art x 21

21 days in NYC. 21 works of art.

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One of the many unique forms on Umberto Boccioni's sculpture 'Unique Forms of Continuity in Space'. A real privilege to see as I teach about this particular sculpture in my job. I filmed the whole sculpture while walking around it - it's stunning from every angle. It's like the 'Victory of Samothrace', but machine-like, de-humanised. So Modernist.

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On my third last day in New York I visited the Museum of Arts and Design. I looked at two amazing exhibitions; one on glass and one on wood. Both had works that spanned the spectrum of design, where the emphasis is materiality and the relationship between form and function; and visual arts, where the emphasis is on meaning, as expressed through materiality and aesthetics.

My drawing is of an artwork in the wood exhibition by Courtney Smith. Above it is the reflection of the charcoal parts of the drawing, a result of not being able to take fixative on my travels which would stop the charcoal impressing on the opposite page when the book is closed. I kept it for this reason, because even though the quality of the original is slightly diminished, it's a kind of fossil of the circumstance.

To explain the artwork itself, here’s a quote from the plaque in the exhibition: “‘Santo Antonio’ is a presentation of ‘mutant’ or ‘fungal’ interventions in plywood on the surface and within the form of a conventionally styled piece of furniture. The resulting sculpture begs the question of function, structural integrity and authorship as Smith ‘intrudes’ on existing design elements."

You can see a picture of the sculpture here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/garden/against-the-grain-exhibition-opens-at-museum-of-arts-and-design.html?_r=0

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Often when we were walking through NYC we would feel drops of water fall on us from the air conditioning units of the apartments above. If I was a poet I'd write a little ditty, because the idiosyncrasy of this experience felt like it could be stitched into a whimsical description of New York. But, seeing as I'm not, here's a doodle for you. These air conditioning units were everywhere, wedged like this, afterthought-like, into every second window of EVERY apartment building. It surprised me that there could be such a universal design solution to the problem of humidity and heat (I had a similar thought about the fire escapes which are as universal and afterthought-ish, and so iconic of New York). It horrified me somewhat at the thought of how much carbon was being emitted into the atmosphere every minute of every day (and night!). (NB: if one home switches to a fan from air con it will reduce its carbon emission by 550kg in a year. That's half a tonne! Link to source website below). But, I confess (!) I used it myself, and lavishly too. http://www.savepower.nsw.gov.au/households/power-saving-tips/heating-cooling-and-insulation/use-fans-instead-of-air-conditioning.aspx

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For the past week we've been staying in an apartment in Long Island City (Queens) with another sojourner. Tito Casal, a Brazilian, is a photographer attending a summer photography intensive here in New York City. It's been fun being able to share observations about this place with a fellow alien; and of course see another artist's take on New York. This artwork is the result of a challenge from Tito to recreate one if his photos. Not from New York but Brazil, this photo shows an Afro-Brazilian prostrating before a religious leader. The religion is called Candomblé, a kind of animistic belief system developed in Brazil by the African slaves brought over between 1549 and 1888 (according to Wikipedia). Tito has done a series of photographs, some of which were stuck on the fridge as magnets he'd made for the owner of our apartment. This was my favourite. Tito intentionally made the image very dark so that the content is somewhat ambiguous. It could be a doll, or even a dress with no body. The feet and the orientation provide enough clues to the image though. I like it because the whole image is about the action; the woman's identity is reduced solely to her complete resignation, which is Tito's title for this image. I've shown my ink drawing and the photograph here, so that you can see Tito's work. The drawing seems to have the affect of abstracting the image even more.

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My 4th of July post (late like all of these). Two flags inspired by Claes Oldenburg's flags which I saw at the Museum of Modern Art on Independence Day. You can see some of them here: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2013/oldenburg/ I like Oldenburg's better than mine. They show the power of a visual icon in terms of its recognizability, even when reducing it to the barest of details. And, the US flag would want to be recognisable since it is absolutely everywhere here- there is no shame! Maybe appropriately, my materials were bags and packaging from various purchases we've made.

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Say what you will about Modernism, but it produced some exquisite buildings. I learnt about Frank Lloyd Wright in year 10, and since then have been awaiting the day when I could walk through his architecture. In particular I wanted to visit this building, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. And it didn’t disappoint.

The circle is the beginning and end for the Guggenheim. This is obvious in the elegant corkscrew forming the main body of the building. And, obvious even on the pavement in the external space immediate to the building, the segments of which are tangentially connected circles. The concave diamonds formed between these circles are the hint to the rest of the building’s details; often formed by intriguing relationships between circles. My favourite detail was the almond shaped columns, the cross-section like the middle of a Venn diagram.

All of these circle relationships started me reminiscing about year 12 maths (which I have sadly forgotten). And this is perhaps what I liked most about being in this architecture: it sublimely brought together art and mathematics, and it felt centred and quiet, subtle and complex.

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The Brooklyn Bridge. I loved the confused spray of lines from the pylons. As we walked it, the tangle of lines clarified into webs of parallelograms and rhombuses. It brought the maths teacher out of me, especially as I spotted other plane shapes: circles, triangles, rectangles and even hexagons. I got a photo that contained all of these to take to my year 7 class for a 'how many shapes can you see?' competition.

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At the end of almost everyday this is basically what my feet look like. This city's floor is positively disgusting. Not surprisingly, I haven't seen any people wearing Havaianas, the ubiquitous footwear of Australian summer!

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Another small detail from Hephzibah House: the claw and ball foot of a bath tub. A quick sketch for the sake of getting sleep!

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The inscription on this piece tells of the meaning and reason for the beautiful quilts throughout Hephzibah House, the guest house we've been staying at. I have loved staying here because the whole place really feels like it has stories stitched into its very architecture. Quilts have so much symbolic potential which I love. Also a nod to the diverse subway mosaics, this artwork is an impression of the chaos and order, block by block, that makes up the so admired character of this city.

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My husband thinks that if you knew a thing or two about coffee and cool you could tap into a pioneering market here in New York City. It is definitely possible to find some very nice coffee here, despite the savage tastes prevalent in the States. However, it helps to have a few recommendations, and perhaps a guide to know the signposts to look out for. It’s neither complete nor perfect (in fact it’s a bit rough), but here’s my attempt at the latter of these. Enjoy :)

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We’ve just changed to a new accommodation; a charming, four storey home for those in Christian ministry travelling to or through the Big Apple. It has many curiosities and quaint details. This one is a joint on my white tubular bed - a quick sketch as I was tired!

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The Staton Island ferry gave a welcome breather from the imposing chaos within Manhattan. As we were riding toward the city we were greeted by this magnificent sky, benignly dwarfing New York. A lesson in perspective perhaps.

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This one’s a miniature because I was sitting in the bleachers in Yankee Stadium when I took the photo (where everything looks miniature!). The sun was setting behind us, which meant the line of apartment buildings along the horizon had beautifully golden windows glinting at us. I haven’t been able to catch that here, but the other thing I noticed was that they were exactly what I imagined the Bronx to look like: brown, blocky, identical homes, lining street after street.

I’m a tad behind on my art making (apologies to the more attentive). It seems to work to do a couple every second night (at the expense of sleep unfortunately!).

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My artwork from yesterday's visit to the exquisitely Art Deco Rockefeller Center. This segment from the top of the building reminded me so much of Nosferatu and other Weimar gothic films. This drawing is done in waterproof ink. I'm kind of regretting getting the waterproof as its less forgiving. Still, I'm looking forward to hopefully getting better at this medium as I love the way it looks.

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My first true New York artwork (only 2 days late!) is an impression of the space inside Redeemer West Side, the church we went to on Sunday morning. The thing that struck me was how calm and clean it felt inside, much like the strictly Protestant church interiors of Northern Europe in the 17th Century, where their simple, imageless aesthetic came from their staunch iconoclasm that rejected the obsession with images of the Roman Catholic Church. After walking through Times Square yesterday, also a Baroque-esque cacophony of images, it struck me that the Redeemer space made perfect sense in this culture, just as it did in Northern Europe.

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So, technically the first and last of my 21 days in NYC will be spent in the air. Here are some of my creative meanderings on the flight...