MAD, consumer.

Last night Susan and I went to the Museum of Art and Design ("MAD") on Columbus Circle. I'd actually never heard of it before, and though the organization has been around for decades, I gather their current building and location is relatively new - as in, within the past couple of years. I didn't expect to be quite as charmed as I was by the current exhibit of industrial ceramics – "Object Factory", but the creativity/innovation/overall awesomeness displayed in the works of the exhibit's contributing artists was actually quite astounding. You can see more at the previously highlighted link for the exhibition. Go for it.

So as mentioned, I indeed delved into some Consumerism yesterday, in the form of mostly benign (and easy-on-the-wallet) snooping around in the Strand and then some of the cheapo shops in SoHo before meeting up briefly with the lovely and amazing Rachel. As usual, the siren song of H&M lured me in, fortunately with minimal impact upon my finances. Ditto for Uniqlo, which I have had a hard time warming to, largely due to their vast and monotonous stock of such things as, say, polo shirts in 50 different colors. This bores me. However, I was able to find a deeply discounted shirt of which I am fond:

Who can resist a Dalmatian-y print? And to the tune of $5 USD? Not me, that's who. Woof.

I briefly stopped into the recently-opened (and much ballyhooed) NY location of the UK's Topshop – and quickly realized this was not the place for me... man, there were way too many sequins in there, thank God I got out before I had a seizure or something. I can't take that much SHINY. TOO SHINY. My GOD.

So as for the book front: the art section of the Strand – despite being populated by SUPER cranky book stockers (their employees have enough angry energy to either power a small country, or to spontaneously blow it up with the sheer force of their negativity) – was wholly enlightening in that I learned of a Francis Bacon show which just opened up at the Met. Now I just have to decide whether I can fit this into the agenda of gallery and museum sightings, or whether I'm Baconed out from previous shows I've seen at the Centre Pompidou and the Musée Maillol and such... but we shall see. I am definitely fond of the Bacon... stay tuned.

No St. Vincent. Oops.

So yesterday's post turned out to be a huge lie in that I didn't end up making it to St. Vincent after all... though I reeeally would have loved to see her live, I ended up spending last night getting caught up with a friend from high school who I hadn't seen in 20 years (auugh!!!) Yes, I am ancient. So, though I missed the concert the catching-up was totally worth it. Twenty years' worth of livin' takes a while to make up for. So, yay!

I meant to devote some time in yesterday's post to praise-heaping for my friend Alex's solo show at J. Cacciola Gallery show in Chelsea. His work is chronically divine, a transcendent experience for anyone who is in love with the violent beauty of paint. Did that make sense? Probably not. But his paintings, they make so much sense. Here's a peek:

These paintings by Alex Kanevsky.

Also nice was seeing another friend's painting in a group show over at Gallery Henoch:

This painting by David Graeme Baker; it looked absolutely lovely in person, both wispy and wistful in the best ways possible.

Today I am going to break from the art world temporarily to engage in crass, crappy, corrosively capitalistic commerce: it's SoHo or bust, baby. More soon.

Chelsea, lately.

Oh my, I think I have a case of art burnout. No, not really - I just hit Chelsea today and I hit it hard - my head hurts. Despite the overload, though, really, it was art lover's heaven. So many galleries, too little time. I had an agenda, but was easily sidetracked by many excellent discoveries along the way. I'll have to post more when I have the time, but one of the several highlights was an exhibition of German painter Silke Schöner at Dillon Gallery - this artist has a great way of using white space to great effect in her paintings. Also interesting was Scott Anderson at Stux Gallery, he actually has a really great artists statement to go along with his work, about fallen heroes and apocalyptic scenarios and, well, chaos. Worth looking at, and thinking about. Check it out.

More soon - gotta go see/hear St. Vincent, once I wade through the movie they seem to be filming in front of Susan's apartment here in the East Village. Yipes.

Northerly.

I'm headed off for the next week or so to New York and Philadelphia, so updates here will be few and far between if they come at all. It's mostly a social and goof-off trip, of which John was supposed to be a part... however, given the recent cat-related health crisis, he will stay home with Huey and I will venture forth. I'm hoping to see some art while I'm up there, including a friend's exhibition in NYC and some other gallery/museum shows and so forth... I'll post updates at a later date. Hopefully I'll get some sketching in along the way, like the following sketches I was able to sneak in while passing through the airport in Las Vegas a number of years ago:

'tis the season: les pivoines.

Man, I'll miss our awesome friends/fellow artists here in Raleigh when we move back to California. Some of said friends bought these flowers for ole Huey, having heard of his hospitalization:Very sweet, no? I told Huey that there were flowers for him at home... maybe that's what's speeding his recovery. That, and wanting to get the IV tubes out of his neck.

Speaking of flowers, my head was turned by some lovely peonies I spied during a trip to Whole Foods this weekend. Yay North Carolina peonies! I love peonies – I decided they're my second-favorite flower, a close second to lilacs. Apparently the peonies are in season here in NC currently, so I picked up some local fleurs with the intent to paint them. Naturally I did not end up having the time to do so, but I did manage to get in a little bit of sketching:

And here's a photo of the peonies themselves, lovely little peonies! Wish it could be scratch 'n' sniff, because they have a perfectly delicate scent. Rose-y, but not overwhelming.

Huey update.

So our dear Huey, a newly-diagnosed diabetic who was suffering a bout of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), is actually finally getting better... he went into the vet hospital on Wednesday night and was looking very, very bad for a while there – completely lethargic, to the point of not opening his eyes or moving, really, when we visited him. But he's made quite a turnaround in the past 24 hours, and is even eating solid food as of tonight. Yay! There's still progress to be made in stabilizing his blood sugar levels, but things are looking up. Needless to say, we're relieved. Here he is in healthier times, helping out Emmy with some cleaning (much to Emmy's surprise):

And here he is, reaching out to Emmy, unannounced. Hey.

P.S. Despite appearances to the contrary, Huey does not spend 100% of his time harassing Emmy. Only 80%. He's just full of lovin'.

Lungevity.

Oh by the way, I just donated a painting to a silent auction, part of a fundraising gala event for the Lungevity Foundation, a non-profit funding lung cancer research and support for patients. More information can be found at this link.

Voilà, here's the painting I donated:

bayside, oil on panel, 16"x20", by me, Diane Feissel.