What can I say? It's true, or maybe it used to be.
Plenty of non-New Yorkers were on view at PS1, the MoMA satellite in Long Island City that's free for residents. Yto Barrada, scattered her building block sculptures in the courtyard. She calls the commissioned work "Le Grand Soir (The Big Night)."
"Fistful of Love," the first museum show for photographer Reynaldo Rivera, drew me to PS1. His work, shot in Los Angeles and Mexico, where he was born, reminded me of Nan Goldin's with its (mostly vanished) demimonde vibe.
"Patron, Silver Lake Lounge" (1995)
"La Plaza" (1997)
You barely can see Rivera behind the lens in this photo at the right. Now in his early 60s, he once hung out in a lot of gay clubs and befriended more than one Latinx drag queen.
Paquita and Reynaldo Rivera, Le Bar (1997)
Somehow I can't imagine them hosting library story hours. They employed soulful transgression in service of tips, not acceptance.
Traditional weaving techniques are enhanced by digital technology in Melissa Cody's"Webbed Skies." The fourth-generation Navajo artist also updates her work with pop cultural references.
"Scaling the Caverns" (detaill, 2023)
Cody's Germantown Revival style originates from wool blankets manufactured in the Pennsylvania town of the same name, given by the U.S. government to indigenous Americans when they were expelled from their native territories in the mid-19th century.
"Power Up" by (detail, 2023)
The Navajos tore up the blankets and used the wool to create their own textiles in a subversive act of reclamation. But Cody tweaks her culture, too; this work depicts a taboo reptile--associated with bad omens and health problems--in four colors that evoke Navajo sacred land.
"Path of the Snake" (2013)
Somehow, I managed to miss the James Turrell room on previous visits. He actually lived in the museum while he created "Meeting," one of his early Skyspaces, during the late 1970s.
The work encourages visitors to look at the framed sky, not their i-Phones.
It's a contemplative place, closed during stormy weather.
Hands down, PS1 has the most interesting stairwells.
Most of the work in "Hard Ground" was too abstract for my taste but I did enjoy the back story of Jerry the Marble Faun, a Brooklyn boy. The budding sculptor was nicknamed by "Little Edie" Beale when he did odd jobs for her and her sister at Grey Gardens in the early 1970s, when the Maysles brothers were filming their classic documentary. He also worked as an assistant to Wayland Flowers whose performances with Madame, a puppet, delighted New York City cabaret audiences during the same period.
"Tecumseh" (2007-14)
Given my affinity for bicycles and the role feet play in powering them, I decided to leave mine in this photo of rings cast from the steel of a smelted Citi Bike. Although the work purports to comment--in artspeak--on "the cycles and circulations of property relations that manifest through simple everyday forms," I think the rings also offers an excellent tool for shackling clueless cyclists who go the wrong way.
"Always Something to Remind Me" by Dora Budor (2023)
Untitled by Gianna Surangkanjanajai (partial, 2024)
Filipina-American artist Pacita Abad, whose participation in anti-Marcos demonstrations forced her to flee Manila for New York at the age of 26, provided the "wow factor" of this PS1 visit.
"African Mephisto" (1981)
Abad, who died two decades ago at the age of 64, painted often enormous, almost always colorful, canvases before embellishing them with fabric and other objects--including cowrie shells and buttons--in a process known as "trapunto."
"Marcos & His Cronies" (1985-95)
Sadly, this has had the effect of marginalizing her work in the art world because trapunto is more often associated with women's crafts, like quilting and embroidery.
I'd never seen Magda's and Joe's condo in Vermont and Thom had never met Desmond so we treated ourselves to a weekend of high wattage D-Kid Energy (DKE) in Quechee. I brought plush toys from Everglades City, two manatees and a gator. I'd forgotten that Magda, in childhood, had adopted a manatee she named Minnie.
Thom brought equestrienne ensembles from Janie and Jack. Can't wait to see Desmond model his new Halloween outfit. No doubt he'll be walking by then and looking as if he just emerged from a very stylish pumpkin patch.
We spent Saturday morning at Billings Farm where Magda had no time for the Jersey cows. Did you know their milk is so high in fat that it's great for making butter?
Desmond enjoyed the colors and textures in the sunflower maze.
Fruit leather snack time. It just doesn't taste as good without bunny ears!
Let me tell you, if Dagny's passenger behavior influences her driving skills, she'll be terrorizing Vermont's twisty roads in a decade.
We spent at a sunny afternoon at the local country club. Membership is required for all residents of Quechee. The D-Girls definitely take full advantage of the swimming and skiing opportunities. Dagny says she prefers the latter. And thanks to videos of them both zooming down the bunny slopes, I now know the difference between two food metaphors instructors use to teach proper form: French fries, good; pizza, bad.
The Ottauquechee River carved the narrow gorge on its way to the Connecticut River, which empties into the Long Island Sound.
Joe identified suitable walking sticks for our two-mile trek.
Family portrait by the pond.
The D-Girls' curiosity about all things natural reminded me of my own in much drier El Paso. Except for Della's grabby obsession with penises, oddly enough!
While Magda & Joe played croquet with the D-Kids on the lawn, Thom and I toured the interior of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller estate which sits on 550 acres of land. Although the Federalist style mansion looks pretty large from the outside, only a few rooms on the first floor are open to visitors. The grounds are the real draw because they reflect the commitment to conservation shared by the three families that have owned the property since the early 19th century, when much of Vermont had been de-forested.
Only six people are allowed inside at a time. While we waited, a ranger explained that the first owner of the house, George Perkins Marsh had written what became the ur-text of America's conservation movement, Man and Nature, in between his appointments as ambassador to both the Ottoman Empire and Italy, where he died in 1882.
Frederick Billings, who grew up within sight of the imposing structure, purchased the property after making his fortune as an attorney and a real estate developer during the California Gold Rush. Already under the influence of Marsh, he advocated for the establishment of Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks. He purchased the Marsh property after the Civil War and imported dairy cows from the Isle of Jersey, whose genetic lineage continues to this day on the farm named after him. The property stayed in the Billings family for three generations--each of which shared his commitment to conservation and sustainable farming.
Frederick's granddaughter Mary, who inherited the house, wed Laurence Rockefeller in 1934. They considered their marriage a "partnership" which prioritized conservation, too. They soon revitalized the nearly defunct farming operation, which had forced the Billings to sell their sheep prior to the Great Depression, eventually turning it into a non-profit educational institution. The couple also erected a privacy hedge of tall fir trees to the east of the mansion, so tall now that it completely obliterates what must be a picturesque view of the farm and the rolling hills in the distance. In 1992, Mary and Laurence donated the mansion and re-forested land on Mt. Tom to the federal government. It's Vermont's only national park. The ranger described the interior as a mix of Queen Anne and mid-century modern furniture with some impressive art.
Dining Room
This Federalist mirror is nearly two centuries older than I am.
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Chair Upholstery
Two Tiffany windows decorate the house although only one is visible from the inside.
This tacky area functioned as the Rockefeller wet bar and home entertainment center. Wealth wasn't as ostentatious in their day.
I didn't think much of their record collection until I noticed two copies of The Third Album, Barbra's best IMHO.
A gorgeous etched glass chandelier hangs in the hallway.
The gardens, although well-maintained, aren't particularly impressive.
The floral waterspout in the birdbath, the sailboat sundial and the nude statue add a touch of tasteful Republican whimsy.
A swimming pool, bowling alley and greenhouse comprise the nearby Belvedere Complex.
At the height of Cold War paranoia in the 1960s, the Rockefellers built a fallout shelter beneath the bowling alley on the other side of the greenhouse.
