BENEATH THE SURFACE

Tuesday, September 11, 2012.  Walking down 9th Avenue to the barber I came upon the open steel sidewalk doors to the basement of an old tenement.  They've never been open before, and I have trod over this work countless times.  I wonder who left these there?  Was it someone from the current gallery or someone from the previous, Giant Robot?  I'm happy enough with either.  The neon colors dripping over with white paint - I like how it looks - snow falling on a mountain burnished orange by the setting sun.  And the other - love rising out of the depths.  I like that idea too.

PUFF

May 27, 2010. Some art is ephemeral, especially grafitti. A previous post, 4 Men 4 Cigars is no more, but this sketch is now on the same wall. Simple, elegant lines create a figure in motion, as sinuous as the smoke rising from the cigarette. The figure is urban, relaxed and current - all suggested in a few simple lines.

THE SECRET DOOR

February 13, 2010. The subway ride north from 72nd to 96th is a most interesting trip. Looking west out the window into the downtown tunnel, the entire trip to 79th street is ablaze with racks of lights, like a country fair or a circus sideshow. The train speeds by and the lights flash by, and go on and on. I wonder if the doors at 72nd Street hide a secret home of the people who populate this subterranean light circus. They are so ornate, so out of place in the grime of the tracks, that they stand in stark contrast. Something wonderful must be behind them, I think. Further north, we pass an abandoned stop, its vaulted walls and ceilings covered in graffiti. How I would like to go spelunking in these caverns and explore the markings and drawings I spied as we sped by. There are always wonders that abound in New York in the most peculiar places.