Saturday, July 09, 2005

We are going to be in New York City at the end of July, but only for a couple of days, before escaping to the Shore. I want to make the most of my time there, and have been reviewing the gallery exhibitions. Must see some art!

The MOMA has an exhibition which sounds intriguing, an examination of the development of the High Line. "Comprising a series of gardens in the form of pits, plains, bridges, mounds, ramps, and flyovers situated along the twenty-two-block expanse, the project aims to create and preserve experiences of slowness, otherworldliness, and distraction."

Friends of the High Line
Wander through here. Excellent site! This is an amazing idea, wouldn't you love to work on a project like this!?!

And a trip to NYC is never complete without a walk to the Guggenheim. The building gives me shivers, and the paintings inside always inspire me. The exhibition of Hilla Rebay's work looks to be promising, check out her collages of women!

Also, should check out Parsons School of Design. Their graduation exhibition is happening right now, should be a good source of inspiration ...
Two days will not be enough. I know this already.


Chuck Close. I just finished reading a fantastic book about him, written by John Guare, designed by Chip Kidd. There are some thoughts of Chuck's that are worth keeping to memory.

"One of the things the sixties was about was a belief in the process, a belief that the process would set you free. All you had to do was follow the process wherever it would take you. ... Richard Serra and Robert Smithson, my contemporaries, all of us coming up together at the same time, had a belief that if you only have the courage to back yourself into your own corner you would find your way out, but if you stay in the middle of the room you'll be with everyone else and only everybody else's solution will occur to you. We believed that problem creating was more interesting than problem solving, that if you can ask yourself the interesting question, the solution will come, that you must purge yourself of the ghosts of everyone else's solutions by putting yourself in the position where none of their answers is applicable."


You have to admire someone who emerges from such an event in their life and continues to produce stunning, deep, beautiful work. It's hard enough sometimes to get pen to paper, and yet Chuck Close breaks through his hardship, and produces. I think this is a result of his years of practise - he will find a way, because painting is what he does. I keep this in mind when I want to start new habits, or want to break old ones, that it is only in the practise that it will come to pass.