By RUDY!
New York, NY - It seems that today was the day to figure out how to get from the Upper West Side to the Upper East Side solely with walking and the subway. I may have found the quickest way that doesn’t involving going to the ever crowded downtown routes. After walking the tremendous distances yesterday, today’s results should prove helpful for my tiring feet.
I hopped on one to get to the Zwirner and Wirth gallery on the Upper East Side for the last day of the Claes Oldenburg exhibit. It was worth it, the pieces were early works, most of which I had never seen. My favorite were in the back room, three huge light switches in three different mediums: wood, cloth, and paper. They were approximately 3.5 ft by 3.5ft each one had two switches on it.
From here I strolled through Central Park towards the American Museum of Natural History. I had a lunch meeting with Orsola, a fellow fan of planetary nebulae (PNe) and collaborator on my most recent publication. We talked and walked towards a Thai restaurant called Monsoons. Our conversation points ranged from PNe and evolutionary psychology to blockbuster and independent films, at one point we even discussed child-rearing techniques. Afterwards our conversations spilled over into her office, where she showed me some of her lastest work. She is “sticking her neck out” on a future publication, I can’t wait to see the aftermath!
The AMNH butterfly conservatory was amazing! Humid as hell and just as warm, but these precious creatures need the simulated climate. There were so many varieties and about four experts on hand, at one point one expert was walking me through butterfly by butterfly and helping me get the best shot possible. When I got one great shot, everyone within eyeshot of my 2.5 inch screen awed! The Darwin show was just as good, but less hands on. I really enjoyed the set up of his work space at his home. In my opinion, his curiousity of the natural world is unmatched as is his contribution.
Next stop was the Guggenheim, I hoped to find their collection of Joseph Cornell boxes, but they were all in storage. However, the annexes provided more than enough eye candy, with works from Chagall, Kandinsky, Cezanne, to name a few. The major disappointment came from the renovation work to the exterior of the museum. The entire exterior was shrouded in scaffolding and opaque tarps!
Dinner was pizza from Ray’s Pizza, with dessert coming from Quintessence, a raw vegetarian food restaurant going out of business at the end of the year. I had a slice of peacan pie, it was very heavy and I couldn’t finish it. They managed to spoil their 100% Kona coffee by roasting it too dark. I didn’t say anything, but all I could think about was the waste…
On the train ride home I had two strangers sit at the empty seat beside me. The first was a girl on her way to a Vermont ski trip, the second was a girl on her way to an Ontario road trip, but the girl most captivating was sitting behind me. I probably annoyed her a couple of times because my chair was broken and every time I sat in it it squeaked loudly and haphazardly fell back towards her. She spoke with an accent, but I didn’t have the courage to ask her more than a pitiful question about what was said during an announcement. Sigh star sigh. Filed under Missed Connections… ha ha!
