A week of death. On Tuesday, Arlene Raven died. We just got notices about her death via e.mail. Was glad that she was able to get that special award from AICA, she seemed frail while she was there, walking with a cane, but i hadn't realized how ill she was. In the NY Times, an obit on Jason Rhoades, dead at 40. It seems so long ago (and it was: more than decade) when he was the hot young artist, when his installations seemed to be everwhere. Only 40, yet he seemed like an "old" artist already, because of the hyperactivity of the artworld in the last decade, the way fashions change every season, the way a "hot" young artist is passe in a year or so. Arlene Raven's period in the art world (as The Village Voice art critic in the 1980s) now seems so pristine, in that it was an era when "ideas" were intensely debated.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf also died this week. Who knew her nephew was General Norman Schwarzkopf? What you can learn from a NY Times obit....