what a weekend. on saturday i went to new york for the first time. it's a four hour bus ride, and you're only there for seven hours, but it's totally worth it. we got dropped off in front of the whitney... and i always feel like any trip is validated when it involves seeing art. only a few floors were open because they were in the process of installing some exhibitions, but there was enough there to occupy a good portion of the day. so much there: an audio tour (love those...) of the "modernisms" exhibition on the fifth floor, mark bradford's "neither new nor correct" exploration of layers and maps, danny lyon's exhibit reflecting a "long term interest in the grouping and sequencing of imagery" (sounds like scrapbooking...) but the main attraction was rudolf stingel. i was so not expecting to step off the elevator and into a gallery completely covered, floor to ceiling, with aluminum covered insulation panels and a classy chandelier in the middle. visitors are invited to leave their mark- carve or write their name, stick something in the walls, even spray paint- whatever they want. all part of stingel's exploration of the definition of painting. he had a few crazy photo-realistic paintings (i didn't believe that they were oil paintings until i got really close.) from my saic eduction i've been weary of painting from photographs, but it was hard not to stand in awe of stingel's massive paintings. i have no clue how he accomplished such a feat... i liked his damask "wallpaper" paintings the most. they were placed in a room with a mirror metal laminate & plywood floor. seeing a piece reflected in the floor blew my mind. it was a whole new dimension of seeing art... calling me to participate and move around and see all the possible angles reflected in the floor. a heightened awareness of the piece on the floor translated to a new consciousness of what was actually on the wall. why wouldn't i investigate that more as well?
being in new york was a little weird. i don't like being in a place and having there be so much i don't know... i don't know if that makes any sense. but there is so much to that city. i could never grasp it all, so it almost made me not want to try. momsie told me to take a lot of pictures... but it was hard to put myself in the tourist category. (i did buy a five dollar "i heart new york" shirt.) i couldn't really get excited about seeing rockefeller plaza or radio city... maybe it was just because i couldn't find a starbucks all morning and i was looking forward to a hard core venti java chip.
i guess when it got darker outside it started to feel like it fit my expectations for the city a little bit more... the bus picked us up in soho, and i wish i had been able to spend more time in that area. it was much more artsy. they have bus trips at least once a month to new york, i'm going back in october with my drawing class... and i'm sure i'll go additional times & take advantage of such a good opportunity to see art.
today we walked down to the baltimore book festival to see the one and only tim gunn. he was there to discuss his book, "a guide to quality, taste, and style." a fitting title for such a classy man. he was very well spoken (even when he mentioned santino...) & i can't wait for the new season of project runway (november 14! tara & i are going to organize a showing in the gatehouse. the must see tv event of the season.)
even though we went for tim gunn, we were suprised to see how cool the rest of the book festival was. lots of fun stuff going on. we got harry potter glasses, chocolate covered strawberries (yum!), tatoos from the walters, and even met papa bear. check us out.
you know you're jealous.
closing thoughts to top off such an all-around fun weekend... the new matt pond pa cd came in the mail (woo hoo!) and tonight was the best coffeehouse ever. (i guess i don't have much to compare it to. but the performing acts were so enjoyable... only at mica do you get break dancers, spoken word, improv, acappella, fake rappers, and a eukele cover of "yoshimi battles the pink robots" together at one venue. must have been the sweet posters advertising for sign up.)
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