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These reds and berry colors are so lucious, you could eat them. What makes an artist choose the bold-rich-saturated-energetic-aggressive color red for a large room installation (this set of Mark Rothko paintings were originally destined for the Four Season's restaurant in NYC until he cancelled the commission). I'm not sure, but it was as interesting to walk through Sandy Skoglund's "Fox Games" at the Denver Art Museum, if not slightly terrifying. Winding through foxes and so much red brings to mind frightening fairy tales or rabid animals. And Cildo Meireles' monocromatic room at the Tate, with reds both flat and dimensional just make you hungry for something satisfying, like triple chocolate mousse drizzled in raspberry sauce.

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The vivid chrome colors in this piece by Jeff Koons immediately caught my eye; even though these large stylized "flowers" are probably pretty weighty, the finish makes them look like delicate glass. It's funny how we need the slightest hints of identification to help us move more easily in contemporary art; "Big Iron Blobs in Chrome Paint" just doesn't have the same recognition and charm as "Tulips."

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Really enjoyed coming across this exhibit currently showing at the the Pompidou. Featuring the work of Jacques Villegle, it's about what's revealed as posters or paper are pasted in layers then torn over time. That's not unlike self-discovery (or discovery of another) where painful tears can be made to the spirit, prompting us to change, to overcome, to heal. Although we may change (for the better) over time, the essential beauty remains

I found a lot of this in NYC streets a couple of summers ago, and some of the images are quite haunting, as if the faces had something to say, but were trapped in muteness: