while i am a fan of pop-up street art
so unique and free-spirited
i took a pass on this item
might be a perfect match for someone else.
(i almost glanced over my shoulder to see if it was following me.)
—
‘where there is no imagination, there is no horror.’
-arthur conan doyle
Almost Evening by Japanese artist, Kaoru Yamada
—
while the early morning hours are my favorite time of day
the change to evening holds its own special magic
as the day folds into itself once again.
—
‘the evening had turned sweet and blue.’
-alice hoffman
totally kid carousel
A Carousel Of Visions;Artist Brings the Fantasies Of Children to Magical Life
Artistic acclaim came early to Milo Mottola. When he was 8, his drawing of menacing tooth film with the slogan “Plaque is mean, so keep teeth clean” was such a hit it won him a $50 savings bond from a dental group and was made into a poster. Nearly 25 years later, Mr. Mottola, an artist who lives in Long Island City, Queens, NY, decided to try to find a way to give other children that same dizzy excitement and spark of confidence, without all those dentists.
What could be better, he thought, than asking children to draw the animals they would like to ride on a carousel — and then to make that carousel, carving the animals exactly as the children drew them? I wanted it to be as magical as the children who ride it,” said Mr. Mottola, who, in an echo of his own past, gave each child whose animal was chosen a $50 savings bond, and a lifetime of free rides on the carousel.
Above each animal, Mr. Mottola displayed the child’s original drawing, and on the floor beneath each animal, he carved the child’s signature. “I wanted the winners to have something that will last forever, where they can someday take their husbands and wives and say ‘I did this.’ “
The carousel is on permanent display in Riverbank State Park, the 28-acre park built three years ago atop a sewage treatment plant between West 137th and West 145th Streets in Harlem.
“improvisation, writing, painting, invention—all creative acts—are forms of play,
the starting place of creativity in the human growth cycle, one of the great primal life functions.”
— stephen nachmanovitch, Free Play
—
Source Credits: Pam Belluck, Milo Mottola, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Program
Material: steel (alloy), wood, fiberglass
Address:679 Riverside Dr, New York, 10031, USA
setup began yesterday
streets closing
unloading, building, signage, displays
artists on task
townies abuzz
beautiful skies
everything in full swing
high excitement in the air
can’t wait to visit.
‘an artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.’
-charles horton cooley
Vik Muniz. Action Photo, after Hans Namuth from Pictures of Chocolate. 1997. Chromogenic color print. The Museum of Modern Art. Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Adriana Cisneros de Griffin through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund. © The Estate of Hans Namuth and Vik Muniz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
—
‘As part of the Artist’s Choice exhibition series at the Museum of Modern Art, Muniz curated a show drawn from the Museum’s collection, and MoMA has recently added to the collection a key picture by Muniz, Action Photo, after Hans Namuth from Pictures of Chocolate, and we hope to continue our exploration and appreciation of this leading artist’s work.’ -MoMa
To make his work, Muniz renders familiar images drawn from pop culture and art history in a variety of materials, and then photographs them. He has fashioned the Mona Lisa from peanut butter and jelly, Elizabeth Taylor from diamonds, Caravaggio’s Narcissus from junk, iconic news images from wet ink, and his self-portrait from dice. Muniz has referred to himself as an “illusionist,” and, with characteristic humor and ingenuity, explores the nature of representation in an image-saturated world.
One of Muniz’s most well-known bodies of work is a series of pictures rendered in chocolate sauce. Action Photo, after Hans Namuth (1997) is made after a 1950 photograph taken by Hans Namuth of Jackson Pollock frozen in mid-dance as he was making one of his paintings, Autumn Rhythm. Muniz’s subsequent appropriation and translation of this image into chocolate is a perfect marriage of subject and material. The viscous chocolate syrup (incidentally, he used the brand Bosco) is a perfect stand-in for Pollock’s wet, shiny paint drips. This new acquisition not only strengthens the Museum’s Muniz holdings, but is a welcome complement to MoMA’s rich Pollock collection .
Vik Muniz is a Brazilian artist and photographer. His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide. In 1998, he participated in the 24th International Biennale in São Paulo, and in 2001, he represented Brazil at the 49th Biennale in Venice, Italy. He currently works in New York City and Rio de Janerio.
while this is not me,
this is my exact style of painting with chocolate
while not quite as celebrated as vic’s
they are not as in demand
and have not yet been exhibited in public.
—
on world chocolate day
—
‘i’las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso.’
(ideas should be clear and chocolate thick.)
-spanish proverb
—
source credits:MoMa, Inside/Out
“man needs spiritual expression and nourishing….
even in the prehistoric era, people would scrawl pictures of bison on the walls of caves.”
*-fernando botero
Paul Klee, Forest Architecture, 1925, pen and watercolour on paper mounted on card
swiss painter, draftsman, and printmaker 1879-1940
—
“art should be like a holiday;
something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently,
and to change his point of view.”
-paul klee
the dandelions have returned, and i couldn’t be happier.
—
“Every year,” said Grandfather. “They run amuck; I let them.
Pride of lions in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole in your retina.
A common flower, a weed that no one sees, yes.
But for us, a noble thing, the dandelion.”
-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
—
art credit: garth williams, (the rabbit’s wedding) – rabbit basking in the moonlight
not me, nor my garden
but he and i have similar attitudes
and this warmer weather
really has me wanting to get my garden going
then just stand back
and take it all in.
(hello to claude monet, at giverny gardens in 1923, perhaps thinking about painting it)
—
“to plant a garden is the chief of the arts of peace.”
~ mary stewart
A New York garbage depot holds a secret collection of weird and wonderful refuse.
The Treasures in the Trash Collection
On the second floor of a nondescript warehouse owned by New York City’s Sanitation Department in East Harlem is a treasure trove—filled with other people’s trash.
Most of the building is used as a depot for garbage trucks, but there’s a secret collection that takes over an entire floor. The space is populated by a mind-bogglingly wide array of items: a bestiary of Tamagotchis, Furbies; dozens of Pez dispensers; female weight lifting trophies; 8-track tapes; plates, paintings, sporting equipment and much more.
The Treasures in the Trash collection, was created entirely out of objects found by Nelson Molina, a now-retired sanitation worker, who began by decorating his locker. Collected over 30 years, it is a visual explosion, organized by type, color, and size. Atlas Obscura had the chance to visit the collection with the New York Adventure Club, take some photos, and revel in the vast creative possibilities of trash. Unfortunately, this isn’t a collection that keeps regular hours; drop-ins are not allowed. For more information on the occasional organized tours, email tours@dsny.nyc.gov. Sanitation workers are welcome anytime.
“uncommon thinkers reuse what common thinkers refuse.”
-j.r.d. tata
—
source credits: atlas obscura, dylan thuras, new york adventure club
collection location: 343 East 99th St., New York, New York, 10029 usa
I didn't have my glasses on.... 