bLEEDING EYE SOCKETS

Sistah Ginnie came to town with Johnny and we embarked on an art gorge-fest. Something which NYC is tailor-made to accommodate... We saw everything from a hipster show in the L.E.S. ...to a random Damien Hirst installation that we just stumbled across....completely at random....and cool subway music performances that left me in awe.....as if the CITY was conspiring to give us as much creative inspiration as it could cram into 24 hours...












Poor lil Ginnie was so tired at the end of the day, that she could barely stand after being subjected to the erratic schedule of the ol' ONE TRAIN during a "routine repair weekend"...













I had to drag her to MOMA to see the MARTIN PURYEAR show....he is my new idol....Such humility, and spirituality...not to mention technical skill....nothing seems to be an accident... (I have an instant negative reaction to BIG ART as I ussually feel that the size is pretty much all the piece has going for it... but this show is not the case....though, of course... I tended to gravitate towards the smaller works....) Perhaps this sounds a bit melodramatic, but both times I went to see this show I found myself on the verge of tears at seemingly random points, such is the power of his work...







Of course...there are always other surprises to be has at MOMA... this Jean Debuffet foil painting...I could have stared at it for hours...(silver is my favorite color after all...), since all I've ever seen of his are the Keith Harring-like cartoon paintings, this caught me off guard...









...And one of my favorites...Giacometti's ominously titled WOMAN WITH HER THROAT CUT... I've always loved this one for its abtract jumble of shapes...












..And then there's Alexander Calder...another of my long time idols... I was surprised to discover, Martin Puryear was a resident artist at his studio in France...where he found this beautiful old wheelbarrow, featured in one of my favorite sculptures he has created...











...The Damien Hirst, already alluded to...Me and Ginnie both agree that the highlight of this show wasn't the art, but the surprise bit of dialogue overheard:









MEATHEAD'S GIRLFRIEND: (upon stepping into the midst of all the dead sheep) "OH MY GOD!!!" (She is wearing a flashy white fur jacket)

MEATHEAD: (to a security guard, in appropriate meathead accent) "Hey, what is this?"

SECURITY GUARD: (in blankest tone) "It's art."








Later, we went to meet up with Johnny, and Kristen and Saul Becker, at Sol's beautifully realized studio in Williamsburg, after putting up with as much exposure to the hipsters at a nearby vintage clothing store (of course) as WE could take....










A WORD ABOUT SAUL: He is a very talented guy, and is so dedicated to his art that even the natural task of equiping a studio, and searching for the mode of expression, seem like art in and of themselves in his very skilled hands...







It was a busy weekend, and it was nice to get some time to myself, but it was so satisfying to my soul, that it will be feeding off of it for weeks...