Hoping This Makes Me a Genius by Association

i was in san francisco this weekend with j. and baby roo visiting friends and family. j. went to college there, and his sister, brother-in-law, and niece live there, too. plus, we love that city. let me repeat: we love that city. the people...well...they blow (friends and family excepted, of course). but that's another post. the real tragedy about going to san fran this weekend was NOT that i had to endure a bunch of people who make me long for a white trash karaoke bar. rather, the real tragedy is that i was not in new york, where my very good friend, lisa roy sachs, opened her second solo art show, titled "Olney," at Luxe Gallery. i would love to give you a bunch of rad links now, as well as some beautiful, imported jpegs (or whatever they are called) of lisa's work, but roo is sleeping and i am drinking a glass of wine, and, well, i don't feel like figuring out how to do it. but you can go to http://www.lisaroysachs.com/ and start there. instead of the links, let me say a few words about why you need to check out her stuff. first of all, photography is fucking awesome -- in general. secondly, lisa is a genius. please try to remove the ugly, bitter sarcasm that colors most everything i write and say from that last sentence, because, really, she is a genius. lisa and i met at a restaurant in new haven, connecticut (shut up) called scoozi, where we both worked while in grad school. lisa was working toward her m.f.a. at yale, and i was doing something much lamer someplace else. one shift, lisa had a contact sheet (is that what they are called? the page of negatives sort of printed? you know what i mean) of her photos. looking at them, i found myself inexplicably emotional in response. i blurted out, "i feel, like, anxious, looking at this one...and that one makes me kind of queasy...and that one is just happy -" and lisa said, matter-of-factly, "that's photography." indeed. when you look at her work, i strongly encourage you to look at her first solo show collection, too. it's called "carnival." and while it is so different from "olney" in many ways, the two shows together create a jarring emotional context. plus, they are so beautiful. for real. if you live near new york, get thee to Luxe gallery. and if you live near new york and have cash to throw around, BUY ONE. i would do so myself, but these $15 bottles of syrah add up quick. word up.