134 Guest Editor: Peggy Cyphers CONTRIBUTORS Suzanne Anker Terra Keck Katherine Bowling KK Kozik Amanda Church Marilyn Lerner Nicolle Cohen Jill Levine Elisabeth Condon Linda Levit Ford Crull Judith Linhares Peggy Cyphers Pam Longobardi Steve Dalachinsky Darwin C. Manning Dan Devine Michael McKenzie Debra Drexler Maureen McQuillan Emily Feinstein Stephen Paul Miller Jane Fire Lucio Pozzi RM Fischer Archie Rand Kathy Goodell James Romberger Julie Heffernan Christy Rupp David Humphrey Mira Schor Judith Simonian Lawre Stone Jeffrey C. Wright Brenda Zlamany VALENTINE "There are no facts, only interpretations." —Frederich Nietzche “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” —Jimi Hendrix JEFFREY C. WRIGHT Feathered Flower PEGGY CYPHERS Heirs to the Sea RED SCREEN Silvio Wolf 134 JILL LEVINE Euphorico Copyright © 2020, Marina Urbach Holger Drees Mignon Nixon Lisa Zwerling New Observations Ltd. George Waterman Lloyd Dunn Valery Oisteanu and the authors. Phillip Evans-Clark Wyatt Osato Back issues may be All rights reserved. Legal Advisors FaGaGaGa: Mark & Saul Ostrow purchased at: ISSN #0737-5387 Paul Hastings, LLP Mel Corroto Stephen Paul Miller Printed Matter Inc. Frank Fantauzzi Pedro A.H. Paixão 231 Eleventh Avenue Publisher Past Guest Editors Jim Feast Gilberto Perez New York, NY 10001 Mia Feroleto Keith Adams Mia Feroleto Stephen Perkins Richard Armijo Elizabeth Ferrer Bruno Pinto To pre-order or support Guest Editor Christine Armstrong Jane Fire Adrian Piper please send check or Peggy Cyphers Stafford Ashani Steve Flanagan Leah Poller money order to: Karen Atkinson Roland Flexner Lucio Pozzi New Observations VALENTINE Graphic Designer Todd Ayoung Stjepan G. Mestrovic Bradley Rubenstein P.O. 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Cook Dacia Maraini Lynne Tillman and published by the Diane R. Karp Regina Cornwell Grazia Marchiano Mike Topp arts community. Joseph Masheck Michael Corris Bunita Marcus Cindy Tower Carlo McCormick Lynn Crawford Carol Martin Bernard Trevisano Opinions expressed Richard Milazzo Dorothy Cross Joseph Masheck Frederic Tuten herein and the validity Joseph Nechvatal Peggy Cyphers Harry Mathews David L. Ulin of the information Saul Ostrow Nina Czegledy Carlo McCormick Marina Urbach presented are the Joan Pierpoline Mona Da Vinci Justin Melkmann Terence Van Elslander responsibility of the Lucio Pozzi Mark Daley Alan Moore Stephen Westfall authors and not of the Mira Schor Ana de Portela Robert Morgan Christopher Williams publishers. David Shapiro Ken Deifik Joseph Nechvatal Martha Wilson Lynne Tillman Paul Dickerson Shirin Neshat Elemire Zolla For more about us: Frederic Tuten Sarah Drury Bob Nickas Jody Zellen newobservations.org VALENTINE Publisher: Mia Feroleto I Guest Editor: Peggy Cyphers MIRA SCHOR Dear 2000 Mia Feroleto 6 Publisher's Letter Peggy Cyphers 8 Guest Editor's Letter Collection 12 Mixed Media Through the generosity of Diane R. Karp and New Observations Contributors 31 Artist Biographies Magazine, the following institutions now include full or partial sets of the magazine in their collections: Harvard University Cornell University Rhode Island School of Design Connecticut College MoMA Maine College of Art The New York Public Library Bennington College The New School The Cooper Union for Social Research School of the Art Institute of Chicago Columbia University Princeton University NYU Tisch School of the Arts The University of Vermont Tyler School of Art Yale University Carnegie Mellon School of Visual Arts Williams College Bard College Tufts University Boston Museum of Fine Arts Dartmouth College California Institute of the Arts Hunter College Stanford University City College Savannah College of Art and Design Hartford College of Art Northwestern University Brandeis University Smith College Brown University Walker Art Museum Pratt Institute MIT List Visual Arts Center Oberlin College 4 ISSUE 134 VALENTINE 5 MIA FEROLETO Publisher’s Letter “Carry on, love is coming, love is coming to us all.” —Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young New Observations Issue #134 coincides with Donald Trump taking action in Iran in ways that our two most recent presidents avoided. On January 2, 2020, Trump ordered an airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani and several others. Iran has vowed to retaliate. Hundreds of thousands, if not over a million people, took to the streets in Iran to mourn the loss of their general and express their hatred of America. Lucio Pozzi’s image directly asks us to choose between violence and love. How prescient is his piece, which was received two months ago? When I invited Peggy Cyphers to guest-edit the Valentine’s Issue, #134, it was with a specific idea in mind. The issue would be a visual valentine that would celebrate love from the perspective of those artists invited to participate. We took a stab at this project last year and decided to postpone until 2020. It is a real challenge for a work of art to stand on its own merit in a publication of any kind without the written word to provide content and context. The work itself needs to be very good in order to succeed in a stark print medium. Each artist included in the magazine has their own definition of love. Some are humorous, some are ephemeral, some are clear to every viewer, some need time for the meaning to be revealed. A favorite is the Brenda Zlamany portrait of a young girl and her dog. I experienced the joy of living with a pack of six large dogs, all rescues, for fourteen years. Dogs are love. The last time I made a painting was in 1999. The piece was a watercolor, entitled "Madonna of the Woods," and had to do with my leaving Manhattan for a life in the country, immersed in nature. It was around that time that I came to the conclusion that it was better for me to use the skills that I had to do something positive in the world rather than make more objects of any kind. How much of one’s self goes into any given piece of art? Do these works truly reflect their creators? Do they add something of value to the world? Do they express LOVE? Was enough care and consideration given in the making of this particular version of the magazine? To some, it might look like a hodgepodge, reflecting what is going on around us. How much have we invested here? Our world frays at the seams and inside its core. No doubt my words will annoy some contributors and readers of this issue, but I would rather be controversial than complacent. The world hangs in the balance for each of us in 2020. The ability to discern truth and quality is be- ing chipped away at on a daily basis. Donald Trump, a one-time politician, “knows better” than past presidents Bush and Obama. He went ahead and actually did what others before him avoided doing. He attacked Iran and killed one of their top leaders. It is inspiring to see that leading art institutions in America have come together to address Donald Trump’s threat to destroy cultural centers in Iran. This constitutes a crime against humanity and would alter our artistic landscape throughout history forever. Where is our moral outrage? Apparently, we have not had enough bloodshed and destruction. We have no choice but to carry on. The works by Suzanne Anker and Terra Keck on the end pages of this issue remind me of the Death card in the Tarot. Out of Death there always comes a new beginning. The promise of Spring is upon us in February. Can we all promise ourselves to do better? Pay more attention? Care more? My thanks go to Peggy Cyphers for taking on Issue #134 and for putting up with me. I am only get- ting worse with age. Thank you, Naomi Rosenblatt, for your design skills. I would like to thank all of the contributing artists for their works of art and Stephen Paul Miller for his poetry. LUCIO POZZI WITH HASAN ALMASI, COURTESY OF UNSPLASH Or Love 6 ISSUE 134 VALENTINE 7 VALENTINE PEGGY CYPHERS, Guest Editor This issue of New Observations, in honor of Valentine’s Day, is devoted to love in its many forms.