Playing Tourist in NYC
My husband and I used a gift certificate to stay overnight in New York City over Memorial Day weekend and had a wonderful time playing tourist.
We started with the High Line. My husband had never been and I hadn't been in years. An installation by Daniel Buren called The Garlands (third version) made the entry pathway very festive.
The architectural lines along the pathway never disappoint. It's fun to see lines and geometry as a backdrop to the organic shapes of the plantings and flowers, some of which I don't recognize.
We walked through Chelsea Market, a fun array of boutiques and purveyors, that have reclaimed and revitalized the old National Biscuit Company factory building.
(Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the spices.)
Unlike most of our excursions, we didn't plan a thing in advance so we didn't pre-buy tickets to climb The Vessel. We decided not to wait in line for 45 minutes to buy some. Still, it was a fun stop. The structure is really cool. I'll climb the stairs another time.
The curved and shiny surface creates fun reflections, rather like The Cloud Gate (aka the Bean) in Chicago.
After walking in Central Park, having a bite, and sitting out an hour of humidity in the cool of our hotel room, we went to MOMA. I visited some favorites. Can anyone not stop and linger before Monet's magnificent Water Lily canvases?
In a rare moment, my husband and I both loved the same abstract painting. It was Norman Lewis', Untitled, painted in 1949. I wasn't familiar with his work but the glow in the center of the canvas was breathtaking across the room.
And then, lightning struck twice because we both paused before another artist we didn't know. Again, we were attracted to an illumination in the center of the field. This time, we were looking at Marcos Grigorian's, Untitled, from 1963. This piece is part of his Earthworks series, a series of works connected to village life in Iran. Girgorian used natural materials in all the art in this series to create textured surfaces. The chat label described this as "Dried earth on canvas".
We also took time to reflect on all those who've given their lives in service to our country. Thank you.
We started with the High Line. My husband had never been and I hadn't been in years. An installation by Daniel Buren called The Garlands (third version) made the entry pathway very festive.
The architectural lines along the pathway never disappoint. It's fun to see lines and geometry as a backdrop to the organic shapes of the plantings and flowers, some of which I don't recognize.
We walked through Chelsea Market, a fun array of boutiques and purveyors, that have reclaimed and revitalized the old National Biscuit Company factory building.
(Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the spices.)
Unlike most of our excursions, we didn't plan a thing in advance so we didn't pre-buy tickets to climb The Vessel. We decided not to wait in line for 45 minutes to buy some. Still, it was a fun stop. The structure is really cool. I'll climb the stairs another time.
The curved and shiny surface creates fun reflections, rather like The Cloud Gate (aka the Bean) in Chicago.
After walking in Central Park, having a bite, and sitting out an hour of humidity in the cool of our hotel room, we went to MOMA. I visited some favorites. Can anyone not stop and linger before Monet's magnificent Water Lily canvases?
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I also love Picasso's Girl Before a Mirror. I wonder if I would have been bold enough to buy it in 1932, assuming, of course, I had had the funds.
I also made some new discoveries. I'm not sure I'd know that Mondrian didn't always paint with sharp edges all over.
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| Piet Mondrian Composition in Oval with Color Planes 1, 1914 |
In a rare moment, my husband and I both loved the same abstract painting. It was Norman Lewis', Untitled, painted in 1949. I wasn't familiar with his work but the glow in the center of the canvas was breathtaking across the room.
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| Detail of Untitled by Norman Lewis, 1949 |
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| Close up image of the center of Untitled, Marcos Grigorian |
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