Art on Queen West Today

 Bill and I and our friend Shelley Savor went to look at some art on Queen West today.

We had a relaxed lunch at The Beaver, then hit the Michael Harrington show at Mulherin.

A new body of work from this year. 

 We're big Harrington fans. Winter no. 1, oil on canvas, 24 x 48 inches

 Winter no. 1 (detail) 

Nice depth in Meeting the Cowboy no 1, 9 x 12 inches.

 Mulherin tried to sell Bill the picture below after he told her how much he wanted it.

Red Man Wading in Water, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches

 In her other gallery Mulherin and Penelope Smart were showing great art by Sarah Burwash including these clay works.

We walked past the Starbucks.

Paul Petro is showing new paintings by Carol Wainio, also painted this year. Weather Events, acrylic on canvas, 78 x 120 inches.

 Bill and Shelley and I found her work very inspiring. Les Cailloux Blancs, 72 x 120 inches.

 

One Evening, 60 x 120 inches

 One Evening (details)

One last nice Wainio.

 We carried on along Queen Street to MOCCA

  and a installation of Vera Frenkel. Here's Shelley and Bill watching Frenkel's Once Near Water: Notes from the Scaffolding Archive, 2008.

By now we were close to Type Books so had to go in and see what was new. I liked this Steven Klein portrait of Colton Hanes in VMAN magazine.

 It had been a dark, damp afternoon but we had one inspiration after another.

How we love our Queen Street West!

Metropolitan Skyline

John and I love the views from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Nothing matches the view of Central Park and the New York skyline.

There's usually an art installation happening up there.

This time Dan Graham and Swiss landscape architect, Günther Vogt, created a piece called Hedge Two-way Mirror Walkabout, 2014.

We loved how the artists astro-turfed the Met roof. It made it a place to gather and sit.

Try not to miss the rooftop next time you visit the Met.

Kimonos at the Met

On our second visit to the fabulous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, John and I passed through the Asian galleries to the Japanese section to see a special exhibition.

Kimono: A Modern History follows the art of kimonos from the 18th century to today. The exhibit opens with this 18th century screen featuring dancing noblewomen.

The show displays the continuing interest in the kimono garment

into the 20th century.

The changing periods of Japanese history and the arts 

can be seen in the materials. The two above are Deco influenced.

A basalt fountain by Isamu Noguchi holds the centre of the exhibition. It was his last work.

Back and front of gorgeous contemporary kimonos  as we leave the exhibit. Great stuff!

On our way out we passed another contemporary work, PicCell-Deer #24, 2011, by Kohei Nawa. A taxidermied deer transformed by the artist's "PixCell" beads. A magical moment.

Sunday at the Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is Bill's and my number one destination in New York.

Me taking a picture and the picture I took.

On this visit I was drawn to the freshness of the greens this Cezanne.

Bathers, 1874-75.

 I loved this Van Gogh. Roses, 1890.

Two lovely Manets.

 A wild Cezanne. The Fishermen (Fantastic Scene), ca. 1875

There were many groups of students. Bill caught this group in front of a large Raphael.

Bill in the special Assyrian exhibition.

Photographers can always find good light in the Greek and Roman wing. 

William Kimber with an Imperial Roman limestone Torso of a Hunter.

Studying a Roman sarcophogas.

 We're always sympathetic to those who wander away from the herd.

Very contemporary male hair on this Roman statue of Pan from the first or second century A.D. 

 We always pause for a look at this bronze Roman portrait bust.

This is the angle I wanted on the profile. I decided to put up with the edges of the glass case.

Bill and I love these Cycladic sculptures. 

So contemporary, they could have been made tomorrow. But they were made sometime between 2700 and 2600 B.C.

I wonder if Picasso ever saw these terracotta female figures. So audacious. He would have felt very competitive, I think. Helladic (Mycenaean), ca. 1400-1300 B.C.

Bill noticed this lion with its treed prey. 

And this wonderful tankard design.

  Bill taking the picture of the label above.

 The tag said that the best guess for these pots is that the character is associated with a 5th century B.C. production of Aristophanes' The Birds.

 I like this Marble Statue of a Lion. Tag: "Greek, Cycladic?, ca. 400-390 B.C. Said to be found in Trastevere, near Porta Portese, Rome"

 It's funny. The older we get, the less we are tempted by food trucks.

One last farewell glance at our beloved Met.