Surfed.

I had seen an earlier draft of this painting, and now I am super-excited to this image of the final version (see below) of former studiomate Chris Leib's latest painting. As it happens, the subject of the painting is fellow painter and surfer (and my former studio neighbor over at the Art Explosion) Kevin Pincus. Let's hear it for San Francisco painters, whooo!!! The painting below is available/will be on display via Cain Schulte Gallery in San Francisco and Berlin:

Surfed, 16" x 16", oil on canvas, 2008, by Chris Leib.

Joyeux Noel.

On my last day in Philadelphia, I had the thoroughly pleasant surprise of running into Philadelphia painter Scott Noel, for whom I worked for a bit of time back in the early/mid-90s. In addition to being an excellent painter, Scott may very well be the nicest person on earth. No, definitely is the nicest person on earth. No question. So, if you're ever in Philadelphia, be sure to check out his work - he shows at Gross McCleaf Gallery down on 16th Street near Rittenhouse Square. Here's an example of his painting, which is usually still life or figurative, or a combination thereof, sometimes with an allegorical bent, usually in his signature pastel palette. Enjoy:

Orpheus and Eurydice, oil on linen, 54" x 50", by Scott Noel.

Sketchy.

I made use of my train-time traveling on NJ Transit and SEPTA in between NYC and Philadelphia and New Brunswick and Jenkintown and Langhorne and so on and so on by sketching fellow passengers. It's that whole stealth, art-ninja thing... kind of like I was describing about my other blog in this previous post about sketching while on the BART train between Oakland and San Francisco. Anyway, here are some samples from the past week's sketching adventures:

Oh, and here's a little one of a jazz musician in Rittenhouse Square, in Philadelphia:

Philadelphia photo roundup.

Here are some more photos from the phabulous Philly experience:

A groovy mural, one of many in the city, likely a project of the awesome Mural Arts Program in Philly.

More cool Philly art: leftover part of an art installation for this month's First Friday event, up under the train trestle around 11th and Vine - beautiful little teeny lanterns. Apparently on First Friday it was accompanied by a mini-performance of people "playing" water glasses under there in the tunnel, for a unique acoustic effect.

Doron's cat, channeling the Crazy and going all postal on my handbag. Yipe.

I cannot - repeat, cannot - resist a turret. This one is in Northern Liberties, and I want it.

More turret, because I can't get enough.

Doron and a random mop lurking behind him.

FASTERMAN!!!! A.k.a. MILO. He's got a helmet in case he goes too fast.

More cool, old, urban, crusty architecture from Philly. I love it. Click on the image and check out the cool shape above each doorway - is there a name for that treatment? Let me know if you know....

Father/son negotiations underway.

On the way back up to NYC. I will always, always love this sign - it manages to be simultaneously boastful and whiny: Come ooooonnn, World, I always make you great things, and you always take, take, take, you never call, you never write, blah blah blah...

Phun in Philly.

I traveled down to Philadelphia on Saturday. Was supposed to go see Greg's latest paintings at his studio, but these plans fell through, alas... I did get to see Alex in his studio next door, though, and then another painter friend in the same building. Excellent painters, all, and good people too – here I am in in Alex's studio, and then Tom in his own studio:

Death by Art.

Tom in his studio.

Tom's art in Tom's studio.

Later that evening another friend and I were at a party and I met an artist who went through the MFA program at the San Francisco Art Institute but who now teaches at Tyler School of Art in Philly. She has some really interesting work, and it looks tremendously painstaking - large in size and done predominantly in ink, often ballpoint pen. Good stuff, check her out – her name is Samantha Simpson.

Earlier today (Sunday) I went to visit some friends from college who I haven't seen in over a decade (yipes!) – it's a shame that we lost touch for a bit there, alas. Anyway, they live in the northern 'burbs of Philadelphia these days, and I had no idea that area was such lush, and beautiful, and green, and full of turn-of the century houses, and all chock full of charm, and such – here's an example:

Wyncote, PA: luscious.

NYC photo roundup.

Voilà, some photos from NYC.

Groovy Yayoi Kusama installation at Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea.

Susan's gorgeous painting of a cow from Argenton-Château. Or should I say "vache"-? Anyway, sorry this photo is a bit blurry and washed-out, because it's a beautiful little painting. Mmm, vache.

Somehow I never get tired of the mosiacs in the NYC metro stations... especially when they're of cute birds.

And I also LOVE surprises!! Surprise! Surprise!

And who doesn't love William Morris-y wallpaper? Found in a friend's office building in SoHo.

Suddenly, Susan! Ta-da! Surprise! Surprise!

Even more surprising? This merger of Spock and Marilyn. It works surprisingly well - but is it Smock? Marilock? Sparilyn? You decide.

OMG, there's, like, a factory somewhere cranking out these creepy chef sculptures. Shudder. Let's hope they're not planning world domination, in a culinary sense or otherwise...

Creepy chef sculpture variant.

Whoa. This is very "Sex and the City" in every way possible, no? No doubt they sell Manolo Blahhhhhhhniks.

Even owls get excited about New York pizza...

Chipmunk at the Evolution Store. Chipmunks: cute, even in death.

Reassuring news when one is on the subway...

Meet the Met.

I am ridiculously naïve for thinking that there is any feasible way to fit in all of the things I wanted to do in NYC this visit within the time constraints I created for myself. A key example of that is the sad realization that, no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise, one cannot possibly do a quick drive-through of the Met just to check out a couple of paintings and take a "quick peek" at a fairly comprehensive retrospective (centenary exhibition, actually) of one of the most fascinatingly twisted painters of the 20th century. Alas, this is just not possible. No. Part of the issue is that I had forgotten this museum was in possession of such a treasure trove of awesome paintings. So, the earlier part of yesterday was consumed by the Met's European painting wing, getting some quality face-time with Bastien-Lepage's Joan of Arc, failing to find Sargent’s Madame X, and, of course, drooling my way through the Bacon exhibit. By the time I was done, there was no time to go over to the Brooklyn Museum for the Caillebotte exhibition, though I managed to convince myself I would have time for that next Tuesday sometime. We’ll see about that.

Joan of Arc - painting by Jules Bastien-Lepage

A painting by Franz von Lenbach - see this previous post for info on my visit to the Lenbachhaus in Munich...

And here's a nice (if blurry, sorry about the photo quality) one by Ilya Repin, I didn't realize they had any of his work...

...nor did I realize they had any by an old favorite of mine, Eugène Carrière - but, lo and behold, here he is. I know most people love a colorful painting, but his monochromatic palette is somehow most pleasing to me... as for modern painters, I think Michael Grimaldi leans a bit in this direction as well - and beautifully so.

After a stroll through Central Park and some forays into fabric stores and such, Susan and I found the NYC shop of Parisian chocolate shop Debauve et Gallais, and later I met up with lovely and talented fellow painter/fellow Studio Escalier student Sarah in the great café at the Neue Galerie. In the evening Susan and I went over to the Joyce Theater to check out the latest offering by MOMIX entitled "Botanica" – a breathtaking combination of dance, performance/fabric art and visual effects that I found to be extremely engaging. RECOMMENDED! Tragically, the high cost of theater tickets kept us from venturing out to see Mike Birbiglia's "Sleep Walk With Me" or Neil La Bute's "Reasons to Be Pretty" – but MOMIX was splendid, I'm glad I saw it. It's been too long since I’ve seen some good dance. Right on!