FEAST OR FAMINE

  Blessed are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives (2016) is about creatives and the ‘keepers of offbeat wisdom throughout history’ who ‘teach us to see the world through different eyes.’    Nordby defines offbeat as people who ‘rarely followed the normal trajectory of progress’ – the artisan, the avant-garde, the alchemist, the renaissant, the dreamer, the misfit, the awkward, the mystic, the empath, the heretic, the hermit, the rebel, and the troubadour. They are not ditherers – they all have a sense of purpose.   He examines the meaning of success for people in the creative industry – writers, composers, dancers, poets etc. – as ‘living and creating a work-of-art life: unique, rich with meaning, naked of anything we don’t care about’ – i.e. being authentic and having soulful artistry.    With humour, inspiration, and sincerity, he uses quotes from creatives such as Buckminster Fuller, Ernest Hemingway, Frida Kahlo, Jack Kerouac, Henry David Thoreau, Alb...

  Painted Oxen (2019) is set in Tibet and India.    Two men, one old and one young, embark on separate pilgrimages. The old man is a Tibetan monk searching for a sacred hidden valley to bring him enlightenment. The young man is an American backpacker in India searching for a guru or romantic love, whatever comes first. The painted oxen belong to a mysterious red-haired woman who appears in both men’s dreams.   Similar to Homer’s book  Odysseus , there are four winds, four elements and four seasons. There are dream stories and the divination of tarot cards that connect the two men together.    The old man is an adventurer and the young man is a traveler: the trick is to learn something about yourself: to gain more than knowledge – to gain wisdom. They both take on guides at some point in their journeys (people, voices, dreams, nature, and the elements). The old man is a philosopher and the young man is an idealist: ‘the trick is to learn what is real.’...

  Le Select American Bar and restaurant, on the Boulevard du Montparnasse in Paris, is holding an art exhibition of Tomei’s works from 12 September to 9 October 2021.