New Day #2

When asking "what's new?" I have to consider "what is new?" Yesterday I went to a reading of a new play by Jason Grote , which was very funny until it turned out to be about incest. (Note to self: no one has yet to write a really good incest comedy.) But I had to ask: does seeing a new play count? I mean, the play was new, but going to a play certainly is not. So the experience isn't entirely new. But can anything be entirely new?

I decided it didn't count. The whole point of this exercise is to have new experiences, to add excitement to my routines. I had time to kill afterward, so I went looking for something Entirely New.

I happened upon The Temporarily Permanent Antic Store Gallery, which I resisted because of the scary paintings of hooded figures and the punk music blaring from inside, then told myself this is exactly the kind of thing I should do--to expose myself to the things I resist. Isaac, the owner, paints on clothes because it's hard to make a living painting on canvases. I bought a hand-painted hoodie. New enough? Close.

I continued my search by joining my friend, artist Brittany Powell, on the final day of her installation, "Gone Sweatin'." Brittany does life-size room installations of, well, rooms, made entirely of contact paper. This installation was inspired by one of Brittany's many obsessions, vintage Sweatin' the Oldies tapes with Richard Simmons. Turns out Floyd and I didn't do Broadway Sweat with Richard but to a videotape of Brittany doing Broadway Sweat with Richard. Very meta. Never having sweated with Richard or Brittany, particularly in an art gallery, I'd have to say it counts as New Thing #3.