A little less conversation

I think it is done!

This painting is 6' x 4' and is a "satire or parody" of a famous place.

The title is "Jungle Gem". Can you guess where it is?

Checkin' Chelsea

After the High Line, I checked out Chelsea. Here are some of the things I liked or thought were interesting.

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Leslie Wayne at Jack Shaiman. These paintings were tiny. I love the luscious, sculptural quality.

 Rodney Graham- We saw his show at the contemporary art museum in Barcelona. I love the high resolution and the lightboxes are interesting. 

 

Tanja Hollander- This work reminded me of Brooke White's work AND the location is Maine.

Wayne Thiebaud- I love the Thiebaud (of course). This drawing makes me laugh. I love anthropormorphized sandwiches.

At Andrea Rosen, I saw the work of an old friend, Nate Lowman. I met Nate  back in the early 2000s at Painting's Edge in Idyllwild, CA.

 Guess who is the artist?

John Wesley... whiskey.

Highline!

I have heard great things about the High Line park in Chelsea. I checked it out this afternoon; it was homework for Draw!New York in August.

You can enter the park on W 14th Street at 10th Ave. It is a former elevated railway. Right now it only goes about 10 blocks, but they are extending it further. It is a fabulous example of urban park planning and landscape design.

 Here are the original railway ties. I love the tension between the green natural elements of the park and the geometry and bustle of the city.

Finish line

I finished my Drawing marathon last night. We had a 5 hour critique- I hit the wall around hour 3 (just like a real marathon).

I am heading back to the Studio School to pack everything up. This afternoon I am going to check out some galleries.

PS. The model had a shaved head.

Dan Fishback's Young Socialist League

I went to downtown after class to see my old friend, Dan Fishback (from MacDowell). He had a showcase/performance as a fundraiser for his play this summer. His play mines the important terrority-Britney vs. Madonna. He was working on it last summer in New Hampshire. He opened with an amazing acoustic version of "Vogue."

Figure drawing

I haven't worked with a model in over a decade. Good news- it is like riding a bike and really fun. Here a couple of my drawings. We have 2 models in morning and afternoon.

celebrity watch 2010

I have seen 1 real celebrity in New York and 2 fake celebrities... I saw Hugh Jackman on my walk to the train. He was driving a huge black SUV and rolled down the window. I noticed him because he said, "hey mate (to the road workers) were is the tunnel?" He was very handsome, but I kept walking and tried not to stare.

On my way to class this morning, I saw 2 fake celebrities from Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker. Two of her assistants were standing on 8th St.

They are hard not to miss...

I'll keep you updated if I see anyone else interesting.

Queen of Queens, part 2

So I jumped on the 7 train after PS 1 and headed further out to the Queens Museum of Art. It is located in Flushing Meadows, home of the USTA and the US Open.

Flushing Meadow was the home of 2 World's Fair, in 1939 and 1964.

 The Queens Museum of Art is the home of the New York Panorama- a scale model of every single building in New York City (all 5 boroughs).

It was amazing to see the true size of the city. I love obsessive, detailed works- this is definitely an impressive piece.

They had a display of World's Fair paraphernalia from the 2 fairs.

Another exhibit brought back memories. When I was in grad school, I saw a performance by the Survival Research Laboratories in Los Angeles' Skid Row. I had heard about the SF based group in my New Genre's class. SLR combines a punk aesthetic with engineering. They build robots and blow them up. The performance was intense. It was so loud that it made the earth shake. What was shocking about the performance to me- no police. I am positive that SLR did not get a permit and no one thought the fire and shaking was shocking enough to call the police. L.A....

Queen of Queens, part 1

I headed out to Queens today. First I checked out Greater New York show at PS1. PS1 doesn't allow photography so I had to sneak some photos.

I saw several pieces that used digital prints in an interesting way. This piece is by Mariah Robertson- a giant print.

Dave Miko's collection of paintings- from process to highly rendered watercolors.

This is a sculpture/ assemblage/ video piece by Tommy Hartung. His videos are stop action and seem very low tech. There is also a lovely relationship with nature and craft. I love the mixing to medias and constructed environments.

This is my favorite piece by Franklin Evans. It is an installation with tape, painting, and photocopies. To me this work is about the mania and the life of an artist. The photocopies are the press releases from Chelsea shows.

I also liked Tauba Auerbach's paintings. The paintings look like wrinkled or folded fabric. I think the paintings are airbrushed on raw canvas.

Another video piece was a mash-up of opera and rap videos by Rashaad Newsome. It reminded me of another one of my favorites, Christian Marclay.

I enjoyed the painting as installation by Das Institut. I was definitely impressed by the facility with a squegee.

There were 68 artists in the show. I was excited about a few of the artists---not everything, but it still was an interesting show.

mamma MOMA!

I went on a private tour of MOMA (thanks Academic Traveler). It was lovely to visit the Moma without the huge crowds.

Jasper John's Map of the USA--- my part of the world.

Robert Rauschenberg's Bed (born in Port Arthur, TX and attended Black Mountain College outside of Asheville, NC). I love the tension between the "homeyness" of the quilt and the "wildness" of the dripping paint.

Lee Bontecou sculpture

Speaking of women artists, I loved the Photography by Women show. I am always amazed how few of the names are recognizable. I thought the show was stronger than Henri Cartier-Bresson show.

A new artist to me- Mary Beth Edelson, Some Living Women American Artists, 1972

Mary E. Frey, 1984-87, Untitled from the series Real Life Dramas- This piece is really funny, despite the concept being knocked off by countless cards, coffee mugs, and magnets.

 Louise Bourgeois, 2004, fabric book. I really enjoyed this piece and I am saddened by her recent death.

Here is my view of the Empire State Building from the apartment. Good night!

Charcoal city

Here is the work from the first week. It has been hard to go back to being the student... I think I am over the mountain top and I am looking forward to next week.

This is an ink drawing from the second day.

Here is a collage from the third day. I am not going to show you Thursday-- it is just that bad.

This is a large charcoal drawing (44" x 30"). I worked on this piece on Friday afternoon.

Finally this is a self-portrait from Friday afternoon. I haven't done one of these this decade.

I am off to see museums, galleries, yarn shops, and good sandwiches across Manhattan.