Art in its Abstract

Richard Diebenkorn (foundation in Berkeley) - Californian. Died in 1993.
- Ocean Park #48 $13.5m, 1971 painting.

Catalogue raisonne: genuine works (comprehensive list)

--

Others:
Clare McAndrew, founder of Art Economics (consultancy)
Sharon Flescher, director of International Foundation Foundation for Art Research
Veronique Wiesinger, chief curator at France's ministry of culture (Alberto Giacometti)
***Ronald Spencer, art lawyer & author: "The Expert and the Object"
- scholars reluctant to give opinion, forgers finds it easier to circulate fakes, buyers pays less for art.
Christopher Van de Weghe, NY art dealer - good new catalogue raisonne of Modigliani drawings published... Price would rise by 1/5 (20%)

Andy Warhol Foundation dissolved due to $7m lawsuit
Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat & Keith Haring Foundation & Roy Lichtenstein Foundation - stopped.
Foundation of Alberto et Annette Giocometti

Jackson Pollock (mimicking Rembrandt)
Marc Restellini (Parisian art historian), head of Pinacotheque de Paris - Amedeo Modigliani, died young 1920; one painting fetched $69m at Sotheby's auction 2 years ago.

Isamu Noguchi, Japanses-American sculptor. (project manager: Shaina Larrivee)

Shin-Yi Yang, curator in Beijing : living artists make more money as they can personally assure the paintings themselves.

Courtauld Institute of Art London - authenticate 600 paintings by Francis Bacon (died 1992)

Scatterbrained

In moments of deliberation, when I am forcing myself to write, nothing would come out.

---

I've realised that the state of being self-confident and being overwhelmed by self-doubt is just a flick of a switch away.

---

I've just came back from stalking you. I acknowledge you, you should be grateful. I want you to know that you are my nemesis. In this life I want to make sure that I am ahead of you in my life's race.

I really need discipline. I really need structure. I really need control.

Here is a list of things that I really want to do.
1) learn Jap
2) learn German
3) watch TED everyday
4) keep up with Malaysia's politics
5) Find time to read fiction books

6) have an organised list of quotes

Quarrel 10 & 17

Giving.

We quarrelled because of money and money management. I owe her money, she didn't ask for it and I took too long to repay her. This is totally my fault. I should make her feel bad.

Lessons: things that you can't afford, you should never want with your own strength. Things that you don't have the capacity, don't accept it.

She is more than I can physically handle.
My physical is growing slower than my mental and spiritual. My willpower is strong, but not manifested by my fruits. It should soon. It must.

I know where those £3000 went. It went to the season of courting and the holidays that we went to. It went to all the trips and hols that we went to.

Memory

When I am trying to remember nothing comes back.

When I am trying to clear my mind and sleep they all haunt me.

We choose to forget bad experiences. We accidentally forget good experiences.

I've learnt that 'understanding' is such a tricky word.
To understand, does it mean that one totally expects another's character and don't rely the other anymore?
Or does it mean that one forgives and gives another chance, knowing that it is just another mistake.

--

I am afraid of letting her become one of them. The more I hold on to her, the more my imperfections drive her to become one of them. I have failed to protect her enough.

I was sure. But after hearing so many 'I don't know' from her, I began to doubt.

--

I've become so strong.

I've become so strong.

I laugh at mistakes.
I appreciate my ability not to be able to cry.
I acknowledge this gift of mine.

I am a monster now.
I gave you all the remnants of my heart, hoping that your purity can make me a human;
Yes it did, once or twice.

My human nature disappoint you many times.
You began to look at me through your perception.
You look at me through all the mistakes that I have done.

I want to start afresh.
I hope you can.

The little good things that I do for you becomes invisible, forgotten, unappreciated.
The mistakes that I've done get chained up with the mistakes I've did.
You link them altogether and view me through them all.

I can't cry.
I should position myself in places where it is challenging and tear-wrecking. Where tears are not needed, sympathy is not called for.
I will rise up to the occasion and be there.

Obama

I have never been more hopeful about America. And I ask you to sustain that hope.

I'm not talking about blind optimism, the kind of hope that just ignored the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stands in our path. I'm not talking about the wish idealism that allows us to just sit on the sideline or shirk from a fight.

We are not divided as our politics suggests. We're not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions, and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states.