Moving Right Along...



Three days in Raleigh, NC; two days in NY; one in Singapore, and then three in Seoul.

The two days in NY were my first two vacation days of the year. Didn't see as many galleries and museums as I would have liked to. Mostly I went from one part of Manhattan to another meeting my friends.

Saw McCoy Tyner and Joe Lovano play at Blue Note last Friday. (WOW. Yeah, Blue Note is ridiculously expensive but they bring in some really cool stuff.) And on Saturday Terry, Bim, Mark and I went to MOMA for the Richard Serra exhibit. These are HUGE metal sculptures that you look at from the inside, outside, from around. Serra's work was some of the first that I saw when I'd first moved to NY in 2001. At that time it was an exhibition in Chelsea and we could actually touch them. His sculptures are so richly textured you just want to. But at the MOMA, the guards will come and lecture you because it really can damage the metal.

After that we had lunch at The Modern. Great service, great decor, great food - just the right portions. Had this great cocktail with rose petals called Coming Up Roses (it sounded so sissy I was thinking...how strong could it actually be!) But took three sips and had to give it to one of the guys. The room was turning clockwise. Bim's foie gras was excellent, Terry's duck was great, my oysters/ caviar was great. The pannacotta was kinda icky and runny. But man- everything else! Even the loos. Really good way to cap off a morning of art.

Also made it to the ICP. http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.1196903/k.692/Current_Exhibitions.htm

Saw a Stephen Shore exhibit called Biographical Landscape. Landscapes are not usually my "thing". But Shore's bare, stark images of American towns and cities, shot b/t '69 and '79, felt like frozen slivers of an era. It was almost impossible not to pause at the large format images - mostly absent of people - and think about the invisible lives behind them: an empty highway, a despondent looking car next to a kerb. Totally worth a visit.