My Last Friday, Saturday in NY

Banish the thought that one could ever be 'arted out' - but it is always good to pace yourself.
Friday became a great adventure. Realising time is running out we are trying to go through my list of places and eateries. WE met a lovely Manhattan on a bus a few weeks back who gave us her 'pastrami on rye' places - as she said there's pastrami and then there's pastrami' So we found the Pastrami Queen on Lexington at 78th. A tiny kosher eatery, all certified, catering a speciality, it was fantastic. Five tables and a queue. We were lucky to walk in and get a table. I had hot pastrami on rye with a side order of pickles and my friend had a knish with pastrami and sauerkraut. Gosh, what a meal, I could have laid down and had a nap in the middle of Lexintgon afterwards.

A pastrami on rye - amazing

Then down to the Bowery which has been a great area for artists' studios over the years with lots of famous artists taking advantage of the cheap rents since the 50's and 60's. Now it is becoming gentrified which means all the old wholesale outlets for the restaurant industry plus great food places, galleries and the New Museum. The New Museum opened in 2007 and reminds me of the MCA at Circular Quay - very professional very cutting edge and very bloody groovy. Still a bit of a cuckoo in the Bowery. However it's design is amazing and from the street level is very sympathetic to it's environment. It's web-site is worth a look as the Japanese architects have done an amazing design. Unfortunately the Spanish artist we hoped to see had finished but what we saw was great.

The ultra modern expandable grill makes the large structure  unobtrusive in the street-scape

A lovely detail 

From the 5th level through the expandable grill looking west

Down!

Storm coming - in which we got caught so had to stop and have a beer

South west

But  just a few doors down at the Sperone Westman Gallery - a  black metal facade with 20' high doors -

was an exhibition of huge paintings by Susan Rothenberg. Wow what a treat. The space of the gallery is light and airy and the work is displayed over three floors.

 Detail from work below

 This is a HUGE painting about 2.5 x2.5m

 Detail

 Detail

 This is lovely, a bit smaller, about 1.2 x 1.5m

A wonderful work, intimate and loving, about 1x1.12m

This is HUGE and quite amazing in its own space, about 4x3m

So Friday in the Bowery was really worthwhile. The New Museum has a great timeline of its rich cultural history, not sure if it's on the website.

 This is another wonderfully painted huge work by Susan Rothenberg which is in the Met. I saw this again on Saturday when the painting class spent four hours drawing a painting.

 Detail

 Detail

 Detail

 Detail

This is Clintel Steed, great name. He's a great bloke, has a good sense of humour, (well he sort of laughed every time we opened our mouths) and is totally passionate about painting from all eras and cultures. He went to art school at the Chicago Institute of Art's Art School then to Philadelphia for graduate studies. He said he thought the three best painting schools currently were Philadelphia, Columbia (just near us) and Yale. He gave a great talk about the construction of space in medieval painting before linear perspective homogenised the construction of space in painting. Terrific. Then we went through the modern areas to the big tribute show of work by Lucien Freud. He's a big Lucien Freud fan and Freud's works up close are amazing.

 Unfortunately this is out of focus but the application of the paint is so strong

 This gives a better idea of the strong paint

This is a cropped view

 Romaire Beardon - this is just what our neighbourhood is like

 Wonderful self-portrait by Giorgio di Chirico

 Bad image of great Chaim Soutine

 A very lovely Paul Klee. When I took the shot Clintel asked 'You like this?'. I love it.

Another Klee, they resonate, wonderful edges

 A full on Frank Auerbach

 An early De Kooning

I love this painting but can never remember the artist's name

From about 3pm each of the students had to choose a work that they could spend three hours drawing. The idea was to get to grips withe composition. We met at 6pm and discussed them.

 So many wonderful Bonnards

 Detail

 Detail

 Detail

 Finally a great Hans Hoffman

Detail

Clinton Steed is with a few galleries and his paintings are full of energy. It would be great to have him come to Albury for a 'Painting Marathon' like the NYSS has done the Drawing Marathons in Adelaide in the past. On the way home had a great Cajun cerviche with lots of 'shrimp' plus Southern fried chicken with collard greens and candied yams. Everything seems so sweet here maybe the coconut martini contributed!