I AM HERE

January 13, 2012.  We were here, all of us, together, apart, overlapping and singular.  I wonder if you felt lost, ignored or lonely.  Or did you feel exuberant and simply want to leave your mark on the world, somewhere, so that years later you could show this to loved ones, like a heart carved in a tree, and remember what it felt like to be at that spot, in that moment, with that person - or without?

PLATFORM TADPOLES

December 2, 2011.  I end my day walking over this pool of tar minnows massing at the end of the platform.  Little tails, bulbous bodies, bumping in to each other, swimming over and under.  They cross over a golden median, a divide to their worlds, a meaningless, shallow barrier, traversed with little effort.  Tadpoles often puddle together, maybe for protection, maybe to become familiar, maybe for community.

KOOL DADDY

December 1, 2011.  Location, location, location.  I get off the subway on the wrong end of the train and what do I see?  Something I've never seen before, that's what.  How many people contributed to this and how did each person decide to add to, or erase, what came before?  Sometimes the MTA's lack of attention and slow repairs allow a thing of beauty to emerge, grow and adapt.  It lifts my day.

PIGEON ON GRASS

September 18, 2010. How long do you think this art form has been around - mosaic in one form or another? Here, the work predates and echoes the work on the street above, in the East Village, where street artists have taken over street lamp bases, door lintels, and sidewalks. The portrait of the birds, nearly noble, not seen as the pesky scavengers that dive bomb strollers on the sidewalk.

SUBWAY LION

September 3, 2010. Do you know the circus figures made by Calder. I saw them at a museum here. They were whimsical, fun, earnest. This lion greeted me as I went home after a long day of work.

GANESHA IN WHITE

February 28, 2010. Ganesha is removing obstacles at the West 4th Street station. My friends Zekio & Christopher gave me a Ganesha of my own, which I keep by my door. I see him every day as I leave, and I think of what may face me as I move into the day. My friends Jeff & Jim sent me a picture from Costa Rica of beautifully white Brahman cattle, and this Ganesha reminds me of that. He is seated, his white trunk rising to the sky in greeting and celebration. I think the white in front of him is the recent snow that fell in NYC. To me it never seemed like 20 inches of snow, but there you have it, it was. My Ganesha is eager to help in removing this, but how? What form does this take? Perhaps many snow balls, or snow men and women rolled into shape, or snow forts. Ganesha offers me many choices.

Subway Tentacle

October 13, 2009. What has happened to the person in the chair? This tentacle reaching up from the subway floor, angling to the opening in the border – maybe to the next frame – what is it reaching for? Was there a victim of this unseen monster? Is this what the person who stripped the piece out of the poster intended? Or is it just the latest round of movies that I’ve watched.