I am in Washington, DC. Today went to the Renwick Gallery and The National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Smithsonian and the National Portrait Gallery. Saw a great piece by Larry Fuente (little things glued onto big things, I can never get enough...)
and a piece made entirely of burrs (too mesmerized to remember the name)
at the Renwick, and spent quite a while with the work of Chakaia Booker at the Women's Museum (detail below).
The textures were just amazing. I think that being surrounded by all the flat images we see every day creates hunger for the tactile and handmade. I am so psyched to start a new large painting upon my return, but I have to say that when I go looking at other people's work these days, folk art, fiber work, and obsessive sculpture is what commands my attention and feeds me. I need something to grab on to.

I really think that careerism does artists a disservice. Life is too short to keep making the same thing over and over again so that so you can become a "recognizable brand". Demand that your audience keep up, give them help if they need it, to find the thread in your work, and make what your hands want to make.