenstein," he said, "i'd like you to meet rebecca demorest, she did some artwork for the campaign too." (!) deliberately, and comically, he had  put me on the same level as the great artist.  story says little about me, or roy lichtenstein, who was really nice, but so much about mark. his graciousness and impish generosity!

the polka dot book is by otto d handschuh. at mark pezinger, verlag.

nyabf

it's tina's birthday!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mitt romney will raise taxes on the middle class. president obama lowered them.

let's break this down-

romney, who who made 13 million dollars last year but pays the same tax rate as a middle class income tax payer...

is vilifying poor americans because they have an even lower tax rate than his.

it's just so unseemly.

the people he disparages include the elderly, military families, college students.

and they actually pay lots of taxes. they pay payroll, consumption, local and sales taxes that fund america's schools, roads and bridges, defense, social security and medicare. from the center on budget and policy priorities:

"Congressional Budget Office data show that the poorest fifth of households paid an average of 4.0 percent of their incomes in federal taxes in 2007, the latest year for which these data are available- ...the poorest fifth of households had average income of $18,400 in 2007."

so- american families living on less than $400.00 a week paid 2 weeks salary in federal taxes, not so much, but not exactly moochers, right?   

"The next-to-the bottom fifth — those with incomes between $20,500 and $34,300 in 2007 — paid an average of 10.6 percent of their incomes in federal taxes." 

mostly, these are not people on public assistance. they are americans who are working hard for very little pay.

they are the peeps mitt romney would see if he ever shopped at walmart or bought a burger at mcdonald's.

americans are among the hardest working people on earth. and frankly, it's almost impossible to be an american and not pay taxes-

when we buy gas, pay our phone bill, get a coffee at dunkin' donuts or receive our paychecks- we're contributing to the public welfare that benefits the romneys and all the rest of us.

as i said romney's tax rate is only 14%. 

about the same as a middle class taxpayer.

but, apparently, romney's budget would raise taxes on us (the president lowered them, don't forget) while further reducing his own-

according to analysis from the tax policy center:

"... the features Governor Romney has proposed would provide large tax cuts to high-income households, and increase the tax burdens on middle- and/or lower- income taxpayers."

this type of tax inequity is always speciously justified with the argument that lower taxes for the rich lead to job creation- 

but- the rich have paid lower taxes for over a decade-
does anyone see any job creation?  maybe in india and china!

maybe a few new hires at swiss and cayman island banks.

many very clear charts and graphs that show government income, expenditures and taxation are here.

taxpayers for obama!!!!!!

i'm employed, i'm a taxpayer.  i don't have a dependent mentality, i'm not a victim; i'm a patriotic, idealistic american and i'm voting for obama!

apparently mitt romney doesn't think he has to worry about me- link

today at occupy wall street

ecstatic moshers at the occupy wall street anniversary concert. the nightwatchman, tom morello, led the crowd in punk protest songs. crusties and grannies alike cheered with fervor when he invoked woody guthrie, and raised their voices together in a hard bitten rendition of his great populist hymn.

for more pictures of occupy (2011) click on the protest label below.

occupy lives!

in spite of serious police intimidation, (described in the new york times here) protest is returning to zucotti park this weekend, the anniversary of occupy wall street.

live video of it here

yayoi kusama at the whitney, things in my kitchen, the high line

yayoi kusama at the whitney.

the new "clinging to guns and religion" necklaces I've been making.
hopefully i'll have some for sale soon!

"fatha" hines- i knew him slightly.