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.