Category Archives: Art

Faaa-shun

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I have an almost maniacal dislike of the fashion industry. It strikes me as an industry that’s wholly built on, and feeds off of, the vanity and insecurities of (mainly) women. I am tempted to say that it’s psychologically predatory but I’m afraid that would make me sound crazy, so I won’t say it. Plus, I’ve met F.I.T. students in my dating past and they always seemed kind of vapid to me.

Having said that, there’s a new public art exhibit mounted by the New York fashion industry that is simply fantastic. It’s called Sidewalk Catwalk and it runs through September 3rd. 32 giants in the industry (At least, I think they’re giants. I didn’t recognize 80% of the names.) dressed mannequins that are mounted on Broadway from 35th up to 42nd St. [It’s a portion of Broadway that’s been closed to vehicular traffic and made into a pedestrian mall, an idea that I wholly approve of.]

Here’s a photo essay of some of the more interesting ones. I can’t help wondering if they’ll survive the summer. Won’t they be destroyed by summer storms or ripped apart by screwball New Yorkers? Better see it while you can. I’ve uploaded larger-than-normal jpegs so you can click on them for a closer study.

Betsey Johnson. Of course. She’s like the crazy cat lady down the block except with a big pile of cash.

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Michael Kors. I’d like to see Nursemyra poured into this one.

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Nannette Lepore. Does anyone recognize that name?

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Victor Alfaro. Another name I don’t recognize.

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This is made from a parachute, which billows out in the breeze. Clever!

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Tommy Hilfiger. For my money, the best of the bunch.

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Jill Stuart. The only mannequin with “hair.”

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Thom Browne. Seashells. Really imaginative.

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This is by Kenneth Cole. I only included it because it’s one of the names I actually recognize. But I think the design is kind of lazy.

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I believe this one was designed by Parson students. It’s better than some of the “pros.”

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Won’t a lot of these be annihilated by August?

A $22,500 used typewriter

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Back in April I did a post about the annual rare book fair at the Park Avenue Armory. One of the more unconventional non-book items up for sale was Ernest Hemingway’s typewriter. Asking price: $110,000.

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I thought it was silly and couldn’t imagine why anyone would buy a typewriter when, for that kind of money, you could almost have a complete run of Hemingway first editions. Almost.

Lo and behold, on Tuesday, Christies sold Jack Kerouac’s Hermes 3000 manual typewriter (not the one he fed a roll of teletype paper into to write On The Road) for $22,500. It was the last typewriter he owned. The estimate had been $20,000-$30,000. Auction listing here.

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At the same auction, John Updike’s typewriter sold for $4,375 (est. $4,000-$6,000). Listing here.

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Neither of those prices touch the $254,500 paid last December for Cormac McCarthy’s old Olivetti (est. $15,000 – $20,000!!! Proof positive that all you need at an auction are two people with deep pockets who want the same item really, really bad). Auction listing here.

This was the typewriter McCarthy used to write all of his major novels. McCarthy still owes me the $14.95 I paid for a paperback of The Road. A depressing, over-hyped novel that I didn’t waste my time finishing.

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There’s no accounting for what people are willing to collect. I, myself, have a few book cases full of rare books that cannot be read. They shouldn’t even be opened for fear of cracking the glue in the spine. Books that can’t be read!? How lame is that?

DON’T JUMP! Oh. Wait. It’s only a statue.

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I love big art installations and New York has a fairly steady diet of them. They’re not like paintings, which can be viewed over and over again. Once they’re disassembled, that’s it. You’ll never see them again. I fondly remember taking 8-Year Old Daughter to see Christo’s Gates in Central Park several years ago. People complained about it but I thought it was fantastic. Now it only lives in photographs. If you haven’t seen it before, I encourage you to take a look at this post for Ernesto Neto’s anthropodino. It’s the best installation I’ve ever seen.

If you’re coming to New York this summer [Jo] be sure to visit artist Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon outdoor art installation at Madison Square Park. It’s a series of statues that are placed on the roof ledges surrounding the park. When it was being set-up, the NYPD took measures to assure the public that they were not jumpers on the threshold of suicide.

This statue stands at the apex of the Flatiron Building.

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There are 31 statues in all, but only four are on the ground. You can spend time craning your neck trying to locate each statue or you can do what I did and printout the map that’s on his site and bring it with you.

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This is my favorite picture because he stands in the shadow of the Empire State Building spire.

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This guy…

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…is way the hell up there.

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Here’s one of the four statues on the ground. The statues on buildings are fiberglass but these four are iron. I was a little shocked about the genitalia. What do you tell the kiddies? For each statue, Gormley wrapped himself in saran wrap and then was covered with wet plaster. He had to remain motionless for about an hour while the plaster dried. I love artists and actors. I love their kookiness.

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Here’s an article and interview from the New York Times that will enhance your visit.

Tim Burton at MoMA

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The cool and hip thing to say is, “Oh, I NEVER listen to the critics! I go my own way!” But the fact of the matter (for me, anyway) is that I have very limited time and funds and on those rare occasions when I am at liberty to see a show or an exhibit, I do some homework beforehand so I don’t squander the opportunity, and that homework includes scouring the reviews. That’s why when the Tim Burton exhibit currently at MoMA got a weak review in the New York Times back in November, I demoted it to my B list of things to see.

Well, I had my “doh!” moment when I approached the exhibit. Critics can sometimes be humorless idiots and that is certainly the case here. The exhibit is a blast. Initially, I was puzzled over why MoMA would mount a retrospective of a movie director but Burton is an imaginative designer and makes good use of the floor space.

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Photo credit: Marilyn K. Yee/The New York Times

As you can imagine, it has broad appeal and the crowds are pretty thick. (That’s probably one of the reasons why the Times critic—sniff-sniff—didn’t like it.) If you’re in the neighborhood, it’s worth a visit, although you should probably get a timed-ticked from the museum, especially if you’re going on a weekend.

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Tim Burton/20th Century Fox

[Edit for comment: I didn’t take my girls to this show. 3-Year Old is too young for ANY museum and 8-Year Old would have been creeped out by it. As you can imagine, some of this stuff is actually quite frightening and 8-Year Old has a delicate sensibility. I think it would have given her some serious nightmares. At bedtime, the Edward Scissorhands costume would have marched out of her closet and the Catwoman costume from under her bed.]

Had a crazy roommate who cut off his earlobe

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Whilst in Cleveland I took The Daughters to the Cleveland Museum of Art to see the Paul Gauguin: Paris: 1889 exhibit. It was fortuitous that we were in town for it because Cleveland is the only U.S. stop. After Clevo, it heads to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. What a coup for Cleveland!

The show recreates the exhibition that Gauguin organized on the grounds of the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which is now recognized as the first Symbolist exhibition in Paris. It included In The Waves, one of my favorite not-Polynesian Gauguin’s.

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Were you aware that the Cleveland Museum of Art has one of the greatest art collections in the country? It’s true! It can easily hold it’s own against the big houses in New York. They have some spectacular Calder mobiles and sculptures. I love Calder. So did the kids.

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One of my proudest moments so far as a parent occurred when we turned a corner and 8-Year Old Daughter casually said, “Look, Dad, there’s a Pollock.” My work is almost complete.

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Here’s something to tuck away in case you visit a museum in the near future: 3-years old is WAY, WAY, WAY too young for an art museum. Their attention span just isn’t there yet and you’ll have to divide your time between worshiping the art and making sure she doesn’t climb on the Degas sculpture pedestal. Just so you know.

3-Year Old Daughter did stop long enough to admire the Red Grooms diorama of New York. This scene is the corner of Broadway and Canal Street. Click on this one! Red Grooms and Alexander Calder are the most kid-friendly artists you’ll find in any museum, anywhere.

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3-Year Old Daughter got her first face-full of Monet’s water lilies. She was not impressed. Yet…

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The museum also has a pretty impressive collection of medieval armor and weapons. 3-Year Old dared him to climb down off of that horse.

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