Columbus statue - up, close and personal

Commissioned by the Public Art Fund, Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi had the brilliant idea of bringing Columbus Statue, situated on top of a 75 feet high pillar in the middle of Columbus Circle, closer to the public, through his new installation "Discovering Columbus".

How did he do that? Well, he imagined how it would feel to have the statue in the middle of a modern living room with one of Manhattan's most privileged views. So, after climbing 6 flights of stairs, you find yourself in a nice penthouse feeling living room, all build up around the statue, which is standing in the middle of a coffee table.

Not to be missed! And pay attention to each details in the living room. Even the books were strategically chosen. You may find funny titles as "The silent body" or "Look up". The wallpaper is also full of details and irony, depicting all the symbols that represent modern America.

The question that I kept arising in my head when I was up there was: who's discovering who? Did Columbus discover America or are we discovering Columbus (as the title of the exhibit suggests)?

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Other controversial exhibits worth seeing nearby:
Andrés Serrano's "Body and Spirit" at Edward Tyler Gallery
Sally Mann's "Upon reflections" at Edwynn Houk Gallery

Visit to the Glass House

Last Monday I had the opportunity to visit one of the most important architectural project of the 20th century: The Philip Johnston Glass House. Situated in New Canaan, Connecticut, it was the retreat of the famous architect (First Pritzker prize winner) Philip Johnston. He designed the house and built it in 1949. The project is very minimalist and modern. The house is just a big rectangular open space, with no room divisions and all surrounded by glasses as external walls. At the time, it was very innovative in terms of materials used and the construction techniques used to build it.

In the 47 acre site, there are many other buildings. As Mr. Johnston himself liked to say, he used that space to do some "experiments". So he also built, a Brick house, just in front of the Glass House, which used to be the guest house (he didn't really like his guests to stay too long, so he tried to make it as uncomfortable as possible for them to leave soon - i.e. there were any windows in the bedroom); a small building for his extended collection of books about Architecture and where he also used to work; a pavilion next to a pond, where he liked to have picnics in summer; a private gallery for his Art Collection (he loved Art and was an avid collector); a Sculpture gallery and finally a building with no purpose which looked more like a sculpture (it was designed by American Artist Frank Stella). 

"Da Monsta" - designed by Frank Stella

The Library/Study and the "Ghost House" (the transparent structure behind)

The Brick House

The Pavilion

We only visited the Glass House, the Painting Gallery and the Sculpture Gallery. Unfortunately, the Brick House is currently closed for renovation. There was a flooding accident, a few months ago, that destroyed the whole interior of the house. I loved the Glass House and the sensation of being outside while inside. 

However, what really impressed me the most was the Art Gallery (and, of course, the only one I didn't take any pictures, but there are better than I would have shot on the website). Philip Johnston designed an incredible mechanism of rotating walls that let him exposed 42 large-scale paintings at the same time. He had a big collection of Modern Art, which included artworks by Frank Stella, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Jones and Cindy Sherman. He donated a vast quantity of this collection to the MoMA.

Interior of the Sculpture Gallery:

Cultural day: Nolita + LES

Here's a new tour to add to my great collection of guided tours around NY (the first two were in Chelsea and Williamsburg). Always curated by my super tuned guides Ana Strumpf and Gisela Gueiros. The objective was mainly to stroll around Nolita and the Lower East Side of Manhattan to understand a little bit more of those so cool neighborhoods and discover some of the trendiest and most interesting stores around. 

If you've had the opportunity to walk around the region, you've probably noticed the amount of different stores, restaurants, cafes that are concentrated in just a few blocks. And, at least for me, it is very difficult to know what is worth looking at or not, unless someone points the right places. I found fascinating to see those kind of new lifestyle concept stores where they sell a little bit of everything (from shoes, to soaps and what not). Since I know that I don't have the right "eye" for that, I need a little help on that matter and it was great.

So our tour today started in Nolita with a nice brunch at one of the local cafe/restaurant called Bread, and then we headed to all sort of cool stores:

• Creatures of Comfort

Picture below: panel made by Confetti System

• Le Labo - a fragrance store in which you can find the "Gramercy Hotel" perfume for instance

• Aesop - skin/hair products from Australia, using only natural components. I bought a little set to test their products, but the coolest thing in the store is the design. The walls are all made of thousands of newspapers piled up. 

• Love, Adorned - lifestyle concept store
• John Derian - very charming home-accessories store 

• Doyle & Doyle - vintage jewelry 
• Tommy Guns - we passed in front of this really cool hairdresser of the Lower East Side.
• Moscot - a New York institution. It's one of the oldest optical shops in Manhattan. It's been managed by the same family for four generations now and they sell all kind of vintage frames. The store looks like a museum. 

• Tenement Museum store - the museum tells the story of immigrants and how they lived when they arrived in Manhattan. Most of them first settled in the Lower East Side of the island. We didn't have time to take a tour, but it's definitely in my priority list of things to visit in the city. The shop is a great place to find nice souvenirs of New York (not as cheesy as the ones sold in Times Square).
• Earnest Sewn - trendy clothing store, specialized in high-end jeans.

We also entered the Sperone Westwater Gallery, mainly to see the design of the building. The gallery was projected by the English architect Norman Foster and is worth the visit. 

We finished the tour in the middle of the Lower East Side, with a nice cup of coffee, surrounded by amazing pictures from Michael Halsband, at Lost Weekend - a new concept of coffee shop that is also an art gallery (hence the exhibition) and sells lifestyle accessories (like hair products, books and bags).

MoMA with kids - Tours for Fours

Henri Matisse. The Red Studio. Issy-les-Moulineaux, fall 1911. Oil on canvas, 71 1/4" x 7' 2 1/4" (181 x 219.1 cm). Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund

Saturday morning we tried one of the tours offered by the MoMA for young visitors - Tours for Four. They have two Family Programs: one for children aged four and another one for children between 5 and 10.

The tours are for free and they are organized by subject. The one that we went, for example, was about "places". Our guide gave us a small introduction of what we were about to see and then took us to one of the galleries in the museum to observe three different paintings. In front of each painting, she asked the same question to the kids: if we were looking at a place inside or outside. It was really interesting and funny to hear the comments.

The tours take approximately 50 minutes, which, I found, a little bit long for young children (especially for my hyperactive son). Nonetheless, it was well organized, interesting and a nice way to introduce children to art and, more importantly, to teach them how to observe and learn to interpret an art work.

P.S.: I forgot to mention that the entrance to the museum is free when you go to one of the tours and, at the end, you will receive a Family pass to come back to the MoMA with your family on another day, for free. This is pretty sweet, considering that each ticket cost US$20.

Cultural day - Williamsburg

After visiting New York innumerous times and living here for almost 5 years I'm still not very familiar with Brooklyn. I know, shame on me! However, this is about to change. Actually, it has changed already because today I went on a fantastic tour organized by the same girls (Gisela Gueiros and Ana Strumpf) who took me to visit art galleries in Chelsea. And there will certainly be more opportunities to explore other parts of the borough.

 

 

Williamsburg has a small town feeling, with the advantage of being one subway station away from Manhattan. It's not particularly pretty but it certainly has its charm on its own. The buildings are usually three or four stories high, nothing out of the ordinary and the streets are practically empty. In fact, if you are not really familiar with the neighborhood it can be quite scary to wander around. But, since we were with our two fantastic guides, we got to visit and discover the hidden pearls of the place.

 

 

We all met for a nice brunch at Marlow and Sons (voted one of the best restaurants in Brooklyn by many food critics). And then we started our tour which consisted on visiting famous shops of Williamsburg (see the list below) and, of course, just walking around and trying to grab the feeling of the environment. The places we visited are very neighborhood stores, they are all low profile and they look like what probably used to be the traditional American general stores a few decades ago. It was like being in one of those Norman Rockwell cover magazines (especially the coffeshop Bakeri). What they all had in common is a kind of back-in-the-days feeling with a modern touch. The products and brands they offer seem to be all hand-picked by the owners. They usually have nice designs, they are charming, different, mostly hand-made and look vintage. They are those nice little objects that can give a special touch to a room or that could be a great gift to give to someone special. 

We also visited the Mast Brothers chocolate factory. All hand-made and organic. When we got there the staff was busy wrapping up the chocolate bars with their famous designed papers. I've included some pictures of the factory tour below.

Here's the list of the places we visited and they are all worth going:

• Marlow and Sons - restaurant
• Brook Farm General Store - general store, home accessories
• Mast Brothers - chocolate factory
• Moon River Chattel - antiquary, general store, home accessories)
• Sprout Home - florist
• Bedford Cheese Shop - cheese shop
• Future Perfect - design, home accessories
• Bakeri - bakery

Would you guess that this is a chocolate factory?

Chocolate beans

Staff wrapping up the chocolate bars

Tasting table with the chocolate bars beautifully wrapped

The group at Bakeri

Cultural day - Galleries in Chelsea

1- Jim Hodges; 2- Andreas Gursky; 3- Nan Goldin; 4- Neo Rauch; 5- Uta Barth; 6- Youssef Nabil (exhibition curated by Shirin Neshat); 7-Joan Mitchell

Do you know why moms usually sound futile, uninteresting and seem to be talking only about their children? Mainly because it is extremely difficult to read anything with kids around you - at least this is true for me. However, I always try to take a glance at the headlines on the newspaper and, on my lucky days, I even get to read the editorial and one or two articles.

The headlines on the FT this morning were quite catastrophic. It really felt like it was the end of the Euro, the end of the airlines industry, the end of the banking industry - basically, the end of the World as we know it. But, like I said once to my dear mother when I stopped working in the middle of the financial crisis in 2009: "there is no crisis in baby world".

Therefore, I left the news behind me and headed to Chelsea for a great gallery tour. Very futile of my part? Maybe. Probably. Most certainly. But staying at home wouldn't solve the World's problems either. So let's enjoy life while we can!

Our tour included:

• Neo Rauch - David Swirner Gallery
• Uta Barth - Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
• Andreas Gursky - Gagosian Gallery
• Jim Hodges - Gladstone Gallery 
• Nan Goldin - Matthew Marks Gallery 
• Hiroshi Sugimoto - The Pace Gallery
• Joan Mitchell - Cheim & Read Gallery
• Shirin Neshat - Leila Heller Gallery 

There are tens of other galleries in town and you can go whenever you want. As I said in another post, galleries are for free, so take advantage on that. But, let me tell you something, it makes such a difference to go with someone that can explain to you what you are looking at, talk about that particular artist, his work and his surroundings. At least for me, today, it was essencial. I wouldn't have understood half of what I saw today if I'd had gone by myself. I think that the understanding of art in general takes time, studying, lots of readings and lots of visits to different exhibitions (especially contemporary art). But, when you don't really have time for all of this, calling a specialist might be a good idea. Besides, isn't it great to go with a group of friends with whom you can discuss what you are all experiencing?

I didn't like everything that I saw today, but I certainly appreciated everything. By that I mean that knowing what the artists intentions were or knowing about their backgrounds makes a big difference. It puts the art in a certain context and it educates your eyes and your senses so you can appreciate what you are looking at under a whole new perspective. For instance, a month ago I entered the Pace Gallery, took a look at Hiroshi Sugimoto's work and 5 minutes later I was out the door. I just didn't get it. Today, I walked in the same gallery, to see the same exhibition and I liked what I saw.

If you are interested in organizing your own tour, do not hesitate to contact our guides Gisela Gueiros (giselagueiros@gmail.com) and Ana Strumpf (anastrumpf@gmail.com). The tour was well organized, Gisela was really prepared and her presentations before entering each gallery were simple (no fancy words), short (no big lectures in front of each piece of art) but full of useful details and information. What I liked the most was how she would give us some heads-up on what we were about to see without giving too much information at the beginning so we would still have a surprise when entering the exhibits. And what a surprise it was!