Absurdity in Art

Klein

 Rothko

Today my friend Tatiana and I met in midtown and went to Christie's Auction House. This pre-auction show was amazing.  I've never seen that much art outside a major museum in my life. Another amazing thing was the estimated prices of the art. Forty million dollars for Yves Klein's "FC1" (Fire-color 1 painting, top). He took two models, covered their bodies with paint and had them press up against some cardboard.  Then he took a blowtorch to the cardboard (briefly). The Rothko "Orange, Red, Yellow" (2nd painting above) is estimated to go for around $45 million. Sotheby's has Edvard Munch's "Scream" painting up for auction soon with an estimated final price of around $80-$100 million. How is this possible? The art world has truly gone mad. 

We stopped for a coffee after dinner. Across the street I noticed this beggar was leaning against the deli asking passersby for change.

The Glare

Sometimes I find myself standing on a corner just looking through my camera's viewfinder. I don't know exactly what I'm waiting for. It's like watching a movie of life in New York through that tiny screen. At least once every few minutes someone will stare back at me, almost confrontational. I suppose they're just inquisitive, questioning what I'm filming and why. They never speak, they just glare at me. It makes me self-conscious.

A few months ago, on a cold day, I was shooting the steam billowing from a vending cart. Backlit by the sun, it created an interesting silhouette. A woman walked over to me and angrily said, "Did you just shoot a photo of my child? Did you?" I looked at her, not having noticed her child, and said, "No, I shot the billowing steam coming from that vending cart. Your kid might have been in the photo along with everyone else on the street, however, I didn't purposely photograph your kid." She walked away in a huff.

Street photography could be hazardous to your health.

Around Town

Another pair of seemingly good shoes abandoned next to a trash can.

Elmo and Cookie Monster scoping out people in Times Square, hoping to get a few bucks for hugging someone's kid while Mom & Dad snap a photo. Such a racket.

I saw this strange man looking back at me on the 72nd Street subway platform. What's more beautiful than the lighting on a subway platform.

I stopped in MAD (Museum of Arts and Design) today and came upon these interesting glass bottles by artist Jim Dingilian. Basically recovered litter, these bottles are filled with candle smoke and then, using very small utensils, he erases parts of the smoke film creating these painterly images inside the bottle. Reverse painting. Amazing.

Crazy Skies

Friday evening while walking up the West Side on 10th Ave. I glanced up to see the most unusual skies I've ever seen in NYC, or perhaps anywhere.... Like many things, pictures don't do it justice. Very low clouds that resembled wet fibers strewn over the city (for lack of a better description). At first I thought it was smoke coming from Lower Manhattan. As the sun dropped below the horizon it cast a gold glow on those odd low clouds.  It was actually pretty freaky. I watched this "cloud show" for about 40 minutes from a large vacant lot I had wandered (trespassed) into for a better view.

Sikh Day

Today I went to the Sikh Day parade and festival in Madison Square Park. There was lots of free Indian food. Imagine that...free food, that tasted good. Walk up to one of many tables they had set up, a nice Sikh person hands you a tray and piles on the grub. Rice, breads, various curry dishes. I stuffed my face. And, it was exactly the same as any food you might get in an Indian restaurant. De-friggin-licious! Walking around, all but one person I asked let me photograph them. These were extremely nice and generous people. I need to go to India soon.

Amber

Tuesday while editing photos for a new website, I came upon these photos of my wonderful friend Amber. We made them one afternoon in a park near her home in Vancouver a few years ago. It's truly a gift having her as a close friend not to mention a great model. Just after my edit my phone rang. It was Amber asking me to Skype her later that night. How serendipitous, considering we hadn't spoken in a while.

Village Pics

Sunset in the Meatpacking District.

Self portrait. Long shadows, late afternoon, West Village.

Varick Street at Spring. Reflections on building from across the street.

Summertime is here, 86 degrees. Time for a crash diet.

Last week's art crawl in Chelsea. Older man dressed up as a giant grasshopper. Never said a word, staying in his "anthropod character," complete with odd insect-like head movements. Sort of creepy actually.

Theory on Longevity

I've been thinking about going to the gym recently. Then I thought, what's the point? Look at the lifespan of a sloth... between 20 and 40 years. A cheetah? About 14 years. Look at Jack Lalaine, he lived to be 96. He ate right and worked out every day. George Burns, who smoked cigars and probably ate whatever he wanted, lived to be 101. Keith Richards smokes constantly and plays guitar, he's 68. Jim Fixx the great running advocate dropped dead on the side of the road while jogging in Vermont at 52. Stephen Hawking can't move his finger, he's 70. Need I say more?

Fuck the gym, I'm going sloth.

Here's my theory: The moment you're born you're predisposed with a certain number of heartbeats. The average heart beats around 2.8 billion times in a lifetime. So, if you use them up on some stupid treadmill that's not so good. I suggest everyone barely move. Get a beer, sit on the deck in the sun and watch all the other bozos play volleyball. When you're 80, they'll all be dead.

Speaking of what's good and bad for you, I walked past a pub on 44th Street and saw this box in the trash. "For institutional use only"? What does that mean? Extra pink slime?

Spring has sprung in front of the San Remo on CPW.

Give Thanks

Let's all breathe a HUGE sigh of relief that Rick Santorum--the idiotic, Bush-loving, abortion-hating, homophobic, religious lunatic--has dropped out of the presidential race. First off, who the hell EVER supported this moron? Not to mention he's had eight kids. Hey Rick, ever heard of overpopulation? There are seven billion (with a B) people on the earth.

This guy TRULY is a worthless, small-minded imbecile. Not to mention crazy (see last paragraph).

Stupid Santorum quotes:

“Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up.” –Rick Santorum, on JFK's 1960 speech about the importance of separation of church and state (October 2011) adding later that Kennedy had caused "great harm in America."

"President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob ... Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image.”

“I believe that any doctor that performs an abortion, I would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion, should be criminally charged for doing so.”

"All of us have heard people say, 'I privately am against abortion, homosexual marriage, stem cell research, cloning. But who am I to decide that it's not right for somebody else?' It sounds good, but it is the corruption of freedom of conscience"

He has stated a policy of "drill everywhere" for oil and that there is "enough oil, coal and natural gas to last for centuries".

Santorum believes that global warming is a "beautifully concocted scheme" by the political left and "an excuse for more government control of your life".

And finally, the icing on the cake, as I posted before:

In 1996, the Santorum's son Gabriel was born prematurely after twenty weeks of pregnancy and died in the hospital two hours after birth. Karen wrote that she and Rick slept with the dead infant between them in the hospital that night, then brought his body home the following day and introduced it to their children as "your brother Gabriel".

Can you say "F-U-C-K-I-N-G C-R-A-Z-Y" ?????

Now, if we can just get rid of Mitt!! The other, slightly less retarded, moron.

Sights & Psychics

Someone apparently bought new shoes, then placed their old pair in the box and set them next to a mailbox. I find that odd.

The last two days have been beautiful. Sunset in Central Park.

While walking through the West Village, a shock of red hair caught my eye from across the street, sitting in a little french cafe.

A psychic can supposedly tell any random person when they'll get married, how many kids they'll have, their future job possibilities and even impending doom. Yet, they can't seem to pick out six random numbers of a lottery. I find that odd.

Only $10 to predict your past, present and future. What a bargain! A close friend just confided in me that she's been seeing a psychic. Given that she's very educated, I find that very surprising. At "only" $50 a session she swears by it. I don't think I want to know what the future has in store for me, good or bad.

Usually I walk past these places and try to look away. If you do happen to glance over and make eye contact with the woman in the window, she'll make hand gestures saying, "Come in, come in...." Trying to seduce you into that deceitful, psychic web of hers.

Overthinking

I've been a bad blogger. I've been holed up in my apartment, staying up til 5:00am reading, editing, seeking inspiration and contemplating my future in this chosen life as a creative person. I'm unmotivated and have called on certain creative friends to help me with making a book or a show. I need to do something. I need a kick in the pants.

Last week I did the art crawl (searching for inspiration?) and as usual saw some beautiful things and some real "head scratchers".

Beautiful work by William Bailey

Then you have this mess by Ron Gorchov. Non-skilled, sloppy, uninteresting, lifeless. Looks like something a "special needs" person might do during art therapy class. Total bullshit.

Beautiful

I asked one of the pretentious employees clad in black (as always) how much this "piece" by Henning Bohl was and she said with a serious but annoyed tone, "That piece is fifteen thousand." I smiled, raised an eyebrow and said, "Really?" with a look that read, "Seriously? You just be fucking kidding."

Off the subject of art....

Late the other night I waited a very long time for an A train. Tired of standing, the C train came so I took it. The car was empty which I found a bit unnerving. This is a rare occurrence. I couldn't help but wonder who might step on at the next stop. A gang, a criminal, a lunatic, no one? I pulled my trusty Buck knife from my bag and held it in my front coat pocket. I shouldn't be so paranoid.

Repeat Offender & Robert

Back in November, I wrote about a crazy woman (man/transvestite) knocking on my door sobbing that a child in the building had been electrocuted the night before. She was asking for donations for flowers. I gave her/him money. I was scammed--there was no kid and no death.

A few days ago I heard a knock at the door and when I opened it I quickly realized that my little scammer was back. Not recognizing me, she claimed that a man just down the street had been electrocuted and was collecting money for flowers. After hearing the whole tragic story, I looked concerned and said, "Let me get you some money, I'll be back in a moment." I closed the door, ran into the kitchen and called the police. They said, "Stall her." I opened the door with cash in my hand and said, "Explain to me what happened again." She looked at the cash in my hand, thinking she was so close to closing the deal. I asked how much the average person gave where she replied, "Oh, 10 or 20 dollars." Then, I quickly pulled out my point-and-shoot camera and took a photo of her, which startled her. Suddenly, she paused and seemed to remember me. She quickly excused herself and started down the steps as I followed. When we reached the lobby I held the door shut and said, "You bitch, you pulled this stunt a few months ago. Give me back the money I gave you the last time." She panicked and said, "I never took your money." I said, "Yes you did, stick around, the police will be here shortly." She ripped the door open and ran outside. I yelled at her, "Give me back my money you thief!" There was a small group of Hispanic people on the front stoop, wondering what was going on. I watched the scammer run across the street as I dialed the police to see what was taking so long. They showed up 15 minutes later. The scammer got away.

The scammer.

The other day I saw the worst gallery show in recent memory at the Leica gallery by Frank Dabba Smith. Total crap. Leaving within minutes, I pressed the elevator button and noticed the name "Robert" just below it. This reminded me of my late grandfather, whom I hadn't thought about in years. We weren't close nor do I have many fond memories. He always favored my brother Mike to the point of being obvious. Perhaps he was reaching out from beyond. Or, more likely, it was just an elevator named Robert. Or the company of....

B&W City Scenes

Legs, Chelsea.

As long as I've lived in the city, I've never set foot in the main library on 42nd Street and Fifth Ave. It's an amazing research/reference library with this huge beautiful reading room. But, you can't check out books there. You fill out a little slip for the books you want, they bring them to you, you read them, you leave. Who knew?

Walking down the steps of an old building on West 46th Street, I glanced over the railing from the 4th floor.

Old people in front of a laundromat in Hell's Kitchen. At that age, the dating ratio looks pretty promising. Man-about-town and his harem of goddesses.

Art Night

"You talkin to me?" You never know who or what you'll see when doing the art crawl in Chelsea. A show of paintings by Robert De Niro, Sr. (1922-1993). Meryl Streep and John Turturro showed up as well. Not that I'm into celebs or anything, just thought it was an interesting sighting.

A great night of good and bad art, cheap wine, good friends and Thai food. For my birthday (Wed.), my friend Laurah gave me a SIGNED copy of Cindy Sherman's book from Moma. It was a gag gift after I called the show "a thirty-year exercise of extreme narscissism." A very cool gift though.

Reminds me of my wish to be buried under a Japanese maple after I die.

[Art Night, cont.]

Ridiculous crappy art for around five grand. Seriously?

A naked painted lady strolling the Mick Rock show. She got a lot more attention than his 70s era snapshots. He's gone a bit too "Warhol" for my taste. Taking his classic old snapshots of rock and roll legends and overly manipulating them in Photoshop, taking them away from their original, and better, state. Overall.... they sucked. A lesson that most of the time "reinvention" doesn't work.

Interesting ceramic piece.

More stupid art that looks like a six year old painted it: $10K

An owl made from cardboard and rubber bands. $4K. Whoever buys this should be locked away in an asylum. It'll never sell and will be in a recycling bag by next week. Total bullshit.