Autumn in New York (2015)

I love New York City, but I really love it in the fall. The temperatures drop at night, the humidity disappears, it's bright and sunny during the day, and crisp and snuggly at night. Heaven. It's also great for exploring the city, as it's a bit quieter. So I've been really busy lately!!

One of the things I love about September is that the galleries reopen. Living in Chelsea, I'm surrounded by them. Today, I stopped by a couple to see some exhibitions that I'd read about. Taglialatelle Gallery has a Banksy exhibit on right now, and my friend Rafe is a huge fan. So I wandered in to see what they had for sale. Call me crazy, but I'm never going to pay $67,000 for street art...

But while I was there, I saw this Damien Hirst piece. I've seen his dot pieces, but I've never seen anything like this. And I fell in love.

It's a pattern made out of butterflies!

I was afraid to ask how much it cost...

After stopping by Taglialatelle, I made my way to the Yossi Milo gallery. New York magazine mentioned an photography exhibit they had that sounded interesting. And I loved it. Markus Brunetti's FACADES (on view till 10/17) consists of a series of large-scale archival pigment prints of cathedrals from all over the world. They're gorgeous, and enormous (some are 10 feet tall), and you can get an up-close view of the exteriors of the facades. The one below is from Dresden.

Chamber is a new gallery on my block. I hadn't stopped in until today, and I'm not sure I get what they're trying to do. (It's like a giant Carol Bove installation.) But I thought this was a cool collection (and not a bad photo)...

There was a Mike Kelley exhibit at Hauser and Wirth on 18th Street that had gotten some write-ups as well, so I wandered by there. If you're faint of heart, don't go into the last room which is showing an S&M video that was apparently filmed on-site, but some of the other pieces, I thought, were pretty cool. You enter through this...

And then proceed through a bunch of dark rooms with glowing cities...

Into the room where the video was filmed and is being shown...

So come to Chelsea and explore!!


Last week, I went to the New York Historical Society to check out the Magna Carta, which was in NYC for a one-week visit. I have no idea how it was possible for them to write such tiny characters! It was kind of overwhelming to be in the presence of an 800-year-old document that had such a formative impact on the world. (The one in the photo is actually from 1217, not 1215.)

I hadn't been to the museum for awhile, but I only had about 45 minutes to explore this time. The next time our Spain-loving niece, Mary Elizabeth, comes for a visit, however, I'm definitely taking her back as they have a Goya, an El Greco and a Velasquez.

And of course, there's the Picasso...

If you are in NY and you have kids, visit the Sea Glass Carousel. I hadn't heard anything about it, but I wandered by one night when they were testing it, thought it was beautiful, and swore I'd ride it at some point.

So this week, I did. It's pretty cool, though I'd recommend riding it at or after dusk. (Sorry the pictures are kind of weird...)

I have a lot of plays on my to-do list, so today, I braved Times Square to hit up TKTS for a Broadway show. I saw Something Rotten!, which I'd considered dragging Ed to at one point since, though he's not a musical fan, he does love Shakespeare. Thank goodness I didn't. While Will is a (very flamboyant, egomaniacal, rockstar of a) character in the play, this show is custom made for people who love musicals. I couldn't believe how many homages there were in this show!! I caught a lot of the references, but I bet I missed as many as I caught. Brian D'Arcy James was terrific, but I was sad to have missed Christian Borle in the role of Shakespeare.

Later this week, the Neue Gallerie (Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, aka, The Woman in Gold) and the Pixar and Thomas Heatherwick exhibits at the Cooper Hewitt...Stay tuned!