NYC 2013 Part Two

Let's see...where were we?

Oh yes, the beautiful Metropolitan Museum of Art*.  We left there and headed to the New York Public Library*.  Later that night we went to a Broadway show.  I am skipping a lot but can't show everything!

The last day we ate breakfast on the Upper West Side at The Popover Cafe.  Very fun and very non-touristy.  Just what we wanted.  You can see my reflection in the window.  I was in a hurry.  I never do this in my real estate photos.  Just in case you wanted to know.

We walked around Greenwich Village. Later Rockefeller Center*.  I really liked it there.  It seemed like a fun place to hang out.

Then I split from my family for a bit and went to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).  Unfortunately it was a rainy Sunday afternoon so everyone else went there too.  My experience became experiencing famous artwork with crowds.  But that is New York.

 


This is the view I got when I came around the corner to see van Gogh's famous "Starry Night."





Pretty cool to have an old canvas painted by a crazy guy treated like it's the president or something.  Love it.

Another  highlight there was the huge triptych panel of Monet's Waterlilies*.  There was a guy super excited about it.  He was alone.  He set his camera on the floor, turned on the timer, and sat down in front of the huge work to pose next to it.





I caught him as he was standing up.  It was funny to me that he wouldn't ask one of the huge selection of other museum goers (and photographers) to take his picture.

There was an entire room of Paul Klee.

I like his work.  I had never seen this one before.  I could look at it for a long time.

 

When I saw this guy using his phone to photograph a tiny portion of Andy Warhol's work I was stunned.  I am sure Andy Warhol is either rolling his eyes, rolling in his grave, or rolling on the floor laughing.  If painters knew that that's how artwork would be viewed in the future I wonder if  they would have painted at all.

And of course, there's Jackson.  Jackson Pollock, that is.  I recently read a biography of Lee Krasner, his widow and fellow Abstract Expressionist.  I read all about their post war life in New York and then marriage and life on Long Island.



I was interested in how he nailed his canvas to the frame.  I liked thinking about him building the canvas that would someday become this painting that I journeyed a long way to see.  And even though he was an alcoholic, he was constantly trying to kick it and was sober for two years...this one painted during that time.  Many people think he just threw paint around.  I think he was an artist.

Since our apartment was so close to Times Square, we had to walk through it (and it really extends into the blocks around it pretty far) often.  I had enough of it after the first night.

There is quite the industry in Times Square.  We learned how to walk quickly past people dressed as Dora, Elmo, Superheros, you name it.  (If you wanted a photo with them you had to pay them.)  Caricature artists, bus tour pushers, etc. as well.

The most memorable were these guys who had about 3-4 rats that they had dyed pink and blue.  They were allowing people to hold them or put them on their heads/shoulders long enough for whoever you were with to take your picture with them.  Then you paid them money.

I didn't expect that.  This guy looks so excited to have rats draped on him.  It is ridiculous.

And at one point in the trip in Union Square I even managed to get a very close up shot of a squirrel.  He had just taken food out of someones hand and had no problem letting me get very close to photograph him.  I'm just a squirrel tryin' to get a nut...

I heart NY.

*My Julie Alley Photography Facebook page has more photos of these places.