New York City, May 2003

 

We began our trip with a visit to Central Park. The Park never looked so beautiful! Architectural historian, Matthew Postal gave us the history of the Park as we walked through areas unknown to many New Yorkers. We discoved some spectacular vistas that we all want to come back to again. Central Park celebrates its 150th birthday this year 2003.

 

 

We met Adam Van Doren, a watercolor artist who captures his impressions of the showpieces of New York architecture, at his skylighted studio on the top two floors of his family owned historic building.

 

 

Barrett White, Christie's auction house postwar and contemporary art specialist gave us a behind the scenes tour of the May contemporary art auction and the art market today. We then attended the evening auction and watched as Rothkos went for over 16 million!

Masterworks by Mark Rothko including the jewel of the renowned Seagram Collection, a classic Andy Warhol portrait of Marlon Brando, and works by Frank Stella, Yves Klein, Gerhard Richter, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Arshille Gorky and Takashi Murakami were among the highlights of the glamorous evening sale at Christies.

 

 

We had a private art historian guided tour of the blockbuster Matisse Picasso exhibition at the temporary Queens home of MOMA. The museum was closed to the public that day, so we had plenty of space in which to view the diologue between Matisse and Picasso. We caught the subway back to Manhattan.

 

We enjoyed lunch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a visit to Roy Lichtenstein on the Roof. Six brightly painted or patinated bronze and aluminum sculptures by the American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) are installed in the most dramatic outdoor space for sculpture in New York City: The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, which offers a spectacular view of Central Park and the New York City skyline.

 

 As we made our way through the Upper East Side with architectural historian, Matthew Postal, we stopped by the Frick Museum. Matthew led us on a tour of a collector's mile that focused on a significant group of early 20th century mansions associated with prominent collectors and dealers.

 

 We visited the art studio of Benar Venet, a pioneer conceptural artist who has created monumental metal coil sculptures and whose recent large scale murals and paintings present mathematical and scientific formulas that intrigue by virtue of the inaccessibility of their contents.

 

 As we made our way to Tribeca, some of us couldn't resist participating in the interactive exhibition, "Oneness" at Deitch Projects, by Mariko Mori.

 

... always ready for a photo op!

 

We stopped by the art studio/home of Arne Svenson, a photographer who has created emotionally charged portraitures of sock monkeys, prisoners, and recently reconstructed skulls.

sock monkeys
(200 out of 1,863)

by Arne Svenson and Ron Warren

 

 Internationally famed artists, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who have created monumental installations world-wide hosted us at their studio. Christo and Jeanne Claude plan to install the "Gates" project in Central Park in February 2005. They will install 7,560 gates 16 feet high along the walkways of Central Park, creating a golden river along the footpaths. We'll definitely come back for that!

 

 We meet at the Metropolitan Opera House to enjoy a dress rehearsal by American Ballet Theatre with a World Premier Performance, "Here After." This highly theatrical, visceral work, with John Adams' Harmonium and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and with sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto, features acclaimed vocal soloists and the 120-voice New York Choral Society.

 
We ended our visit with a review of the Chelsea Galleries and lunch at Pastis! The trip gave us many reasons to want to return real soon!
   

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