Seventh Avenue

Two recently noticed examples of street art.

yellow

Slabhenge

Washington Square Park has been off-limits, like, forever. God knows what's in store, or when it will be finished. But I did find these piled up castoffs to be unintentionally interesting arrangements. A minimalist sculpture-like series of weathered triangular slabs, and a bunch of concrete that had an asian feel to it.

Funky-Fresh pots from Pottery Dave

My new class at Greenwich House Pottery has allowed me to meet many terrific clayminded earthlings. Dave Gibson is the teacher of our Tuesday night gang, and here you can see some of the results of a recent throwing demo which honed in on altered, multi-part constructions. Way fun.

add-on

This photo should have been included in the October 26th post to show what I was talking about by calling part of the new Copper Union Building's front a 'pocket protector' shape.

Green Flame Exiting Gas-Fired Kiln

Richard Serra : You Send Me

Until December 23, there is a show of new sculptures by Richard Serra at Gagosian Gallery ( 522 W. 21st St. ).
Each of the two pieces shown is made from 6 huge steel plates. Of course they tilt and grab the space around them in palpably seductive angles. For cold steel, it sure is hard to keep your hands off these. Although the material and scale are like previous work ( the climactic pieces from the 2007 MoMa survey ), the much more labyrinthine arrangement of elements here is new. I overheard more than one viewer say they felt scared while negotiating through the spaces. I didn't feel scared, but the physically disorienting, out-of-whack-vibe that results from coming into proximity with any of his large-scale, tilted works is in even greater evidence here. You feel your center of gravity pulling you in subtly odd ways.

The surfaces seem more intensely rust-covered than I remember in earlier works. Also, there were spots where a very active splashiness to the patina had me musing about finding images there ( silly, of course ).

Pinecone Greatness

You can get these anywhere, but mine came from the Frelinghuysen Arboretum. I like the sound of it.

Beautiful Ice

Going around in circles can sometimes be a good thing

r.i.p Ruth Duckworth

I never met Ruth Duckworth, but I wish I had. She died at 90 on Oct 18th, in Chicago. Her work was playful, elegant, sophisticated yet earthy. Sometimes it seemed to epitomize modernist form, sometimes it seemed more personal. After leaving nazi Germany to study in London, she made her way to the states, where she taught at the University of Chicago. Her studio was a converted pickle factory.

a little bit of new bisqueware