..during the celebratory (and, as it soon transpired, serendipitous) party for the release of the May 2026 issue of The Brooklyn Rail at 15 Orient Gallery, on the third floor of 72 Walker Street in Tribeca. Phong took the occasion to “introduce” me to Charles; however, the wheel was coming full circle — the two of us had previously met in the inaugural summer of 1974 at Lewiston {New York} State Artpark, where Charles was an artist in residence and I was the associate director of Community Programs.
Publisher & Artistic Director Phong H. Bui expressing his “cosmic optimism” to the delighted Charles Simonds…
