Last #Knicks game at MSG

I grew up in a house that mostly watched football- Florida Gator football actually. I played soccer in high school as well as had a very short career in basketball. But the sport I have always enjoyed watching more than anything is basketball. So last year when my husband and I decided to get season tickets to the Knicks, I was more than overjoyed.

It was a very dramatic year, because of the lock-out, change of coaches, injuries, an undiscovered player becoming a media star and, a role reversal between our two star players. Through all of this, (as many New York Knicks fan know), our team was not the best this year. But that did not stop us from cheering and screaming our heads off in support of them.

These last shots were taken at the Game 4 of the Knicks/Heat playoff series. It was the first game they won in the last 13 tries in the playoffs.

This year I found a new young player that I loved. Iman Shumpert is one of those players that I think could become a great NBA star. I’m sure for an injured player to watch a game like this one, it must have been very difficult emotionally. But when I asked to take a photo with him, he could not have been nicer.

Through the Tent- Frieze 2012

When we exited the tent on Randall’s Island the clouds had parted and a beautiful sunny day emerged. The tent had these long strips attached to the top that came down over the front entrance. I loved the way the sky looked in between them.

Frieze New York 2012 Post 3

More of Frieze. Judging from the 2 previous posts I obviously loved a lot of it.

Robert Longo – I love Longo’s pieces. I don’t know anyone that can deny how wonderful his drawings are. The ones below (Jet) and (Untitled (Old Glory, North & South) were simply framed which made the drawings stand out even more.

Antonis Donef – Untitled – One of the themes of the fair was what looked like people drawing on newspapers. There was a range from, literally looking like doodles on the style section of the New York Times to the piece like the below.  The one below was more interesting to me because of the collage aspect. It reminded me of a map.

Mindy Shapero – Not titled yet - First I enjoyed the title immensely. Often artists are pressured to name their pieces -so I liked the anti-name.  The starburst-like forms and texture from the cut-outs were what attracted me most. But I also felt like it was very similar to the Bharti Kher piece below.

Bharti Kher – Stardust II – Saw pieces by this artist last year at the Armory show. Still enjoy her colors and style. I also loved that it was on a mirror.

Paulina Olowska – Natascha – I love the neon Russian theme. But what I thought was interesting was this artist’s other piece at the fair was so different. I really appreciate artists that are so diverse because so many believe you have to check only one box in the art world.

Sophie von Hellermann - September 01(explosion) - Such a wonderful set of paintings. It’s one of those things that could only be in a gallery or museum.

Ghada Amer – White Bang – Thought this piece was interesting from a far but then when I went up close and saw the faces, thought it was so cool. It felt like angels going towards the light.

Tom Sachs Principal – Flow Diagram

David Brian Smith – Bowerbird - Loved the texture and color. It reminded me of a quilt.

Danny McDonald – Have no clue how his pieces relate to each other but I thought they were cute.

Joshua Abelow – Represented by James Fuentes and took over his entire booth. I liked the way the drawings and the paintings were displayed. I think there is a lot of potential but it’s still a little rough for me.

Jennifer Rubell – Lysa I – The fair’s most popular interactive artwork. A life size Barbie doll female mannequin turned on its side that doubled as a functioning nutcracker. It was fun to play with!

Wasn’t a specific piece of art that I know of but I really liked this seating area.

To see my other posts about Frieze in New York click HERE & HERE

Frieze New York 2012 Post 2

Continued from the previous post. The following are more of what I liked at Frieze.

Matthew Day Jackson – Anatomical Drawing (Seas/Oceans = Nervous System)

Dwight Mackintosh – I liked the movement of these drawings.

Jack Pierson – Anything Helps - Cool signage but not sure why you could not make it yourself.

Merlin James – Garden

Jim Shaw – Bone Sculpture – Loved this piece. It first reminded me of roots of a tree. Then I saw the drawings and I felt like they were tortured souls trapped inside. It was kind of creepy but also alluring and modern. Thought if it had been a little shorter then it would have been a amazing table (which I know is not the point).

Banks Violette – Untitled (88) – Old looking signage never gets old for me. These were actually almost 6ft tall so I’m not sure where you could put them. Maybe in a garden?

Gert & Uwe Tobias – Untitled (GUT/1880) - Saw a painting/print from these guys at the Saatchi gallery in London. There is something odd about the pieces that make complete sense to me. I think big things are going to happen for them.

Brian Calvin – Memory of a Sister (Eva) – Similar in style to Alex Katz but I liked the color changes from one to the other. Stirring without much detail.

Paulina Olowska -I can’t really put a finger on why I liked this but, I thought it was peaceful and pleasing from the beginning.

Casey Kaplan - The simplicity and texture on these paintings were phenomenal. It’s so rare that you see something so detailed.

Gary Hume – Pink Lips

George Condo – Lost in Chartres – A little too pop art for me but I liked the colors.

Paul McCarthy – White Snow Dwarf, Sleepy #1 (Midget) - I loved Snow White when I was little so I thought this was cute. Found it a little disturbing when I saw the back was falling out. I don’t think Disney would be happy.

Elliott Hundley – A Clearing V - Hard to tell what is going on here but its pins with paper and photos attached to them.

Aaron Young – Drives a motorcycle over the panels to circular patterns. I like the movement and patterns that were created on the red background.

Still not at the end. More to come later today.

 

Frieze New York 2012 Post 1

I have been very excited that Frieze was coming to New York. Usually this art fair is only in London and I have never been able to go. Plus I have heard that it is always great. Frieze in New York did not disappoint. This fair was not targeted towards big money buyers like most of the other fairs but, it did have some expensive pieces. It was an edgy, fresh breathe of contemporary art.

180 galleries from all over the world set up their booths through a snake-like tent on Randall’s Island. At first the tent seemed to be endless, but then we seemed to lose track of time and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Here are the things I liked best.

Christoph Büchel’s “Shoe Tree” installation, outside the entrance to the fair. -First thing you saw when you walked up to the tent. All I could think of was how much fun it was to make.

Haegue Yang – Double Mountain – Trustworthy X #148

Francesco Vezzoli – TUA (Portrait of Dolly Parton after Palma il Vecchio and Ambrosius Bosschaert) – Dolly Parton mixed with a classic Italian painting. I wonder how she would feel about this?

Damien Hirst – I Want You Too – What does the title have anything to do with dead fish?

Yayoi Kusama - Fell in love with her work when I was in London. I really liked the odd nature of the elements in this painting. It reminded me of something that you would see under water.

Tracey Emin – Most of her work I think is overrated but seeing the drawings, tapestry, and neon pieces together was quite interesting.

Tracey Emin – Past Reflection

Tracey Emin – She Lay Down Deep Beneath The Sea

Michael Bauer – Blahi-BF-H.S.O.P.-36 – Usually something like this does not appeal to me but the combination of elements and the subtle colors did.

Barbara Kruger – Too big to Fail – Overheard a business man loving this, which amused me. Graphically it’s interesting but I don’t know if it should cost as much as it does.

Alex Katz – White Roses – Classically beautiful. Really large canvas though.

Hüseyin Bahri Alptekin - Love Lace - An easy please but fun regardless. You can not tell from this photo but the piece was actually quite large.

Ellen Lesperance – I really liked the way that these pieces were presented. In the glass case is the drawn pattern for the knitted piece in the drawer.

Wolfgang Tillmans – Kilimanjaro – Hard to tell what this photo was in the photo below but, just imagine a night photo where you can see so many stars it’s hard to believe it’s real.

I had so many things that I liked that it would have been too long to put in one post. Look out for more to come!

Happened upon Trellick Tower

One thing that was really interesting to me about London was that in really upscale areas there would also be public housing. When I refer to public housing, I mean housing that is geared towards lower income people. This was true in North Kensington near Portobello Road.

I walked all the way to the end to Portobello and happened upon Trellick Tower (aka The Edenham Street project). There was something about this building that appealed to me and I did not know why. The design was modern 60s and it looked like the building had fallen on some hard times.

I later learned that in the late ’70s Trellick Tower had a very poor reputation for crime (rapes in lifts and staircases, children attacked by drug addicts)and other anti-social behavior. However, with the introduction of the ‘right to buy’ council homes, many of the flats were bought by the tenants. Recently private properties inside the tower (September 2007) were selling for between £250,000 for a one-bedroom flat to £480,000 for three-bedrooms, while the tower itself has become something of a local cult landmark.

Snapshot of London

London can be interesting because a lot of the city is steeped in traditions, history and, old architecture. Throughout the city elements of the past were contained in everything, even the new things. Coming from America it was an odd feeling to have because our history is so young in comparison.

Trafalgar Square is a plaza in central London built around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its center is Nelson’s Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art. The square is also used for political demonstrations and community gatherings, such as the celebration of New Year’s Eve.

Before moving on I thought I would show a photo of Trafalgar Square to show how much it has not changed. The photo is around 1890-1900.

‘Powerless Structures, Fig. 101′ by artist duo Elmgreen and Dragset is a bronze statue of a boy on a rocking horse which adorns Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. The artists have said that the sculpture makes a serious point. “Why do we have this tradition to put people on horse back if they have won a battle? What do we want to say by doing that? We thought maybe we should celebrate some generations to come and hope that there will be a future where we won’t have to have so many war monuments”.

Teapots at Fortnum and Mason- one of the best tea shops in London. (Which I recently found out sells some of the tea through Williams Sonoma).

I saw so many beautiful cars in London, just parked on the street. This one was by far the best.

A typical phone booth in London (but who uses them anymore?)

A display outside of a shoe shop. I didn’t know whether these things were for free or not.

The entrance to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London is a wrought iron gate which is said to contain every plant and animal species that Shakespeare has ever mentioned in his works.

Rudy Weller’s Three Graces atop the Criterion Building adjacent to Piccadilly Circus.

Inscription in front of the following sculpture for the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) which is an armored regiment of the British Army. The official regimental motto is Fear Naught while unofficial motto (signified also by the colors of the tactical recognition flash) is “From Mud, Through Blood to the Green Fields Beyond.”

I just loved the way this townhouse looked.

See more of my London photos HERE

Through the Windows

I love shop window design. I believe the ones that do it right are usually on the higher end because, they understand that a window has the power to bring in new costumers or change the way someone sees the brand.

I took these photos back in March and now I have seen that some of the window designs have hopped the pond over to America. I still love them though.

Simple but elegant and a little fun. Saw this in Paris.

I thought these doll’s heads were kind of creepy to sell love knot rings

Sweets/Bakery in Paris

I loved these Louis Vuitton arrows. Thought the colors were great.

Alexander McQueen windows

Shoes celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

Prada

London Zoo- A Sad Giraffe

If you cut across the North side of Regents Park in London, you walk right through the London zoo. It was quite a shock because 100ft from the public walkway were actual large animals.

I used to love zoos until I went on Safari five years ago. When you see animals in the wild and you realize how much space they need, and then you see a city zoo with large animals, you start to feel like those zoos are punishment to the animals. This is how I felt when I saw the giraffes in the London Zoo. Three giraffes in an enclosure that may have been 150ft x 50ft with a small house. It seemed cruel.

London Flowers

The gardens in London are some of the best manicured ones I have ever seen. Not only are the parks wonderful but the smaller gardens around the houses are quite wonderful also.

Loved the archway on this house.