Weekend in NYC

After my amazing trip to Yosemite (see posts Parts One and Two) I had to work Tuesday-Friday the following week.  Instead of flying back to LA on Friday night and then flying right back east on Sunday night, I decided to stick around and do a few things in New York that I've been meaning to see.  I tried to get Lindsay to fly in and meet me there, but she had some new carpet being installed in her apartment and had to be there for that.  I've been feeling disconnected from her for the past few weeks and I'm not sure why.  But there was enough for me to do in the city to keep me temporarily distracted.  The three major things I wanted to see were the MOMA, Statue of Liberty and 9/11 Memorial.

Museum of Modern Art
The MOMA was home to my two favorite works of art - The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali and The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh.  Picasso, Miro, Kahlo, Pollock, Warhol, Seurat, the list goes on.  The museum is pretty big but you can get through most of it in about 3 hours.  Here are some of my highlights.

Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island
Lady Liberty and Ellis Island are very close together, and for $24 you can see them both in about 2 hours. It's a cheap deal and entertaining to do, especially when you are alone like I was.  I usually don't do audio tours, but this one was easy to use and interesting.  The ferries are 'hop-on, hop-off', so you can spend as much time as you like at each site.

9/11 Memorial
The 9/11 Memorial opened just after I visited New York in 2011 during Hurricane Irene.  This was my first chance to see it and almost coincided with the anniversary of the event, which I think made it more packed than it otherwise would have been.  It's free to get in, and the only downside is that the museum is still under construction.  Overall, it is a powerful place and a beautiful remembrance to those who died.  The Freedom Tower is nearing completion, I can't wait to revisit it when all the planned buildings are done and the construction barriers are gone.

New Art

Nat introduced me to the work of an artist named Shannon Crees a few months.  You can find her work on her website as well as in a few select galleries in Sydney. I'm usually more into impressionism and more realistic painting (like my friend Jessica Harms), but I was really drawn to a few of her pieces. My favorites from her online gallery include La Madre, Tempest, and Delerium.

Nat had been in contact with Shannon over the past couple of weeks to see about buying a piece for her new place in Melbourne. She invited me along and we visited Shannon's studio in Manly during a long lunch break from work. It was a pretty small space that was stuffed with all kinds of canvases (finished and unfinished), paint, material, books, brushes, tarps, you name it. It was really interesting to see the place where Shannon worked and to hear her explain a few of the stories behind the paintings.

Nat was really interested in one that had already been put on hold for sale and didn't see anything else that she absolutely wanted. I browsed through and found this one called Drift (pictured at left).  I had seen this one on her website, but seeing it in person really made an impression on me.  It is very different from the other paintings in Shannon's collection and it really had a lot of emotion.  I think I liked it for the same reason that I like blues music.  There were only three things that prevented me from walking out of there with it - the fact that it was as tall as me, painted on a piece of wood (preventing easy transport) and the price tag.

I found out that Shannon was on the Australian version of The Apprentice a while back and I bet that is why she can demand high prices for her work.  Hey, more power to her.  I'm just not QUITE at the point where I'm ready to drop a couple of grand on a painting.  Maybe one day, so I'll keep her in mind.

She was really nice and I'm definitely going to go to one of her upcoming shows in the Sydney area.  Maybe she'll cut me a deal!