Not Just for Refined Tastes

Roar! I know I often write about sweet art but this time the art isn't just sweet to look at but also to taste! Turns out Creativetime is presenting an amazing new sculpture series by Kara Walker that's housed in the old Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg! This will probably be the last chance I get to go inside the factory before it's razed and turned into condos so I decided to head on over to the Williamsburg waterfront to check it out! Roar! 

Roar! Here I am outside of the Domino Sugar Refinery. Look at this huge line of people waiting to see the Kara Walker Domino! Give me a break! Turns out the line moves really fast and it didn't take more than half an hour for me to get inside. That is also pretty sweet! Roar!

Oh Henry! Kara Walker has sculpted a giant sugar sphinx in the center of the refinery! The full title of the installation is "A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant."  Woah! That is one serious title, though I've got to say there really isn't anything subtle about this installation. Roar! 

This pictures bound to get a few Snickers.  What can I say? I like, this, art, and I can not lie... this is incredible! I feel like I've hit PayDay at the Domino refinery, not only do I get to see this amazing art but I also get to check out the factory I've long admired from the Williamsburg bridge! Roar! 

There are a ton of other smaller sculptures through out the refinery. Everything is made of sugar and it's melting the whole time the show is up. I hope as this guy's arm melts he doesn't get butterfingers and drop what he's carrying! Roar! 

Here are a bunch of photos of the decaying interior of the refinery. Things are so decrepit in here, I can't help but think it's a long way from 5th Ave! Roar! 

There is also a bunch of old machinery in the refinery, this is, it's, it's a, you know... Whatchamacallit? Oh I forget! Roar! 

There is a lot of other stuff that's messed up in the refinery. Here you can see all the walls that have begun to Krackle. No wonder they are tearing this place down it would cost more than a 100 Grand to fix this place up! Roar! 

Here are a couple detail shots of some crumbling stairs and pipes and rotting insulation. Despite all of this decay it really is a great location to host an art installation. Kudos to Creativetime for organizing it. Roar!

Here you can see the sugar from the sculptures melting and dripping all over the floors. It certainly added to the ambiance of the place. I must say Kara Walker certainly hit a Grand Slam with this show! In an interview she said this was some of the most fun she's had making art and it shows in the work! Roar!

The looming Domino refinery will soon be no more. A Subtlety is a great piece of commentary on the dark aspects of the history of sugar and presents plenty of ideas that a person probably wouldn't think about when staring at this building while biking over the bridge. It's also a fitting send off to a building with it's own rich history that's become something of a Brooklyn icon. The show is up until July 6th so if you have time come down to the sugar refinery and Take 5 with some sweet art. Roar! 

Late Night at the Whitney!

Roar! The Whitney is celebrating its biennial this month and as part of the celebration the Museum is staying open 24 hours a day for three days. Best of all if you go after midnight it is suggested donation! So last night I went over to the Whitney to check out all the sweet art on display.

Here I am outside of the Whitney. They even changed the sign for the biennial. I wish it was open all night all the time! Roar!

I’m overlooking the Whitney’s garden. There is some sweet looking art down there!

Photography wasn’t allowed in the museum so I had to be quick to get a couple of shots. Unfortunately, I was too quick with this one and forgot to write down what it was! Roar.

Here is another quick photo. This one was on a bone cloth line that looked really neat! I love bones and fully understand the need to dry them! I wish the photo had come out better but I’ll guess you’ll just need to swing by the museum and see the exhibit for yourself.

There were a lot of other great things on display at the Whitney, including a ton of video art, some wild installations involving projectors, and, of course, the permanent collection. The Whitney is a great museum and is absolutely worth visiting. Roar!

"Sad" Hoc Closing Party!

Roar! Last night was the closing party for the Ad Hoc Art Gallery. They were giving away all sorts of weird stuff including free art so I headed over there to check it out.

Here I am outside of the gallery. Woah! There sure are a lot of people inside! I guess everyone is really sad the gallery is closing so they came to pay their last respects. I guess all the Ad Hoc regulars will now just have to go to one of the other dozens of galleries in the area. What ever will they do?!

This place is such a mess! People were just tearing the gallery apart. I guess they all wanted something to remember it by.  There is a lot of potential here for some sweet loft art. Roar...

Oh yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about! Free art! Just look at all these sweet prints. I hope there is one of a dinosaur! Roar!

Here is a photo of one of the murals on the wall inside the gallery. It reads "A VISION OF THE FUTURE IMAGINE A BOOT STAMPING ON A HUMAN FACE." Let me tell you I have seen the future and it involves asteroids, not boots!

The actual art exhibit that was on that night was really good. Too bad everyone was too sad the gallery was closing to notice it. It involved these portraits of the human body made by laying objects out on large sheets of photo paper then exposing them. The effect was great and made for some really fascinating images. Roar!

Wild Weekend Part Two: Friday

Roar! On Friday I continued my super busy weekend. It was the first day of the Metro Expo NY Stamp Show so I went up to the Holiday Inn on West 57th Street to check it out.

There were so many stamp dealers here! I'd never seen so many stamps before! It was really cool to dig through the history of all these different countries to see what I could find.


Woah! Check out these sweet dinosaur stamps I found! Roar!

After the stamp expo I headed over to the Museum of Modern Art for their new free Fridays program. They were having this exhibit of early Bauhuas which was great. Unfortunately pictures weren't allowed at the exhibit so I recommend going to check it out in person while it's still there.
The Bauhaus exhibit got me thinking about what Bauhaus animals might look like so I came up with this print. I call it Cowhaus. Roar!

Here I am hanging out in some of the art in the MoMA's permanent collection. This painting sure takes me back.

I thought this was a really great piece that truly got at the essence of "Chair." It's a picture of a chair, a chair, and the definition of "Chair." Though I feel the artist could have taken it one step farther and had a live video of everyone looking at the chair. That would have been great!

Woah, I better be careful not to go into the light again! Roar!

After the MoMA I headed over to the Carnegie Deli for a Giant Meat Knish! It was filled with a mix of ground pastrami, corned beef, and potato. It was so delicious! The perfect end to a fun Friday.

Wild Weekend Part One: Thursday

Roar! This was one wild weekend! There was so much stuff happening all at once and just no way I could do it all. Like every New York weekend it started on a Thursday, with a trip to the museums in lower Manhattan. First I went to Federal Hall to see the spot where George Washington was sworn in as first president of the USA.

George W. was one classy guy! He sure loved T-Rexes.

This is the stone that George Washington stood on when he took office. I hear if you look hard enough you can still see his boot print. Roar!

Next, I went to the Skyscraper museum over by Battery Park. It has a really cool show on comparing the growth of New York City at the beginning of the 20th century to the current building boom in Shanghai. Here I am in front of an artist rendering of one of the new "future" skyscrapers they are building in Shanghai.

Here I am attacking a model of a new skyscraper in Hong Kong. I hope the real building can hold up to a dinosaur attack!

The Skyscraper Museum had this small exhibit on the Burj Dubai. They really need to update their photos. The exterior of the Burj is done. It's 818 meters high and it's not just the tallest building but the tallest thing ever built by humans! That's pretty cool if you ask me!

In the gift shop of the Sky Scraper Museum they had this cool book of old stereoscopic slides of New York City. It even had a built in viewer so you could look at them all in 3-D.

Here is a stereoscopic image of me looking at slides in the book.

Next stop was the Museum of the American Indian which is in the old U.S. Customs House. Here I am in their sweet lobby!

They had some great art on display. Here I'm checking out the work of this Inuit artist Annie Pootoogook. It was really cool.

This crazy painting is by Andrea Carlson and is really awesome. I definitely recommend checking it out!

Here I am in Bowling Green outside of the Museum of the American Indian. Bowling Green is where the dutch aristocracy would play lawn games back in the early days of New York City. During the Pig War in the winter of 1643 to 44 the Dutch cut the heads off all the Native Americans living in lower Manhattan and then all of the Dutch women went bowling with the heads. It was awful!

I think the park rules should include no playing with human remains. Roar!

I headed back up to Wall Street to get my bike and go home. Now a days everyone is making such a big deal about the economy and the stock market. I remember back at the end of the Cretaceous when the BER (Bone Exchange Rate) fell and everyone started panicking! Now those were some scary times!

As I was heading home I passed the tree lighting ceremony for the New York Stock Exchange. They had all the different celebrities there to perform. Oh my god, is that Lady Gaga?!

Art, Advertising, Activism, Alchemy, and A T-REX!!!

ROAR! This past Friday was a really cool street art talk in Astoria called "Art, Advertising, Activism, & Alchemy." It was at Wonderland and had several artists who were there to talk about their art and how it affects the environment around them. There was Jordan Seiler (a really cool guy who replaces advertising with public art), Gabriel "Specter" Reese, Jason Eppink, Posterchild (one of my favorite street artists), and of course ME! No one in the audience was expecting a T-Rex to show up so they were really surprised when I went up to speak. Overall, I think the event went really well and everyone got a lot out of it. Roar!

Here is a sign at Wonderland reminding us to enjoy Astoria while it lasts.

Here I am hanging out on the artist's couch. It's really big and comfy! Roar!

This is Posterchild dressed as grandpa Batman. I guess he wanted to remain anonymous. I can understand that. He sure gave a great talk though!

This is Jason Eppink giving his talk about "Urban Alchemy." I really like his idea of putting saloon doors on phone booths!

Here I am giving my surprise talk about the transformation of the urban environment over the past 65 million years. It was a really big hit and reminded people that street art isn't the only thing that's impermanent. So next time you're out wandering around the city remember, "Enjoy it while it lasts."

Here I am with Posterchild. It sure was cool to meet him and it was an honor being able to speak at the talk. Hopefully there will be something like this again. Roar!