NY Times - "Today's Headlines: Hurricane Katrina Slams Into Gulf Coast; Dozens Are Dead... Millions of people are left without power and submerged highways even hundreds of miles from its center."
I personally love New Orleans. It's the most hospitable and unique cities in America. I hope everyone is safe or evacuated. Good luck.
To everyone in the Southeast: STAY STRONG. Our hearts are with you.
Everyone else, how you can help:
In New York, you can literally drive North for an hour and be amidst hundreds of thousands of acres of forests and mountains. It's the great antithesis of the city. However, most New Yorkers prefer to shift to the Hamptons instead for the weekend getaway.
Pick up a Sunday NY Times and here's what you'll find in the real estate section:
I hate movies of all kinds. And unless I'm invited to a premier here in the city, you won't catch me ever sitting for 2 hours staring at a screen.
There's just something so unnatural about cutting, editing, pasting. And having people sit and stare. It's too unbelievable for me and fake. Besides there's just no interaction- which I crave- like that of live performances.
But something is so alluring about Central Park under the open sky. Spending most of my time downtown, I forget the park even exists. And just how beautiful the park really is. Perfectly manicured and maintained.
It was the perfect night and I can see why so many romance dramas are filmed here. So if you're ever in NYC during the summer grab a blanket and come uptown.
I just read an excerpt from a horrifying article in art and antiques magazine (Sept 2005). A gallery owner in Atlanta, GA stated something to the effect that New York is not one of the top 3 art districts in this country. That art in NYC is overpriced because gallery owners need to “make up” for overpriced leased space.
What?!?!
The typical gallery here makes an average of anywhere between $50,000 and $200,000 per month. And the average space in a hot district like the Chelsea Art District is about $10,000 for 3000 sq.ft. on the ground floor. Hardly, too much rent for the ART CAPITAL.
Mr. Atlanta Gallery Owner should have taken a course in economics and learned something about supply and demand. His claims are that New York art collectors go to him to buy art. Whatever.
All I have to say is educated art collectors know the merits of good art and what and when to collect an emerging artist- wherever a city the artist might reside. In addition, I challenge this gallery owner to pick up any art magazine, anytime of the year and not find an article about New York Art.
In fact, this very issue has, in bold print, “New York City Art” on the cover:
So case made.
View of the island yesterday evening.
Want a piece of it? Buy one of my paintings! Or you could also right click on the image and set is as your desktop background.
Back from Germany: I am now back from setting up for my new show (details to follow) and the pressure is on!
If you live in this city, you're exposed to so many cultures and ethnicities. You fuse your life with the lives of everyone around and you feel their anguish when they're pained.
An artist's sensitivity to the environment around them is even more magnified.
Such is true with the events of the past few years in Israel/Palestine. Politics is such an undiplomatic arena. Most Americans watch glimpses of the turmoil in the area. But with a husband from the state, and whose whole family lives there, I live it every day. Most people I know here do as well.
Luckily art can be a vent for the turmoil which builds up inside of us.
Peter Jennings passed away today. Journalism will most definitely feel the void. I grew up watching him on the news. My father said he was the most honest newsman on TV. Didn't sugarcoat things and just said whatever he had to truthfully and with dignity. But what I most admire about him is that he loved what he did. And had always done what he loved- news. A lesson I luckily learned at an early age after Sept 11. And advice I try to give everyone around me.
Do what you love and don't let anyone or anything stand in your way. The world will benefit the most if we all practiced this lesson.
This is an excerpt of a beautiful email I received from one of my collectors just today:
"...upon us all being born I feel we all have a voice inside us that say's "We're Special" and through this voice I feel we have a calling. There is no doubt in my mind that you are "Special" and you've listened to your voice....bringing the World something very Special... Your Art and Yourself through this Art. I thank you for your work and hope that you keep it up..."
Thank you, Michael. And I do believe each of us has a special gift that should be shared with the world.
AND Lesson #2
Get rid of your bad habits. I'm rethinking mine today.
Upcoming show in
Germany- sneak peeks now available @
The Lounge!
