I 💗 NY

High expectations for a graffiti exhibit killed the experience, although it did include work by people whose names I recognized from an earlier, much better show at the Bronx Museum of Art.  Street art collected three decades ago by Martin Wong, a queer artist and the subject of another terrific Bronx Museum exhibit, sounded C😎😎L to say the least. But it seemed completely out of context on the walls of the Museum of the City of New York instead of the sides of subway cars or at 5 Pointz. 

A decade after Wong moved from San Francisco to the Lower East Side, he founded the Museum of America Grafitti at a time when the art establishment--and much of the public--sneered at street art.  That contempt, based in part on the issue of property destruction, ran in both directions. Wong sought to move the art indoors by encouraging the young artists to use canvas instead of subway cars and building exteriors.  His efforts also provided him with an extraordinary collecting opportunity; he amassed more than 300 pieces.

FUTURA started tagging trains in high school during the early 70s before a subway fire involving spray paint cans changed his direction.  He enlisted in the Navy before returning to New York City five years later and creating art with a new, more abstract style.  When the Clash performed at Bonds in 1981 (I was Audrey's guest the night of June 3)  he painted a controversial banner and soon became a part of the band's live show.  Futura outlasted punk rock, eventually opening his own graphic design studio which continues to operate.

Untitled Work by FUTURA (1983)

LA2, short for "Little Angel,"was born on the Lower East Side, shortly before it morphed into downtown's art world central.  While still in his early teens, he began collaborating with Keith Haring, a soon-to-become-world-famous interloper from Pennsylvania.  

"LA2" by Keith Haring (ca 1985)

A-ONE developed a style he called "aerosol expression."  Like his mentor Jean-Michel Basquiat, he died young but a brain hemorrhage, not an overdose, killed him shortly after 9/11.

"Forward. Totally Moving in the Positive" by A-ONE (1986)

Unlike many of his graffiti peers, QUIK, a lone wolf from Hollis, Queens, trained formally to become an artist at both the Pratt Institute and Parsons School of Design.  His early productivity as a tagger earned him the moniker "all city art terrorist."  His technique looked most recognizable to me.  QUIK lived long enough to put his work "on the grid."  I wonder how he feels about his art shrinking to the size of a phone screen.

"My Recovery" by QUIK (1990-91)

Break dancing fans know MR. WIGGLES from his membership in the Rock Steady Crew, the Electric Boogaloos, Tribal Click, and Zulu Nation.  This painting looks like a visual representation of his twisty moves.

"Talib" by MR. WIGGLES (1991)

Label text didn't adequately explain the inclusion of this artist.  The internet didn't offer any insights so I'm guessing his hallucinogenic style may have been influential bridge from the Sixties.  

 

"King Two" by George Pagan, Sr. (1974)

Lately, visitor interactivity seems to have become the mantra of New York City museums.  It seemed more appropriate for Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection than for Sargent & Paris at the Met.  Some participants definitely use the opportunity to express issues on their minds.

I had difficulty parsing this drawing--is Antarctica deliberately misspelled?

Regardless of my disappointment with the grafitti exhibit, the Museum of the City of New York always contributes to my understanding of the place I've called home since 1975. "Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor" goes even farther back.

Why wouldn't there have been a Louis Armstrong lip balm, given his association with the trumpet?  Racial prejudice might be a factor although that did not appear to be the concern of this German manufacturer.

Who knew that at the height of the disco era the Imperial Bachelors--which included Black, Puerto Rican and white members--organized "hustle" parties open to all in the South Bronx as a means of reducing gang violence?

During my long tenure in New York City, I regret missing just two nightlife hot spots: the Mudd Club and the Paradise Garage.  A regular of the latter memorialized its closing night with this collage.

The inclusion of this bust perplexed me before reading the label.  "Deep in Vogue" forever and I don't just mean Madonna.  Malcolm McLaren appropriated the House of LaBeija, something the residents of the Muller Cottage knew, nicknaming our own family Casa Donna Reed in homage!

Altar bust of Crystal LaBeija, Founding Mother of House of LaBeija 
by Julian Prairie (2024)

New York at Its Core offers a thematic look at the city's rise from indigenous land to world capital.  This stained glass window (1656), from a Dutch Reformed Church, reminded me that the roots of my father's family tree may reach back as far as the earliest colonial settlement of Manhattan.  The Hons belonged at one time.

After the phenomenal success of the Broadway show, it's hard to believe that the titular Founding Father actually looked like this.

Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull (ca 1804)

Immigration brought "kosher" products to New York City; I didn't realize they included scouring powder!

I love art created in support of the Works Progress Administration, surely one of the federal government's most successful and admirable programs. This poster also emphasizes that New York City pools were open to Blacks while at the same time conveying that in some neighborhoods, the pools were segregated. 

The Solace of Art

While visiting North Andover, I saw my first exhibition of the season at a New England prep school, thanks to a recommendation from Randy.

"Fond Jaune" by Ellsworth Kelly (1950)

Twenty five more followed, including The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts where I noticed this neon sculpture for the first time.

The exhibit included homoerotic footage from "Astarte," an innovative 1967 work that also used rock music.

Jenny Holzer made terrific use of the space at the Guggenheim.

Contemporary artists "reimaginged Himalayan art" for the last exhibit at the Rubin Museum before it went virtual.

Self Portrait-Green Tara by Monsal Pekar (2021)

Jenny Kendler used oyster shells to raise environmental consciousness on Governors Island.

A major exhibit of Aboriginal art took me back to my circumnavigation of the Australian continent four decades ago.

"Journey to America" by Djambawa Marawili (partial, 2019)

I'd never been to the Asia Society before.  Nice views of the Upper East Side.

I hoped Bronx-based mosaicist Manny Vega might take my mind off the frightening election results

"Bomba Celestial" (2009-10)

. . . only to discover that the Museum of the City of New York was honoring a groundbreaking politician with integrity.  At least I emerged with an early New Year's Resolution:  find even more escape in friendship and art than usual.  After the glorious but false promise of Barack Obama's election in 2008, American politics is beyond repair, at least in my lifetime.

The Whtiney's tribute to Alvin Ailey made me sorry I had missed my opportunity to see him perform back in the 70s.  AIDS killed both Ailey and Robert Joffrey, whose company I did see perform thanks to Stuart, who was living with a dancer from the company when we met.

Alvin Ailey by Carl Van Vechten  (1955)

An exhibition of hip hop jewelry lured me to the American Museum of Natural History for the first time in 20 years but I enjoyed the incredible Insectarium a lot more.  This piece belongs to A$AP Rocky.

Images from gay porn inspired "Sibilant Esses," a slew of dreamy portraits by Paul P. at the Greene Naftali gallery.

I don't think I saw a more thought-provoking exhibit all year than "Draw Them In, Paint Them Out" at the Jewish Museum, which displays "hood paintings" by two artists of different generations and races with congruent sensibilities.

Untitled by Philip Guston (1969)

"Let's Try the Yellow Triangle Angle or The Return of Piss Christ" by Trenton Doyle Hancock (2022)

"Edges of Ailey" introduced me to Ralph Lemon's notebook drawings of musicians.  When I went to see a major exhibition of his multimedia work at PS1 a week or two later--the kind of aesthetic chime that only a city as big and cultured as New York City can offer--I also discovered Sohrab Hura and these formerly incarcerated artists, too.

"Man Of Growth" by Mike Jean & Nadene Isis Richardson (2024)

"We Who Believe In Freedom Cannot Rest, Mattress II
by Daniel Kelly & Jenny Polak (partial, 2024)

The Brooklyn Museum showcased local artists and riffed on Solid Gold

"Nsea" by Yaw Owusu (partial, 2024)

"Path To Nine" by Zadik Zadikan (partial, 2024)

. . . but I much preferred the superb retrospective of Elizabeth Catlett's extraordinary work in service of human equality.

"... And a special fear for my loved ones" (1946)

I wonder what Catlett would have had to say about this evocative illustration of our country's most famous novel, on exhibition in the newly reinstalled American art galleries? It ignores Jim's name in the title, as did Mark Twain, of course, an omission that Percival Everett finally has rectified in James!  It's on my list and, it seems, on everyone else's too.

"Huck Finn" by Thomas Hart Benton (1936)

Tom crashed at 47 Pianos the night before attending a memorial service for Peter Westbrook, one of his fencing buddies.  I took him to the Shed in Hudson Yards to see Luna Luna, the resurrection of a 1987 Pop Art amusement park.

Manhattan's pigeons have gotten a lot bigger since the last time we roomed together in 1972!

You probably don't get much more "outsider" than artist Helen Rae whose work, exhibited as part of KAWS's wonderful private collection, made a big impression at the Drawing Center.

Exhibits at the Met took me to Egypt, Mexico and Siena.

Long Tail Halo by Lee Bul (2024)

Kenny Scharf is popping big at both Luna Luna and the Brant Foundation.   One huge work is visible from the exterior of the building, an old Con Ed substation built more than a century ago.

"The Days of Our Lives" (1984)

47 Pianos had a rare and cuddly house guest in early October.  Magda & Joe dropped off Moofy before celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary with a New York City getaway.

I forgot to take his picture until I stayed with them in Boston the night before Thanksgiving, after he'd just been shorn.  Such a sweet--if occasionally pissy--pooch!

Although the Halloween decorating competition on my block got an even earlier start this year, not much had changed since last year.

I never can decide if fall or spring is prettier in Central Park.

Despite a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the first day of classes at Columbia, student protests did not interfere with my swimming routine.  This tent-like structure on campus--surrounded by security guards when it first went up and the only indication of continuing unrest--didn't last very long.

Manhattan walkabouts--to and from matinees or museums--always provide surprises.  En route to Once Upon A Mattress, I encountered "The Chair" by Iván Tovar.

Catholic brotherhoods of Peruvian origin celebrated El Señor de los Milagros (the Lord of Miracles) in midtown as I returned from Maybe Happy Ending, blocking traffic as the long procession crossed Sixth Avenue.

The gantry in Hudson River Park remains one of the few unchanged landmarks since I began living on the Upper West Side, although the area around it has been utterly transformed.

Hudson Yards offers a mammoth backdrop for "A Journey" one of several sculptures by Oliver Lee Jackson that greets visitors to the High Line.  The development's new buildings dwarf the Vessel, now open again (and netted).

There's still a lot of construction going on below.

At sunset, the World Trade Center looks almost ethereal from the West Village.

I guess the residents of this East Side townhouse had nowhere else to put her . . . 

During the two weeks I spend photographing holiday windows, I often take other interesting shots, too, like this bizarre array of bath dolls at P!Q, the Japanese gift store in Hudson Yards.

The Oculus and one of the 9/11 Memorial pools, under repair, looked beautiful the night I caught "Queen Bitch" at the Perelman Center for the Performing Arts.

This beach cruiser display at Madison Apothecary reminded me of my imminent departure for Lake Worth Beach.  Too bad the Colony has stopped promoting Thursday as gay night. Whatever will I do with my new pocket square?