Couleur Café

It was a surprise to flip through the pages of the November Artforum and see a Top Ten list by the artist Fia Backström. I recognized her because she used to live across the street from me. I never see her anymore, so I guess she moved. I sometimes said hello because I saw her so often while hanging out on my stoop, but she didn’t have much to say back. Once I got a postcard addressed to her in my mailbox. It was written in what I thought was Danish, but since she’s from Sweden I guess the language was Swedish. I took the card with me that same day when I walked to the subway, thinking I would run into her. A few blocks later I did. I gave her the card. Small world? Not really. Looking on her website I see that there were one-night and weekend art events at her apartment that I didn't know were going on. Sometimes my own backyard can be a foreign land.