Brace YourselvesWelcome to 2008! I'm back from the dead... Apologies for the absence but sometimes when Bali comes a calling you have to drop everything, pack your bags and sun yourself in a time and place where climate change comes Batteries Not Included. I'm back now from Summer Break and ready to titillate once again.
The Artswipe plans on a big year of tease, sleaze and disease. Just hold the Quickease - there will be NO illicit drugs on this trip. When will the kids learn to say no to drugs? Speaking of kids and drugs, you can rest assured - rest in peace, so to speak - that The Artswipe shed a little tear this week for Heath Ledger: Perth's own.
When his passing was announced, The Artswipe experienced major media whip-lash. So much so, my neck is in a brace and I'm feeling "very Erin Brockovich". And that dear readers is my metaphor for the global mourning happening right now - we've all got sore necks from the media muteness that has a-come all over us. Those of us not so mute are people like John Travolta. When you have hair-plugs that loud, muteness ain't an option. Travolta's tribute to Ledger has burned in my soul ever since Today Tonight aired it: "He's touched me deeply as a talent and it's a great loss" said Travolta. I know when my loved ones die, I always acknowledge them as "talents" first and foremost. That's what they would have wanted. When The Artswipe's own obituary appears in Art Forum in, I'm guessing the year 2056, the headline will be "TALENT DEAD".
Moral of the story: When they're young, talented and gone well before their time, you can rest assured the world stops-snap-frozen in its Gucci neck brace, glued to a media outpouring more potent and frenzied than any Emerald floodwaters.
