Category Archives: art

December 25, 2008 · 11:06 pm

Too much food and the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

cosm

Tonight was our big fat Italian Christmas, except there was no one fat and not all that many Italians come to think of it. In fact most of us were Jews. Except our hostess whose holiday dinners have become the most coveted invite in the zip code. Every one of the guests was scheming how to secure a place at the table for next year. Except for us, of course, we are a lock AND we can bring the dog.

After dinner some of us got into a philosophical discussion about our expectations for the coming year that included much spiritual conversation. One friend brought up the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, an art exhibit in Chelsea. My first reaction was, oh no, an exhibit that will not only reveal inner secrets, but back fat as well. Not sure I need to go there.

Seriously, it does sound kind of cool. Here is a quick description from the website:

The Sacred Mirrors series is a totally unique work of contemporary sacred art created by Alex Grey. This installation of 21 framed images, consisting of 19 paintings and two etched mirrors, examines the anatomy of body, mind and spirit in rich detail. Each painting presents a life-sized figure facing viewers and inviting them to mirror the images, creating a sense of seeing into oneself.

Ok, so maybe I can lose the narcissistic fear of back fat and I will check this out. This is the line that got me:

The Sacred Mirrors dramatically reveal the miracle of life’s evolutionary complexity, the unity of human experience across all racial, class and gender divides, and the astonishing vistas of possibility inherent in human consciousness. 

Pretty tall order to ignore. For those interested, the show closes on New Year’s Eve. Surely let me know if you visit.

Oh, and the lasagna was to die for!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms and at 50-Something Moms Blog.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

2 Comments

Filed under art, holidays, museums, New York City, places of interest

Tagged as , , , ,

December 7, 2008 · 12:52 am

Uggs and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

rock-hall-nyc1

Tonight was a wonderful adventure in leaving the zip code. At the last minute we decided to venture into Soho to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s NYC Annex. It has only been open for a couple of weeks and apparently is one of New York’s best kept secrets.

We pulled up on Mercer Street and parked the car. There was a line halfway down the block, but not for the Museum. Oh no, my friends, this was an orderly line in front of the Uggs store, waiting to get in. This was no Walmart situation, but simply a calm crowd of shoppers waiting to drop a $100 or so for a pair of boots. And the Museum… not a soul on the street or in the lobby for that matter.

The entry to the museum is timed to allow for crowd control, kind of joke tonight as the max amount of people we saw in any section was perhaps 20.

The Annex is a real gem. I have been to the Rock Hall in Cleveland. We went there for Gary’s 50th and it was fabulous. But the old girl is a bit tired looking and could use a sprucing up. The curators of this Annex did an amazing job. The first room had walls covered with brushed aluminum plates with the names of every inductee etched into them. The artists’ names would light up around the room as their music was played. Very cool.

The graphics were perfect and all the materials enhanced the exhibits. There were translucent digital photographic banners stretched between brushed aluminum curved poles throughout, screen printed photos on plexi panels, suspended plasma screens, a 3-d frosted plexi model of NY with touch screens allowing you to explore each NY rock and roll landmark… all of it simply amazing. The space was a combo of exposed brick and pipes with high tech lighting and materials that struck a perfect balance.

Similar to the Cleveland Museum there is a rotating featured exhibit. This first one was The Clash and it was great. Joe Strummer at his finest.

Some highlights:

1. Gary dancing in the video room during a sequence when they featured us, the audience, in the rock videos shown on the screen

2. Elvis’ bible with handwritten notations in the margin

3. David Byrne’s big suit in a display that featured the video of him on tour, then the video faded out to reveal the actual suit

4. Handwritten letters from Simon and Garfunkel to eachother when they were at sleepaway camp.

5. John Lennon’s wire framed glasses

6. Bruce Springsteen’s Belair

7. The urinal from CBGB’s behind glass (in case anyone thought of peeing in it)

Ok, I will stop here at Lucky 7. If you are in NY stop by and enjoy every minute.

Hmmm, for some reason I feel an undying need to buy a pair of Uggs online…

(btw, those who are wondering, yes it is snowing on my page. just another cool little WordPress 2.7 trick, gotta love it)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms and at 50-Something Moms Blog.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

3 Comments

Filed under art, museums, music, New York City, rock 'n roll

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 14, 2008 · 11:56 pm

I write with dead people…

carbon-copy-pencil

This came to my attention on Twitter from @akaSylvia. Check out her website (way cool).

This little item falls under the category of who the hell thinks of this stuff? The answer would be artist Nadine Jarvis of the UK.

This box of 240 pencils is made from the cremated ash of a human being. Yes, you read that correctly. Kind of like Soylent pencils, if you will. It would appear that one average body yields 240 pencils. I would suppose results may vary with say an anorexic or someone who was morbidly obese.

Each pencil is foil stamped with the name of the person and their dates of birth and death. What a lovely personalized touch. Imagine the factory, ‘Damn Joe, who’s ashes did you say we used for this one?’ ‘No worries, how will they be able to tell?’ Oh we loved ones can tell, Joe, don’t screw this up!

Only one pencil can be removed at a time, it is sharpened back into the box where the shavings take up the space of the used pencils. At the end of the line the shavings, or reconstituted ash, fill the box making transforming it into an urn. How lovely. Kind of like ashes to pencils to shavings… hmmm, kind of a weird ring to that. The window in the box acts as a timeline showing the amount of pencils that are left. 

Of course I became curious as to who Joseph Wald was on those pencils. But the Google search only yielded more blog posts about this item. Bloggers love weird shit, for sure.

Myself included!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at Mid-Century Modern Moms and at 50-Something Moms Blog.

For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

3 Comments

Filed under absurdities, art, humor, products

Tagged as , , , , , ,