street art

I walked and walked and walked yesterday afternoon by myself. One thing about being alone in the City - you can observe because you don't have to be involved in conversation with anybody else. This was a day for observing and overhearing. "Excuse me, where did you get those shoes?" a 20-something woman wearing green rubber flip-flops asked a passerby wearing gold sandals. "I have no idea, they are my sister's" answered the 2nd young woman. Only in NY. Made my way to Chelsea, thinking I would go in and out of art galleries. My first stop was my favorite oasis, Jim Kempner Fine Art on 10th Ave. For a visual treat, go through his inventory on the website. This is the courtyard in front, which creates a sense of peace and zen for me every time I enter or leave through it.

Sigh...there was a Sean Scully aquatint on the wall that called my name, but it was $8,000. So I continued my journey. There is art to be enjoyed all over the city. Here is the first piece I saw when I left the gallery. Mixed media.

Here is a closer look. It is delicious. And I am going to do something with this image before I leave for my studio today.

More street art as I walked on 24th street west to 11th Ave. The area was deserted since it was a weekday. But even so, it is not a very welcoming area, considering it is full of art galleries. Would you ever know that this is a gallery? They might as well have a banner saying "Do Not Enter."

Several I had wanted to visit were closed for installations; I went up to the 9th floor of 210 Art to the Phoenix Gallery to see what was what, but they were painting the walls. So I had to be content with more street art. I passed this building, which turned out to be an Episcopal seminary behind walls and leafy trees around the corner. They are doing some kind of renovation, but these buckets looked like sculpture to me.

I made my way over to Chelsea Marketplace, which is an amazing building. But I'll save that for my next post or I'll never get to my studio today.