Friday, July 30, 2010

Neighborhood Barber cuts it right for $14 #art

I've been going to Neighborhood Barber for years. Ben has consistently made me look good. They are also one of the least expensive ways to look better in NYC almost instantly at only $14 a cut. Afterwards, go to the Ukrainian Home for some kasha, latkes, or borsht to keep in the Soviet spirit.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

George Washington watching over wall Street #art

George is keeping an eye on the shenanigans of Wall Street from his perch across the street at Federal Hall. The park ranger behind him is also watching. This is where Washington took the oath to be our first President. Our first Congress and Supreme Court was in this building also.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

They erased my old studio off the map! #art

CUNY tore down my old studio and put up lots of I-beams. They've also put a Target, a Best Buy, and a Costco in that neighborhood. This is the way it goes for artists. Inhabit a forgotten neighborhood, enhance it and get summarily kicked out of it once the properties become more desirable.
This is me in my old studio photographed by Clark Whittington of Art-O-Mat on one of his sorties to New York City.

Monday, July 26, 2010

A bucket of chilled Rolling Rock in the summer! #art

The flip-flops with painted toes say it all. A nice summer moment shared.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Cracker Invader Lands Near You #art

Eat this alien before he eats you. 46 pixels of deliciousness. Anyone got cheez whiz?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Southern tip of New York City #art

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Las Vegas Cracker Family at Home #art

Marty Walsh owns Trifecta Gallery, at the Arts District, in Las Vegas and she's also the artist for the portrait of the parents. Note the canvas parent crackers are Mom Saltine and Daddy Keebler. Baby Pewter looks just like her mother!

Name: James and Joy Lane
Serial: 3212
Location: Las Vegas Nevada

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Trick Wolf


Wolves have a storied past and an uncertain future. But one thing is certain - they can't get enough crackers.

Monday, July 19, 2010

John Deere Green




Cracker tracker has had moose before. But somehow this moose is different - being both Canadian and an homage to John Deere. John Deere was a blacksmith who escaped creditors by moving to Illinois. The local cast iron plows were no match for the hard soil of the area - the plows were the same technology used since the Chinese first cast iron plows in 233 BC. The cracker is cast in pewter using a similar gravity casting technique.

Deere wanted to improve on the 2000-year-old process and remembered polishing and sharpening needles for a tailor when he was a kid, so he developed a polished, sharpened steel-bladed plow. It became "The Plow that Broke the Plains" perhaps directly responsible for the dust bowl that ravished the area within 100 years - agricultural reform only happened when the dust reached Washington during the Senate's agricultural reform debate.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Verrazano Narrows Art and Architecture Project #art

Two crackers at Verrazano Narrows Bridge that connects two burros boroughs; Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

William Seward - NY vs. AK


William Seward was the 12th Governor of New York, a United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State. He is perhaps best known for purchasing Alaska from Russia - a move ridiculed by most until the gold and oil booms. It is unsurprising that this collector found statues of Seward in both states. The top picture with Seward reaching out for the cracker is from Madison Square Park in New York. It honors his work as a statesman and outspoken abolitionist.

She felt that the bottom Seward didn't deserve a cracker. This Seward tops a totem pole in Ketchikan, AK at the Saxman Native Village. This is a totem pole to shame Seward (red ears indicate the statue is of someone being shamed). His disgrace was based on being a guest at a potlatch and not returning the favor. (He received five boat loads of gifts including totem poles and canoes - that certainly deserves more than a thank you note).

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Coney Island Wonder Wheel swings into action (Red & Blue Cars Only) #art

One of our collectors took a trip to Coney Island and sent this great pic of the classic sign for the Wonder Wheel.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Arthropod cracker with a cracker and Old Bay #art

Clemente's Crab Shack in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn.

Those are some tasty looking arthropods.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Sunset over Brooklyn #art @nycresistor

Charles, Zach, and Dave had a lovely roof party on Independence Eve. Once the sun descended, there were early fireworks all around the horizon. Put that together with the smell of turkey burgers, cow patties, and weiners on the grill, and you've got a perfect Brooklyn night.

That's the Empire State poking up in the top right. I used to live 3 blocks away, so it was always like seeing my house on the horizon. I secretly wondered if I'd be the protagonist from Cat's Cradle living in the dystopian future lobby of the Umpire Snake Bldg if everything went kerflewy (in that sci-fi way).

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Space Invaders land in Chelsea #art #graffiti

Invader, the French graffiti artist has pasted up in Chelsea again. The sneakers belong to an older gentleman tourist who was a bit nervous about being in New York. He asked if the tile work lead to a buried treasure or something.

There are "invasion maps" of some of the tiles for different cities available on Invader's website. He's hit about 40 cities world wide.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Georges Méliès predicts Apollo 11 mission on death bed. #art

Back in 1902, when we still thought the moon was made of gorgonzola, Georges Méliès made a Jules Verne novel into the first Sci-Fi Blockbuster, A Trip To The Moon. Someone in Chelsea liked the movie enough to make an homage on their front gate to the famous scene of the moon getting Apollo 11 in the eye.

I looked at the National Air and Space Museum when we were there last (for Obama's inauguration) and didn't see any cheese on display, so I guess that settles it. No cheese on the moon.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

They have a dragon guarding their house . . . #POTUS

. . . and all you've got is a lock on your front door.

This amazing sculpture was surrounded by iron spider webs on all the windows instead of the usual bars that make Manhattan ground floor apartments feel like jail cells.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Parachuting onto St. Patrick's roof #POTUS

Hope the chute opens. Those spires look awfully spiky.
Looking east as we descend. That's the far end of St. Patrick's on Madison.

Not to worry. We had a comfortable landing on 51st street out of traffic.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Mini Statue of Taweret found on 81st street

The giant 4 toed foot of the Egyptian goddess Taweret that featured prominently in the final season of Lost was discovered on 81st street near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met's Egyptian collection is amazing. I don't go often enough.

We just saw the Tutankhamun exhibit here in New York. Tut's at the Met too. . . And in Denver. Tut fever is spreading his collection around. It was touring back when we were kids, but hasn't been in New York for 30 years. I guess when you're immortal, 30 years isn't so long, but I'll bet Tut is going to have a hard time finding some of his old haunts.