Our trip to New York City started out with a bang; an exhilarating cab ride w/ a mid-trip, hit-and-run accident involving another car. It sounds terrible, but as a result of this fast paced, and irresponsible driving maneuver, I immediately fell in love with NYC. I’m not sure if there was any extra chaos since our visit coincided with UN week in NYC, but it’s really only a holiday if Obama is in town.
Central Park Squirrel, NYC | Ready to Mess You Up | 2011
People always ask what I like about a city. In particular, I like the way New York City smells. This is a broad overarching description, but let’s remember I paint squirrels in fancy costumes. A highly developed sense of smell is a trait shared by both myself and my primary source material (mine developed by nosing whisky rather than by sniffing out nuts :-).
New York City smells like busyness. People are doing stuff. It also reeks of art, culture, fashion, parties, entertainment, and music. It’s a mash-up of world culture, beliefs, customs and traditions, and the holds the highest standard of deviation in everything. It’s a city on speed, and it beats with people who are ambitious and hopeful.
It took me all of about four hours to get irritated with slow moving tourists and then I just started to steal cabs from everyone. What a glorious place.
On our second night in NYC we experienced the next wham bam ride. We  had tickets to see Tony Bennett at the Metropolitan Opera House and he wowed the crowd with an introduction by Bill Clinton, and surprise duet performances with Aretha Franklin, Sir Elton John, Alejandro Sanz. His superb four-piece jazz quartet – Less Musiker (piano), Gray Sargent (guitar), Harold Jones (drums), and Marshall Wood Bass). Also in the audience were Hillary Clinton, Robert DeNiro, Richard Gere, Mario Cuomo, Katie Couric and many more.
Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956), The Green Bridge II (Grüne Brücke II), 1916. Oil on canvas, 49 3/8 × 39 1/2 in. (125.4 × 100.3 cm). North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
Highlights of the trip included:
http://www.frick.org/
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (active 1551 – 1569) The Three Soldiers, 1568
http://www.guggenheim.org/
Vasily Kandinsky, Decisive Rose (Entscheidendes Rosa), March 1932. Oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection 49.1178
MoMA
http://www.moma.org/explore/exhibitions
Highlights:
Max Ernst French, born Germany, 1891-1976 Woman, Old Man and Flower 1923-24 Oil on canvas
Hannah Wilke American, 1940-1993 S.O.S – Starification Object Series 1974-82 Gelatin silver prints with chewing gum sculptures
General Idea Canada, active 1969-1994 AA Bronson (Canadian, born 1946) Felix Partz (Canadian, 1945-1994) Jorge Zontal (Canadian, born Italy, 1944-1994) AIDS Wallpaper 1988 Screenprinted wallpaper Bruce Nauman American, born 1941 Punch and Judy II Birth & Life & Sex & Death
Balthus Lelia Caetani 1935 Metropolitan Museum of Art
Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792), possibly 1790s Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828) Oil on canvas
The Banquet of the Starved, 1915 James Ensor (Belgian, 1860–1949) Oil on canvas
Faustine Léo (1832–1865) Henri Lehmann (French, Kiel 1814–1882 Paris)
Adele Bloch-Bauer I 1907 Oil, silver, and gold on canvas
NICK CAVE Ever-After September 8 – October 8, 2011 In collaboration with Mary Boone Gallery
David Kroll
Tomokazu Matsuyama – East Meets West
Michael Leavitt – The Art Army Royalty
Signed Ltd. Edition Book with velvet hard cover | 1/10 | yup I bought it!
Dylan Egon – Home of the Brave
Brian M. Viveros – Returning Art to the Unclean
Laurie Lipton – Carnival of Death
Michael Combs: Be All You Can’t Be
Andy Denzler: Dissonance and Contemplation
Trevor Guthrie
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