Arts and Streets in November

Canstruction near WTC

Ever wondered what you can make with canned foods? Check out annual sculpture competition for a good cause. I enjoyed all sculptures but thought it was really impressive to see a Yoshi.

http://www.sdanyc.org/canstruction/

Sunset over NJ (looking from Battery Park City near the water)

Love the color of sunset!

Street Scene

I saw this while walking around uptown (possibly west side) and just had to take a pic.

The Met Egyptian Tour

Ok, so you have been to the Metropolitan Museum, but did you ever take one of their guided tours (http://www.metmuseum.org/events/programs/met-tours/guided-tours)? I have been to several tours including Art of Islam, Great Rooms, Museum Highlights, and Art of Greek/Roman. Recently I took the one featuring Art of Egypt and learned about this female ruler Hatshepsut (http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/544450). The gallery featuring her statues and other temple objects quickly became one of my new favorite Egypt galleries.

Hunting Cherry Blossoms in Snow: DC Trip

While most people are satisfied with photos from their trip, I like to write about it. This means that after I finally uploading photos, I’m still not done. Taking trip notes helps this blogging process but self-selection and editing renders most of those notes useless. Similar to my IndieCade blog write up (link here), I’ll capture only the highlights. What better to represent highlights than my single sighting of a cherry blossom tree! Since I booked my trip before the cherry blossom forecast, I was in DC too early to see proper peak season around the Tidal Basin. Peak season this year is April 3-6.

Day 1: Monument Walk

J. and I stayed at a place within walking distance from the National Mall which meant we were also quite close to the monuments and main cherry blossom walk around the tidal basin. We passed the Washington Monument (still under construction after last year’s earthquake), World World II Memorial (fountain was off), and Martin Luther King’s Memorial before reaching Jefferson Memorial. Below is a photo from across the Tidal Basin. It was a warm day and we were able to walk around the monuments and memorials without the usual crowd. Mostly likely everyone was more on top of the cherry blossom forecast than I was.

There were also a number of treasures inside the Smithsonian Castle. My favorite item is the cup&saucer set designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Day 2: Catching Up

B. moved closer to the metro recently so of course we had to crash his place. We browsed through the Netflix selection and watched Thor (with snarky commentary of course). Overall it was a decent movie and makes me want to read more about the series and find that children’s book on illustrated Norse Mythology. Prior to this, my only exposure to Thor was through reading Marvel Civil War. His character didn’t really make an impression on me (not going to spoil it for the rest of you). Most of the other highlights of Day 2 were food related so I will leave that for later in the post.

Day 3: Sculpture Garden in the Snow

I’ve been to the National Gallery Sculpture Garden (see my fav sculpture) and the Ice Rink but somehow missed the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden all these years frequenting the National Mall. While I was waiting for the museums and galleries to open at 10:30am, I wandered around the mall and found this sculpture garden. Perfectly timed with light snow falling. Most of the signs indicating artist names were snowed over so I will have to update this next time I get the names.

Food Round-up

We ended up going to eat in Gallery Place / Chinatown several times.

• Gordon Biersch http://www.gordonbiersch.com
  Long wait for dinner but once you get going, great food, drinks, and service. I wasn’t crazy about the Miso Mahi but J’s Märzen burger looked good.
  Märzen: our favorite beer (I found this while my family tried the beer sampler at another location).
• Crepe on the Walk http://www.crepes-a-gogo.com/Menu.html
  We fought over dessert for a while but really enjoyed this place. I got the strawberry, lemon, and sugar. J. got something with nutella. The real issue with crepes is that I haven’t been to Café Bonaparte [old review] in a while and I miss it. Next time I will need to make a trip over there.

Self-Portraits: An All-Star Gathering at Figureworks

My friend Stephanie had always wanted to explore Brooklyn, and what better way to do so than a gallery tour? Armed with smartphone apps NY ArtBeat ($1.99, absolute essential app for art lovers, including galleries and openings around the NY area) and Art & Absinthe Guide to Brooklyn (free, with whimsical artwork and cocktail recipes), we roamed around Williamsburg on one cold January Sunday. Out of the 5 or so galleries we visited, I enjoyed The Self-Portraits exhibit at FigureWorks the most. The friendly owner Randall was kind to share stories of the artists and works with us.

Figureworks Gallery

168 North 6th Street
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Sat / Sun 1-6pm (also check schedule for 2nd Fridays in Brooklyn)
http://www.figureworks.com/
Self Portraits Exhibit runs through March 3, 2013
All Images courtesy of Figureworks [harris@figureworks.com], taken with my iphone 4S.

Elim Mak – heart illumination

This one immediately caught my eye because it reminded me of traditional Chinese watercolors. The silver lines of the fierce tiger profile and the soft brushstrokes create a fine contrast. The heart illustration (veins and all) is straight out of a science class but doesn’t seem out of place in this composition. Fun fact: she also does comic books! [artist link]

Howard Eisman – Portrait of a Renaissance Man

Steph and I were fascinated with this piece and Randall was able to help us piece the whole thing together. The artist uses this medium for his normal works. So it makes sense for his self-portrait to reflect his medium. While it looks like it could be translucent, the entire work is actually quite heavy. You have to look closer at the real thing (this photo doesn’t do justice) to see different aspects of life that he included inside the colorful collage. Some of his other works do not have the wooden backboard, so you can imagine an abstract form floating on the wall.
[artist link]

Fred Hatt – Self Portrait

Randall said that Fred (the artist) looks exactly like this self-portrait. At a meet-and-greet event, most gallery visitors were able to recognize him. I haven’t attended an event yet but you can view a photo of the artist on his website. In the gallery, there is a video of the creative process on display next to this portrait. Steph and I were both surprised to see how the artist worked his way through the picture, without actually outlining the face first. He went straight to the eyes with blue outlines, before the beard and mouths were even formed. [artist link]

Other Notes

There were many other self-portraits of different mediums and stories. I wonder if Randall will publish a catalogue of the different pieces along with their stories. The reason why I called the title of the show “all-stars” is because most of the artists had already had their own shows at FigureWorks. If you think about it, a gallery usually features one or two artists at a time. This show is actually a great way to meet 50 artists all at once and learn about their styles and stories.

This exhibit also made me ponder what my self-portrait would look like. Probably a mix of maps/city photos/music, a multimedia experience. When I wrote about my “welcome corner” [blog entry], Steph did say it was a way to reflect my personality. Maybe subconsciously I was already starting to make my own self-portrait.

What medium and materials would you use to make your self-portrait? If you need inspiration, check out the show at Figureworks.