"What a wonderful temple!!! I love everything about it. Please let it stay!!!" read a note signed "Sharon."
Some were in Spanish, such as one signed by Carlos Diaz that described the chapel as "bonito," or pretty.
by Gregg Chadwick
David Best - Chapel of the Laborer, San Rafael
photo by Alan Dep
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David Best set out to build a temporary chapel for day laborers in San Rafael, California, "I wanted to break into a poor community, to build a central location where the laborers could reflect," said Best to Leslie Fulbright of the San Francisco Chronicle. "But the city has made us all illegal -- the Virgin Mary, the day laborers and me."
David Best
Temple of Honor - Burning Man 2003
photo by Gregg Chadwick
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David Best is known for his massive yet elegant wood and paper structures created as temples of memory in the Nevada desert each year for the Burning Man Arts Festival. Best's creations become convergence points for reflection and prayer without the heavy handed overlay of dogma and guilt found in many organized religious spaces.
"This is where people come to buy groceries and make phone calls. It's a hub, and a place where someone can go and sit and cry about not being with family," Best said of the San Rafael space chosen for his chapel.
On Tuesday Councilman Cyr Miller stopped by in an attempt to persuade David that the city supported Best's art. Moments later, Best invited a Guatemalan immigrant to sit down inside the shrine and was promptly reprimanded - "That is not allowed," Miller said then threw up his hands and sighed saying he had no choice but to demand the removal of the chapel.
The chapel was to be part of Art Works Downtown's new exhibit- "Offerings and Sanctuaries".
From the Chronicle:"Phyllis Thelen, president of the nonprofit art association, said this is its first venture beyond the gallery walls. She said that although the city was very helpful with finding locations and getting permits, officials had no choice but to condemn Best's project after the owner complained.
"We've been back and forth all morning," Thelen said Tuesday. The owner "said her insurance company threatened to cancel her policy. It's unfortunate, especially because the manager thought she had the authority to approve it."
Call or fax the city of San Rafael and express your disapproval. David Best is a major artist and the City of San Rafael was fortunate to have him take part-
Contact information below
City of San Rafael
1400 Fifth Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
Main Fax # (415) 459-2242
_________________________________
ELECTED OFFICIALS
MAYOR ALBERT J. BORO
First elected to Council in 11/87;
elected Mayor in 11/91;
re-elected in 11/95, 11/99 and 11/03.
(Term expires: 11/2007)
(415) 485-3074
COUNCILMEMBER GARY O. PHILLIPS
First appointed to Council in 2/95;
he was then elected to same position in 11/95;
re-elected in 11/99 and 11/03.
(Term expires: 11/2007)
(415) 485-3074
COUNCILMEMBER PAUL M. COHEN
First elected to Council in 11/91;
re-elected in 11/95, 11/99 and 11/03.
(Term expires: 11/2007)
(415) 485-3074
(415) 455-9550 (phone & fax)
VICE-MAYOR BARBARA HELLER
First elected to Council in 11/93;
re-elected in 11/97 and 11/01.
(Term expires: 11/2005)
(415) 485-3074
(415) 457-9820 (phone & fax)
COUNCILMEMBER CYR N. MILLER
First appointed to Council in 6/96;
he was then elected to same position in 11/97 and 11/01.
(Term expires: 11/2005)
(415) 485-3074
(415) 258-9519
GARY T. RAGGHIANTI, Part-time City Attorney
First appointed City Attorney in 11/84;
he was then elected to same position in 11/87.
Has been re-elected every four years.
(Term expires: 11/2007)
(415) 485-3080
Art
i recently sent the following description of "une passante" off to an early discoverer of the work-
czeslaw milosz' poetry has been a deep inspiration for me. his ability to search for meaning or metaphysics even after the horrors in Poland during the 20th century has always been a source of strength for me artistically and spiritually.
when i found out about his recent death i wanted to paint an image pulled from life like a sort of painted poem- a moment that if one is not truly aware will go unseen
title: une passante (in french a female passerby)
this poem by milosz feels to me like the painting:
AN HONEST DESCRIPTION OF
MYSELF WITH A GLASS OF WHISKEY
AT AN AIRPORT, LET US SAY,
IN MINNEAPOLIS
- Czeslaw Milosz
My ears catch less and less of conversations, and my eyes have weakened, though they are still insatiable.
I see their legs in miniskirts, slacks, wavy fabrics.
Peep at each one separately, at their buttocks and thighs, lulled by the imaginings of porn.
Old lecher, it's time for you to the grave, not to the games and amusements of youth.
But I do what I have always done: compose scenes of this earth under orders from the erotic imagination.
It's not that I desire these creatures precisely; I desire everything, and they are like a sign of ecstatic union.
It's not my fault that we are made so, half from disinterested contemplation, half from appetite.
If I should accede one day to Heaven, it must be there as it is here, except that I will be rid of my dull senses and my heavy bones.
Changed into pure seeing, I will absorb, as before, the proportions of human bodies, the color of irises, a Paris street in June at dawn, all of it incomprehensible, incomprehensible the multitude of visible things.