Well, the other day, I was having a coffee at Ritual Coffee Roasters down in the Mission (here in San Francisco). It’s one of the best coffees in town, as I’ve blogged earlier. So I walk into the restroom, and on the paper towel dispenser, I see:

I wasn’t sure initially, but that is Appu – the 1982 Asian Games mascot. I double-checked on two sites. Now, what the hell is a sticker of the 1982 Asian Games doing in a coffeeshop in San Francisco, 25 years later? That’s a question to ponder. Take a closer look:

Well, whoever put that there, for whatever reason, it definitely got my attention. And now, you’re probably wondering what that comic says on the dispenser. Well, I anticipated that, so I got a close-up of it:

Not really very interesting. Unless you’re in art school and/or an artist having a mid-life crisis. I’ll tell you what was interesting, though: The patterns the barista made on our coffees. Check them out:

Nice, no? The second one looks like a garlic or a heart, depending on where you are in life…

… the air is heavy with the smell of gasoline and flowers, you are approached by women begging for money and food. Men shout invitations to enter their carpet shops or purchase wares…

…[Y]ou enter a courtyard where an old man sits wearing a black security uniform. He speaks no English … [and] points toward a flight of wood stairs… At the top, a door is opened by a barefoot woman in a scarlet sari. Behind her is an art gallery as white and sleek as any space in Chelsea.

These contradictions do not arise from any calculated exoticism. This is simply the new India. [link]

Now that’s a line and a half. We are like this only, and all that. The money quote comes from Usha Mirchandani, who also happens to be a close family friend.

“It isn’t as if we are not aware of what is happening in New York or Berlin or in China,” the dealer Usha Mirchandani said in an interview at the gallery. “It is just that we find ourselves in a new position, and we must find our own way.

“We are an old civilization. We have untold treasures. But what has happened here in the last year and a half has changed things, with the economy booming and so much art being sold and the prices just going off the graph.” [link]

True enough. The article goes on to talk about skyrocketing art prices, growing art galleries and all that good stuff. A lot of the money, it seems, is coming from the NRI’s.

Money pouring into the art world from nonresident Indians who have made their fortunes in the United States and Europe, along with the racing engine of India?s $4 trillion economy, has enabled artists to travel abroad far more often than they did before. [link]

But not everything is rosy. There is trouble in paradise…

Nikhil Chopra, a young performance artist in Mumbai, said: “I can’t believe we’re a country of a billion people that doesn’t have more than a couple of decent art schools, no contemporary art museum, no real funding, no group of trained curators fluent in contemporary art, no art criticism in the newspapers, just one serious art magazine, Art India, and only a few major collectors of contemporary work. In other words, no real infrastructure at all.” [link]

Well, there we have the “i” word again. It seems to be on everybody’s mind. Unfortunately, methinks that any sort of serious public infrastructure for supporting art is going to be the last recipient of our thriving economy. It’s only after the 40% or so of our below-poverty population gets above it, and enough people are wealthy enough to be able to enjoy art, that there will be any kind of mass movement to support artists. Of course, there’s a fair amount of support coming in from the private sector, and for better or worse, that’s how it’s going to be for a while.

Take a look at the original Relativity by Escher:

Image ? The M.C. Escher Company BV. Used with permission.

And now take a look at the Lego version by Lipson and Shiu:

Image ? 2003 Andrew Lipson. Used with permission.

Not bad at all. Here’s what they say about creating this piece:

Once again, no camera tricks, but the picture has to be taken from exactly the right place, and boy did we get tired of trying to find where that place was. The whole thing took five or six evenings spread over two or three weeks. Most of the last evening was taken up with setting up the lighting the way we wanted it and trying to get the camera position just right… [link]

Check out their other Lego-Escher works.