i love new york.: February 2009

"ballon!"

love,
*jenna*

Clue: It Doesn't Say "Love"

but it is from italia.

The Sunlight In New York

In Park Slope...

Beside my bed...

One of the most glorious sunsets I've seen in New York...

Holy crap!

Checking my email at a sound mix...

love,
*jenna*

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Clay

On Saturday, I decided to go see an exhibit I'd been meaning to check out for awhile: Second Lives at the Museum of Art and Design. A collection of pieces by various artists who use everyday items as their media, it was one of the best-curated exhibits I've ever been to. There was no photography allowed, but I rebelled as usual. If you live in New York, please go see this exhibit as soon as you can. If not, read on to live vicariously through me.

Here was a piece about Native Americans composed of puzzle pieces.

And a sculpture made of... something or other. I don't remember. Bad blogger!

A spinning chandelier made of glossy magazine paper.

I liked this giant wall made of synthetic blonde wigs.

(the view from the museum wasn't bad either.)

This was beautiful; It's called Madam CJ Walker by Sonya Clark and it's a portrait/sculpture of the woman who began manufacturing one of the first lines of beauty products for black women, and also is listed as the first woman ever to become a millionaire on her own achievements.

And it was made solely of Unbreakable combs.

This was a sculpture made of chopsticks, a comment on our wasteful society, and was made with no adhesives and can support a sitting human (though may be a bit prickly?).

Which was beside this giant Portrait of a Textile Worker, by Terese Agnew.

Massive and made of thousands of clothing labels.

A chandelier of syringes and medicine capsules.

The requisite mediocre video installation.

Oh, this is amazing. Spools of thread.

Which create an upside-down picture of the Mona Lisa.

Which, when viewed through this li'l crystal ball, reveals the famous portrait as seen from behind a crowd of tourists, one of which is taking a digital photo (as I then was).

A grand wave made of vinyl records...

... called Sound Wave. Ha ha.

But that wasn't even the best vinyl record-based piece. That award (as judged by me) goes to My Back Pages by Paul Villinski. A gorgeous swarm of butterflies laser-cut out of records. Oh God. Amazing.

Even better was the note that before cutting each record, Villinski listened to each album as a sort of eulogy to what it had been and then setting it free to be something else, setting its sounds out to the world one last time, as it were.

Oh my God shews! A sculpture made of women's heels. Reminds me of an abacus.

This is one of my favorite things, which I had seen a year or two ago at the Guggenheim. It's shopping bags, with tiny, tiny trees delicately cut (perhaps with laser? not sure) out of the sides by Yuken Teruya. Laid on their sides, light comes through the intricately cut holes and casts shadows into the rest of the shopping bag. A rare instance of originality and careful, meticulous work in modern art.

Also loved, but not captured because of a watchful and vitriolic guard, was a chandelier by Stuart Haygarth made of over 1,000 pairs of eyeglasses. Stupendous.

I then wandered around the museum's permanent collection, including their jewelry, and came across this item. Beautiful, poetic item.

Speaking of beautiful and poetic, there was also this gorgeous stitched torso stuffed with empty gunshot shells. I wish I could remember then name of it or its creator, but it had to do with a soldier. In an art world full of unrelatable or irrelevant or pretentious comments on war, this is probably the only piece I've ever seen that meant anything to me.

A bowl of fiery red and orange with a skyline rim.

A house of porcelain cards.

Something cool and possibly Gaelic.

And...

Afterwards, I was absolutely filled with motivation and inspiration. After visiting a museum this isn't a rare occurrence, but this day, after seeing so much innovation and seeing more actual good art than at last year's entire Whitney Biennial, I was particularly roused. Maybe it's because the past several weeks have yielded precious little in the way of creative output, and because my few ideas have been failing to take real shape or solidify. But suddenly the pot inside of me was stirred and salt was added and I had the creative itch we all long to feel. I was wandering around 57th Street, heading for the subway, when I looked up and saw this.

A gigantic, 2-story art supply store, Lee's is a place I always forget about. I'd been there once with my kid brother while waiting for a table at the Hard Rock Cafè to open up (?) and had forgotten all about it until my dear parents gave me a gift certificate to it for Christmas. I even had the gift certificate patiently waiting in my wallet for its life's purpose to arise.

Arise it did, at a most serendipitous moment.

I was filled with glee when I walked in and remembered how huge the place was. They were even having a sale on canvases (buy two get one free)! My already-brimming mind percolated even more while I browsed in the store for a good hour.

Holy Lord, I have found my home!

I spent the remainder of the weekend creating FIVE (5) new paintings and writing an essay on top of going out dancing, having brunch with my high school friend Lynnae, volunteering at the BSSS, and attending my first (excruciating) abs class.

What can I say? When the muses ravage you, you give in, right?

love,
*jenna*