Hiding in Plain Sight

Periodically, it's good to lay low for a while or just hide out. The picture above is me- ostrich like- covering up and being invisible at work. I am still recovering from the hub bub that was my show in NYC and the constant commuting back and forth... I still need a vacation!
But at the same time, I have loads (and then some) of work to do as I have a show to install at a local college* and another show in Brooklyn in June. I love working towards shows but sometimes I experience a strange longing to have a day or two (or even three or four) where I have "nothing" to do. Gotta recharge the batteries sometime!
And this past week was especially hectic and action packed. It's been crazy busy at work (check out me disappearing above) and in the midst of setting up for another auction, I got called to jury duty. I was excused after a morning's expenditure, but I had to re-arrange my work week to accommodate the court appearance and later in the week, we went to NYC to attend a friend's opening but also just to wander around and consume art.

Look what we found in Chelsea! An expression of someone's First Amendment rights! One of the most refreshing things we saw all day. Bob and I got pretty tired of being handed stupid plastic three D glasses with built in flashlights to view photos and videos; they didn't seem to work too well and after a while it got very gimmicky. But we did see two videos that were engaging: one had wildly dancing artificial shrubbery and a loud repetitive soundtrack (sounds horrible but it was funny and quirky) and the other featured some nice line drawings morphing into other line drawings.
We stopped into Jim Kempner Fine Art- he's a stand up comic turned art dealer who skewers the art world in a show entitled, "The Madness of Art". Jim Kempner was seated right there behind the desk so I took the opportunity to tell him how much we enjoyed his videos. He seemed honestly appreciative and stated that many people don't even know he does a show about art, despite his having done five seasons. (Check it out on YouTube. I think you'll still find it funny even if you're not directly involved as an artist or consumer of art.)
 We also saw a tremendous amount of forgettable stuff but the day was lovely and we had a swell time. We capped it all off with a delightful meal at our favorite Indian restaurant, which has newly decorated itself in a "Happy Birthday" motif. The ceiling gets lower and lower with layer upon layer of strings of Xmas lights; even I had to duck! (Inexplicably,  despite knowing exactly where the restaurant is, we wandered around in a big circle and were almost about to give up and eat something else when we stumbled on it... we must have been very tired and hungry!)
I need to spend a few days in the garden, just cleaning up and getting a grip on what's growing and what's not but it keeps snowing. (Seriously!?!?) Maybe it's good that the weather has been cranky and uncooperative as it's compelled me to stay inside and finish up my work...

*A religious college no less! And I brought along a copy of my book, "God Hates Artists" to the initial meeting for the group organizing the show. I was informed that that particular piece probably wouldn't go over so well...

Our Little Bit of Scotland

The above dramatization occurred at work one day while describing to a co-worker how I will never retire. I maintain I will simply be found collapsed and deceased on the job. He captured the moment for posterity*.
A month or so ago, Bob and I began toying with the notion of visiting Scotland, as the ticket prices advertised by Norwegian Airlines from our local airport were very enticing. We haven't been on a significant trip- or even out of the country- in a very long time and our passports are up to date and why not Scotland? We looked at videos of perky travelers exploring the offerings of Edinburgh and the Scottish countryside, sampling haggis and whisky. We viewed hotel accommodations...
But wait! It came to me at work (perhaps while demonstrating "dying in my traces" like Boxer in "Animal Farm") that we should spend our money and time concentrating on that which would have a lasting, life-long effect. We should spend our time and money traveling to New York as we both truly wish to make a mark, leave our stamp upon the Art World!
So, newly reinvigorated and inspired, we sped off to NYC on Saturday and spent the day perusing galleries and the requisite ten million faces. (I mean, New York is nothing if not full of faces.) We saw the good, the bad and (dare I say it?) the less than sublime. But we went! And we saw! And it was (as always) oddly transfixing and transformative and exhausting. We're tired today.
However, the Lower East Side is (and has been for a few years) the new-er area to see art. It smells a bit like fish (occasionally) as this is Chinatown before Art Land, but who cares when culture (Kulture!) calls?
We had several "on trend" moments when it became apparent that scumbled, pealed back paper eroded "archeological" pieces were favored. And painting. Yes, painting is still "having a (big) moment". And space men? It's a decent season for the artist that pixel-ates or likes space alien/robot heads. (A few were actually okay.) What else... drawings that were very detailed and had a fantasy element seemed worth looking at. Some want to call this "outsider" but hell: what's an insider artist? And then we met a woman running a gallery that (I swear) was like eight feet square, featuring an obsessive artist coloring in plywood carved anal sculptures. Heavens help us...
And then we celebrated Bob's birthday ( five months late) at an Indian restaurant. Not just any one! It is a restaurant that we've been going to for years. I swear they save us a front row table, under the most amazing strobe-lit disco ball, with ever-lower red hot pepper themed Xmas lights- what a treat! The food was wonderful, the company exclusive and charming... we had a really good time.
And now we're tired but happy. I feel really good about our decision to "stay put" and go to NYC more frequently. We need to get that art career train rolling...

photo credit: Antony Corso