Brief Gasp for Air in New York

Arrived back in Newark this evening, exhausted after our twenty-day non-stop whirlwind of deserted China. Beijing, Xian, and Yinchuan's air quality control make Mexico City look like an oxygenated mountain health spa retreat. Despite my swollen glands and shooting neck pains from ingesting all the pollution, I have endless materiel to post here. Already I know some of it will fall by the wayside as this job drags me to new destinations, but don't be dismayed if the odd Chinese photo-essay pops up out of sequence over the next couple of weeks.

Already I leave for Europe in four days. This lifestyle is becoming more and more absurd. I've been on the road almost continuously since early August of 06. Thankfully I tidied up the Red Hook homestead before departing and it is a warm and unslovenly environment to return to. After a couple of glasses of Mendoza table wine, utterly unavailable outside of Beijing at any price, and therefore a sensible welcome home drink, I dove straight into bed. At 9AM China time. Welcome me back while you can, for I will be gone soon.

Below, selections from the six-thousand strong Terra-Cotta Army of Dunhuong, arrayed inside a vast quonset hut to protect them from the elements, in this case toxic chemical rain. Clay models buried alongside their emperor, all have different expressions and visages, and may well be a sort of photorealist orgy, with each sculpture based on a real, once-living soldier. All of the figures you see here are life-size.