Christo's Gates

Christo's Gates Originally uploaded by jstangroom.

Christo's Gates

Christo's Gates Originally uploaded by jstangroom.

Driving...

Last week I did a whole lot of driving.
Monday started with the pick up of a van load of artwork in South Boston, which was then delivered to Gloucester... somebody moving studio.
Tuesday I went to Truro on Cape Cod with a very empty van to pick up two 64"x72" paintings, back to Boston to pick up another, smaller piece.
Wednesday I headed off to New York City with the above artwork. A fairly easy drive. Dropped the two big paintings at a gallery in Soho and took the smaller piece to a gallery in Chelsea. All of this went smoothly and I was done by 1:30. Put the van in a can overnight car park and checked into the Herald Square Hotel on 31st. ($80 a night for a single). It's bare bones... a bed, a TV, a chair and a bathroom. But, it's cheap, clean and safe and I've been staying there for years.
Once I'd dropped off my gear (realizing that I'd forgotten a change of shirt) I walked up to MOMA on 53rd. They'd kind of torn it down and rebuilt it and this was my first visit since it's reopened. The new galleries are brilliant but I never got a handle on the floor layout. Didn't really matter as I just meandered through it all. A bit like randomly thumbing through a modern art history text. I ran into Nina and John Nielsen, gallery owners from Boston... small world and all. Spent about 3 hours. Walked back downtown to O'Reilly's for a pint and then over to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Back to the room for some TV and reading the current Modern Painters that I'd bought at the news stand in the Empire State Building.
Next morning I checked out, stowed my gear in a locker and headed back uptown to see the Christo "Gates" in Central Park. Pretty cool. I think that I was more impressed with the scale of the project and the quality of the construction than I was with the aesthetics. On to the Met, where I looked at an exhibition of renaissance Florentine painting... And mainly wandered. I also visited the one small room devoted to Indian miniatures, that I'd never been to before. (Between the Sackler at Harvard and the MFA we do that stuff at least as well) Back through the park got my bag out of the locker, ransomed out the van and back to Chelsea to pick up at two galleries. Drove home, arriving about 7:00.
Thursday I dropped off the artwork that I'd brought back from New York.
I actually made a little money on this venture.

At the Museum...

Michael... somebody... tell me how to get the text to wrap around the picture. Obviously, I haven't got some button pushed on Flickr. Syl can't seem to find it, either (although hers works fine).
Anyway...Wednesday wasn't half as bad as I'd feared. The painting job was a small, water damaged ceiling that only took Paul and myself a couple of hours to fix. I'd emptied out the van to accommodate a big painting and that worked fine. The evening presentation, though weird, was easier than I thought. The clients were real concerned that their pre-school kids were going to wreck the art. I've never understood this way of presenting art... it's really more a form of decorating. But the pay is good and I keep my mouth shut.
Thursday I was off to the eye doctor. My glasses broke a week ago and it was time for an exam anyway. I'd been wearing an old pair that just weren't right and they were able to fix up the broken ones to get me through until the new ones are ready. Then on to install a small suite of prints in a conference room downtown. Simple, that, once someone decided what wall the work was supposed to go on.
Friday was a down day so I did paperwork, artwork and errands around the house. Off to the Plough for a wonderful afternoon of baloney.
Today, Syl and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts. A small Damien Hirst exhibit. One piece, consisting of flies pasted on the canvas really stunk (that's olfactory not aesthetic). We had lunch in the cafeteria and I found a good sized piece of glass in my pasta salad. I was actually relieved that it wasn't another broken tooth. In the gift shop we found a wonderful, big (and expensive) book of John Evans collages. Many references to mail-art friends there... had to have it.

Rick's Loft

So I went out to deliver a couple of paintings to Rick in North Adams on Saturday. Two and a half hour drive...(an easy jaunt for you Texans, but a major excursion for the Brits). A nice visit... he seems fairly well set up and working. They got less snow than we did... and they're threatening more for us. Monday was a presentation from hell... get all the big paintings out of the van in the loading dock... take them to the elevator that takes you to the second elevator that finally gets you to the floor that you need. Do the presentation, then all the moving in reverse. After all this monkey business, I went to lunch over in Brighton enroute to another errand. Got myself SERIOUSLY stuck in a snow bank. Had to buy a shovel as I didn't have one with me... a good Samaratin showed up to help me out and in the process of trying to push the van he fell and got soaked. I felt horrible... I only had $7 cash (after having purchased the shovel) and offered to go around the corner to the cash point... but he demurred and wandered off. Today I drove into Boston just in time to run into the parade route for the Patriot's victory celebration, having won the Super Bowel. Was able to evade it. Picked up the art, delivered and installed it at place that they require me to be a USA citizen... odd that, I'm only working in common areas and have no idea what kind of hush/hush things they might do there. On the way down I saw a fleet of buses with a police escort heading in the opposite direction. Obviously the team heading up... on the way back I saw them again, back to the stadium. Tomorrow appears to be a REAL LONG day... painting in the morning anda presentation starting at 5:00...

Rick's Loft Originally uploaded by jstangroom.

The Glow

A stenciled piece that I found for Fan Mail's project... A solid day of moving artwork on Tuesday... three galleries, delivering work, returning work. Fighting snow banks and parking bans all the way. Wednesday... finished up a painting job. Thursday, was pretty much a down day... worked on collages for Greenfield, put something in the post for A-1 and a card with a minimal address to dADa Vark. Friday... another couple of deliveries... picked up artwork to take out to Rick tomorrow... 2+ hour drive each way for that. Just getting petrol and lunch out of this one... I'll take Rick to lunch...I hope he comes up with something better than a sub shop. It'll be good to see him and his new loft space... should be well settled by now...

Stencil #4 Originally uploaded by jstangroom.