Friday Flashback - Hands Off!

Tim Etchells (Volta Art Fair - March 8, 2009)

Favorite Fall Getaway - Storm King

There's nothing like a peaceful stroll through Storm King in the fall. It's one of my favorite places (and escapes a short distance from New York City), especially this time of year. The outdoor museum has participated in bringing programs and the sculpture of Mark di Suvero to their adjunct location on Governor's Island during the summer months. But the real thing and the experience of being on the grounds just can't be duplicated!

Artist Portrait - Cocktails with Beatriz Milhazes

A reception celebrating the colorful patterns and swirls of one of my favorite artists, Beatriz Milhazes.

(James Cohan Gallery in Chelsea - April 16, 2010)

Rainy Day Ribbons and Tiles - New Paintings

I love rainy days like today to get some painting done! Despite the soggy fall gloom, I was particularly inspired; the patterns I was thinking about were kind of festive and loopy. These are just two of the pieces I started today. More to come soon.

Subway Art - 116th Street

When I first moved to the Bronx, I immediately noticed the striking wall mosaics at 116th Street stop off of the Lexington Avenue Line that runs along the east side of Manhattan. As someone who loves vibrant color and favors circular forms, I was intrigued. As the subway car came to a screeching halt, and the doors opened, I was immediately transported to an art museum. 

I promised myself that one day when I had some time, I would leap out and check out the entire station. The work didn't disappoint. Seeming more like paintings and torn pieces of paper, the work was modern and painterly not quite fitting the hard glass and smalti medium. The bold shapes and solid circles, again unusual for the medium, caught my eye unlike any other through the transit system. I learned that the work was by Robert Blackburn, a master printmaker (makes sense) and that this was his last contribution to the art world. It is part of the ever-growing Arts for Transit public art program funded by the MTA.

116th Street

ROBERT BLACKBURN

In Everything There Is A Season, 2005

Glass mosaic on platform walls

Robert Blackburn's dynamic abstract patterns rendered in mosaic suggests the color and movement of the streets above that the artist shapes into beautiful artwork for the subway station. A master printmaker, Blackburn was a founding member of the Printmaking Workshop in Harlem. In 2001 MTA Arts for Transit commissioned Blackburn to create a work for the 116th Street subway station in Harlem. In failing health, he chose artist Mei-Tei-Sing Smith, a Bearden Fellow at the Printmaking Workshop, to assist him on what would prove to be his last major project. Once completed, his maquettes were enlarged and manufactured into ceramic and glass mosaics. Blackburn died in April 2003.

The description above is from the MTA website. You can see this beautiful artwork off of thetrain.