I flew out to NYC Thursday. I had an interview with a grad school in Philadelphia Friday and it was cheaper and funner to fly to NYC.
I shot this in the bathroom the first day of my trip. I found inspiration. Tons of it.
Thursday afternoon I met up with Bernard at reBar. After dinner and Vanilla Java Stout I headed to Times Square to see Circle Mirror Transformation. Bernard got the ticket for me and made me go. I loved the show just like I love all the shows Bernard sends me to. There was a subtlety to the dialogue that all of my favorite films have. Sometimes it isn’t about what is said but it about it’s about what isn’t said and how it isn’t said. I thought it was brilliant and days later, I keep thinking about it.
Friday I wake up way too early and with too little sleep and make my way to Penn Station to catch the train to Philadelphia. I have a tour of the University of the Arts at 11 am and an interview at 2pm. I missed the train I had a ticket for and had to change it in for a later train. I make it to Philly in plenty of time for the tour-I just had to pay extra for my ticket.
I think the interview went well. She asked me what exhibit I remember seeing and thinking it was successful (the hall of Oceanic Live at the AMNH-my favorite exhibit ever). What exhibit did I think was unsuccessful or left me feeling disappointed (Sue-the traveling exhibit).
She then went on to explain what I would expect from four semesters and a summer in the program:
A class on materials and working in the shop learning construction.
Awesome!
A class on typography in the environment.
Sexy!
I will learn drafting on Vector Works and I will (finally!) learn to draw.
Then she took me on a tour of the area of the building that the grad program uses. I got to see the area that could possibly be my work area. I imagine how I would decorate it.
Now I just need to go home and finish my portfolio and application.
Philly.
I made it back to NYC and Brooklyn for another Vanilla Java Stout before I returned to Bernard’s to crash.
Saturday, sleep in and eventually make my way to Chelsea to see some art. The goal was to see Edward Burtynsky’s recent project: Oil at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler. He is one of my favorite photographers because he still shoots large-format, an archaic format to most people but necessary for shooting landscapes where you want to see everything in focus. The large-scale photographs were technically good but it was the work tucked away in the back of the gallery that I loved the most, because it was the landscapes I was used to seeing and what he made a name for himself. The series was on Silver Lake Operations in Australia and though they were photographs and if you came close to them, you could see the detail of the lake and the mine next to it. But if you stepped back, the subtle colors and the off -centered composition made them look like abstract paintings. These were what I feel was the strongest pieces in the show.
Since I was in Chelsea, I figured I should check out what else is happening in the art world. I saw polaroids of sports champions in the 70’s or 80’s shot by Andy Warhol. I saw a video the took clips from hip hop videos and created a music video that consisted just of the gestures and symbols of hip hop.
But the highlight was the work of Hope Gangloff at Susan Inglett Gallery. I loved her work I think in part because I can relate to it and I can see myself hanging out with these people.
After Chelsea, I head to SoHo to do some shopping at Purl and Purl Patchwork. But as usual, I get overwhelmed with all the choices of fabrics and yarns. I leave Purl with yarn for a project for my brother and just pieces of fabric from Patchwork. I couldn’t justify spending money on yards fabric without even an idea for what I would make.
I then head to Times Square to the Sanrio Store to catch the end of the the 35 Anniversary festivites. (I got a bunch of stickers.)
I rush to Momofuku for pork buns and Momofuku ramen. I try to get there when they open for dinner at 5:30 I arrive a few minutes late and see the place is packed with a line going out the door. But since it’s just me, I get in right away. I ate so much pork belly and food in general, but I was all so so good! It wouldn’t be a trip to NYC without the pork buns.
Momofuku. The quote on the board:
“Our offense is like the Pythagorean Theorem. There is no answer.” -Shaq
Sunday I wake up and head back to Chelsea to check out and photograph the Highline. I read about this park and posted alink to a NYTimes article on this blog. The photographer used a Holga to document the work. The park is sweet! You walk past man-made grasslands and woodlands, through buildings, past people lounging on big wooden lounge-chairs. You look out eye-to-eye with a hot male model on a billboard for Armani Exchange, and you sit in a platform with stadium-style seating and watch the traffic pass underneigth.
Then I head back to Brooklyn, to Park Slope to check out a store I found on my last trip to NYC, Cog and Pearl. It’s all hand-made crafts. I can’t really afford anything in the store at this point, but I splurge on a book. It’s based on this blog. The photos in it are just beautiful. The focus is shallow and the colors are muted, the images seem so soft and feminine. And I’m amazed that these two women live so far apart, rarely see each other, but have such similar photographic styles.
After roaming Brooklyn for an hour or so, I head back uptown to Times Square to photograph the mass of people. I used my twin lens and shot mostly from the hip on purpose. So we’ll see if I get anything usable out of that.
Then it’s back to Brooklyn to meet up with Bernard for dinner, relaxing and laughing about my misadventures this past year.
Shot at a little park underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.
The Brooklyn Bridge on the way to the airport.
