Manhattan - Day 55

Today I made my way up to MOMA to take in the deKooning retrospective. An incredibly interesting show that spans the entirety of the artist's career. Despite his brilliance, there is, in my opinion, a noticeable drop off in the mid-seventies. Although I think the sculpture that he created during the seventies was really interesting - in fact much more so than the paintings. Still, the fact remains - all the work pales in comparison to the five women painting he created in the 50s.

After the de Kooning exhibited, I took in the rest of the museum and was pleasantly surprised to come upon two of the museum's pieces by Bob Indiana. American Dream #1 and the sculpture Moon. I had walked through the room contain the Pop art and was disappointed not to see Bob represented. Two rooms later I found him grouped with the other artists that lived and worked on Coenties Slip. Bob, who never liked the term Pop art, and doesn't consider himself such, would be happy instead to be grouped with his old friends Agnes Martin, Jack Youngerman and of course Ellsworth Kelly.

Manhattan - Day 54

Today was another beautiful fall day and as usual I started my day off with a walk through the village. Readers of this blog know that I had previously declared Perry as my choice of streets on which to live. Well today, yet again, I found myself walking the length of Bleecker Street, I realized that it is my favorite strolling street in the city. Starting up at Abington Square, the most beautiful crossroad in Manhattan for my money, and continuing across 7th south and then crossing 6th you can watch as Bleecker changes from the home of high fashion to the Bleecker of old.

Manhattan - Day 53

Hiked over to 7th & 18th this morning with a large box of clothes on my shoulder. After dropping it off at UPS - destination Dana Point California, I headed down to the village where I had a large coffee and a equally large doughnut that I had no business eating. Walking home up Washington, I spotted this mostly worn away ad on the side of a building.

And the colors just keep coming.  Later I turned up 20th toward the gate at GTS and was greated by this view. Just had to snap a pic.

Manhattan - Day 52

Autumn, Glorious Autumn

This morning I pulled on a jacket and scarf and strolled out into the wonderfully crisp autumn air, bathed in the clean early morning light of fall. Off through the West Village, I walked all the way down Bleecker Street, ending up on Bowery. I decided to continue on, all the way over to Tompkins Square Park. After spending some time in Tompkins Square, I made my way back to Washington Square Park where I sat and soaked up the morning sun. There is nothing better than a warm fall day.

Manhattan - Day 51

Will Barnet at 100

This morning I traveled uptown to The National Academy Museum, to take part in the day-long symposium on the Art and life of Will Barnet. I was there to introduce my film on Will and to enjoy the rest of the program that include various lectures and a panel discussion. Will joined us for the afternoon and, as always, it was wonderful to see him. The film was well received and the kind comments from those in the audience were of course, as always, much appreciated.

Will Barnet, Self-Portrait, 1981

Manhattan • Owls Head • Manhattan - Day 42 - 50

Just to catch everyone up, on October 27th we boarded Mega Bus and were off to Maine. We planned a little R&R, a little business for myself, and readying the house for the upcoming winter. It was a busy nonstop flurry of house work, meetings and visits with friends. On our final morning in town our friend Mike Dworkin picked us up and shuttled us off to catch the bus back to New York, with a stop for breakfast at the Home Place Cafe in Rockland.

Breakfast at the Home Place Cafe

Back on the bus