Sam's New Tattoo

My cousin Samantha asked me to draw

a little bow so she could bring

to get tattooed.

She said she wanted it drawn by someone she loved.

Aww. (That's me!)

So I drew a bunch of them with a

Chinese calligraphy brush so she can pick the best one

to her taste.

The final result?

Well I'd have to figure out

how to get the photo she texted me on this blog,

so that'll have to wait for another time,

but it did turn out pretty cool.

First Summer Friday!

My first summer Friday this year

was so much fun.

I just wish I'd worn a jacket.

It was basically freezing if you wander out without one,

and it rained a ton.

The best part of the day was when we holed up

in the back of a cafe in LIC

that played some great music.

For lunch Pam, Kat, and I went to M.Wells at P.S. 1 MoMA,

and it was quite delicious.

Bryan met up with us shortly after,

and we explored the museum.

One of the rooms was a room of ice.

I believe they were glacier specimens from an old glacier,

but it was too cold to really figure it all out.

Another room had global trashcans.

Some had actual trash (from snarky visitors I suppose.)

The building is much like the grammar school I went to,

though there are two sets of stairs,

and two stairwells in each corner.

It seemed a bit excessive.

The art in the halls was much more enlivening

than my grammar school's halls though.

As part of the rain exihibit at the MoMA in Manhattan,

there's this other exhibit at P.S. 1.

Basically in the atrium part,

they built an indoor pond with koi fish (see above).

And a waterfall.

I am not so much into standing around and reading about the art

as much as I am about seeing and taking in the art.

I've not had a chance to read about it,

but experiencing it was pretty cool.

The cold weather and the rain and the constant waterfall sounds though,

well, good thing there were some bathrooms around.

One other cool thing was the boiler room.

One of the pieces had saliva in it.

You just have to wonder why and where and why.

After lunch, museum viewing, and cafe catching up,

we headed into the city and join Nat and Dani

(Kat went home)

for dinner at Empellon

to celebrate an intimate birthday dinner with Pam.

The food was good, but it was all a bit expensive and loud,

and I wished it were just as cozy and low key as the cafe.

Poof!

From the 2013 NYC Armory Show

Having one of those 

I wish I could just disappear

days.

On the bright side,

next week we head to Tokyo and Taipei!

Worrying Is for Wusses.

Make that sign, art guy,

so I can put it next to my

Hang in There cat poster.

Nick Cave Horses in Grand Central

I went with some friends to try to see the

Nick Cave horses that were at Grand Central last week.

Unfortunately, so did every other person.

So we didn't get in,

but it was kind of nice out,

so at least we got some air.

This is what we missed:

You know Nick Cave.

He did this song:

NYC Armory Show 2013: Part 4: Some Cool Art from Jon's Phone

Tilda Swinton is sleeping under this.

Just kidding!

It was Jon himself.

Just kidding!

This was art nonetheless.

I think it's called Sleepeh.

An artist was signing/giving away Andy Warhol Brillo boxes or something.

I didn't get one or see where they were getting them from,

but it looked neat.

These acrylic legs are Matthew Barney-esque, no?

Word art is in these days.

This is awesome art.

It's represents the worst times of the winter holidays.

I bet there are already cards and T-shirts on etsy with this print.

They're synchronized enough to make a tree

out of their poop,

as if the poop tree is walking jauntily toward them too.

The men are in a yoga position.

They have such terrible diarrhea 

that it shoots through their underwear!

They're average weight men

that are identical except for their facial hair

and their underwear. 

Art made up of hundreds of unsmoked cigarettes.

The machine was automated to push holes through the tape.

It was interesting and random.

A woman suggested it was Braille.

A cool photo taken of a building not in this area.

We need cool colorful buildings architects on the eastern seaboard.

Enough of this steel, red or orange or beige brick, and glass garbage.

Color our concrete jungles for us sexy beasts!

You entered this galley's booth with a flashlight

to look at the art.

I don't know why.

The gallery was from Istanbul.

There's something so appealing about the circle it creates.

The rose gold gleaming and all.

Copy of the score by John Cage:

Jon says it's probably the most famous piece of 

experimental music.

The music is the ambient noise of the silence of the musician

not performing.

(This just underscores my anxiety at a live performance.)

Jon thinks I closed the video,

but it's still playing.

Scary stone babies.

Ma-ma?

NYC Armory Show 2013: Part 5: This Guy Is Having a Better Day Than I Am

Why can't I be a skull encrusted in diamonds?

Or even the print of that?

NYC Armory Show 2013: Part 3: From the First Armory Show

Jon said that he overheard

the person explaining that this

piece was featured at the first armory show.

I just thought it looked kind of cool.

NYC Armory Show 2013: Part 2: Some Pornographic Seals

Yeah, this is probably not safe for work (NSFW),

but here are a few sexy seals

that were featured as wallpaper

behind some less interesting artwork.

And in case you need to balance out with what's below,

click play on this:

  

NYC Armory Show 2013: Part 1: Intro

It's a pier that you pretend is an armory

for a few days

that houses a huge collection of art from

galleries all around the world and the country.

But here's a better explanation.

Jon and I went back in college and a few other times.

It never seemed as popular as it did today.

It was $30,

but since there were galleries from around the world,

it was like the best contemporary pop-up show

in all the world at that moment.

We could literally see our apartment

from the show,

so it seemed best not to waste the opportunity.

Every cube was a different country it seemed.

Instead of just a few people

who really seemed like ardent collectors,

there were all types of people

who were just interested in seeing new/classic modern art.

It's a nice change that they have real food options now too.

Jeff Koon's Tulips in Bilbao and New York City

Jeff Koons is a kind of strange-but-interesting man.

Did you see him on Colbert?

We saw one of his Tulips pieces in Bilbao

when were were at the Guggenheim in 2010.

Created in an edition of five versions, 

his later work Tulips (1995–2004) 

consists of a bouquet of multicolor balloon flowers 

blown up to gargantuan proportions 

(more than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and 5 m (16 ft) across).*

That's us there

in the tulip balloons.

It was a really cool museum.

In November, I passed by this weird thing in front of Christie's

on my way to lunch.

I thought that was the piece--

wrapped up balls--

which was a bit avant garde for Christie's.

But then I passed by it on my way

to something in Rock Center later that evening,

and I came across this instead.

And it was pretty cool

on water

since the reflections were not only on the balloons,

but also in the water.

The windows across the street were especially making this piece all shiny. 

Jon's former coworker's girlfriend

works at Christie's.

Her job is arranging this stuff,

and this piece in particular was challenging according to her,

since Koons wanted it on ice.

We had a really nice and warm November,

so ice would've been dumb.

The little puddle was just perfect for it.

Fun fact:

The largest sum known to be paid for a work by Koons 

is Tulips, 

which was sold for US $33,682,500 (£21,219,975) 

at Christie's New York 

on November 14, 2012 

(Lot 35) in the Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale.*

It's pretty cool that I saw it

just hanging outside of my office

on the sidewalk

like a bum.

All $33,682,500 of it.

*wikipedia!

Al Hirschfeld's Secret Hiding Spot

Tucked under the steps, 

of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 

like a kid wizard,

is a display of Al Hirschfeld's desk and chair.

On display is a rotating print of his work--

unfortunately this is a crappy photo,

so you can't really see what's on the page here.

The chair is like an old barber's seat

but even more optimized for absolute comfort.

The desk is marvelously old and loved.

I remember being so confused about who Al Hirschfeld was

when I was twenty-one.

I was at Alfredo's

with a publisher and editor

for whom I'd been interning,

and it was my good-bye lunch/happy college graduation lunch.

They were talking about Al Hirschfeld and Ninas.

I nodded and smiled and played my quiet-but-wise-beyond-her-years card.

I think it worked.

The first time I was at Alfredo's--

sometime earlier in college--

I hadn't even noticed the Hirschfelds.

His worked is tucked away almost everywhere.

Armory Swings

So Jon and I popped by the Armory

on Lex and 66th

on the final day of this exhibition,

and we saw that the line basically wrapped around the building.

So we walked around to the back

to a window,

and we took a photo of it.

It was just like being there,

but not having to suffer for it.

This NYTimes piece does it better justice

than waiting two hours on line—

and then some more to swing—

with some really cranky people.

That Time We Went to Governor's Island and Forgot Our Tutus and Hula-Hoops

Jon, Dani, Wee, and Chris 

have never been to Governor's Island before.

So Nat and I (Governor Island veterans)

showed them around.

What we didn't realize

was that this art event 

called Figment 

was happening at the same time.

While I remember seeing ads for it with 

the Statue of Liberty's face,

I didn't realize that one should also

dress appropriately for this by wearing

tutus, sequins, and/or flowers,

or just body paint. . . .

In any case, 

I think we all had a good time outdoors

doing something new.

Note that when I waiting to take a photo 

that was supposed to have been with

my head up by the Statue of Liberty's nose,

the guy right before me started humping it

for his Facebook profile. . . .

So I just took the photo above.

We took the 1 train down.

It is the slowest train ever.

It took us about half an hour to travel 

from 50th to South Ferry.

What?!

The terminal entrance and fro-yo!

Dani's camera

Lest we forget the microbacteria balls

(poop?)

that we wore rubber gloves

to throw the poop into the river.

If you see the poop man, though,

do NOT accept his hand-sanitizer.

It smells like poop.

Yuck!

On the island, taking a panorama

inside the castle.

Inside the walls of the castle,

spying on Wee and Dani.

Dani tries lifting the canon ball. 

Team Governor's Island!

And the Statue of Liberty in the background.

Jon is grimacing because he just finished

a whole box of nachos with the works

that I couldn't finish.

And the Statue of Liberty in the background!

Swings!

Chris swung pretty high.

He touched the sky, sky, sky. . . .

He flew out of the swing and rolled over.

Wee's dusting him off.

Nat and Dani swung too,

but they finished their swinging before we did.

The statues in the background are from Storm King.

Lighthouse?

Nat's photo

We forgot our hula-hoops, too!

  

Pikachu!

We saw some people riding around on bikes 

with similar nylon pieces.

We called them the dinosaurs.

This must be their mother.

There was a small parade

that we kept running into

that finally settle here

to do a dance in a circle.

The gold figure behind and to the right of the tree

is a naked woman

being painted.

Rafters of the chapel.

Nat's photo

Stained glass.

Nat's photo

Taking a break on a pew.

  

Generator?

The Brooklyn ferry lets off nearby it.

I recall it saying that it was illegal or hazardous

or something that makes me not want to ever trespass.

I'm so happy that I finally was able to 

circumnavigate the island!

And hang out with some friends and family, of course!