Tag: NYC

Sculpture The Roses, and Park Ave. N.Y.C.

Roses and Bugs Park Ave. NYC
The Roses (and Bugs) Park Ave. NYC Thanks to: Will Ryman (artist) , Paul Kasmin Gallery, NYC.gov/parks and The Fund for Park Ave.

RUSH to NYC if you can to see these 38 larger than life Roses!  These GREAT BIG WONDERFUL Roses, and all the LITTLE CREATURES, on them will only be around a bit longer on Park Ave. If you missed them you truly miss a delightful art display and fabulous installation of public art! The art made me smile every time I went by them. They will be wilting away on May 31.

The art is from Will Ryman, who is a Bowery-based playwright turned sculptor. The octet of blossoms and each petal are made of plaster, wire mesh, PVC tubes, stainless steel, yacht-grade fiberglass resin, automotive paint, and brass designed to withstand the elements and be enjoyed by passersby. They are between 57th and 67th Streets.  The Height of each bunch is approx. 25 feet high (i.e. 4 or 5 NY stories high.) I got to see the flowers in the winter, in the snow, and they were delightful and surreal. An oddity that my brain knew was seasonally wrong, but my heart loved seeing! When I went back in the spring it was glorious again. My soul was so happy to see the real tulips and other flowers blooming, the reality of it being a bit early for roses didn’t bother me one iota. It was a splash of color and life – a sight to be seen, and a scene to be experienced.  ART that makes me smile, lifts up my spirits and soul, is available to all – that is good stuff!

Many of the roses are already sold, if you want one then be quick to come up with $200-400,000. Or, just buy a petal; you can use it as a chair- really! It will only set you back $25-$30,000. According to Ryman (in Jan. when The Roses went up)

“About half of the works on view have already been sold. The proceeds from these sales made the installation a reality because the $800,000 in expenses were covered by the artist. Whatever isn’t sold by the time they come down in late May will probably be put on loan by the Paul Kasmin Gallery, said Ryman. “

I was talking to my Dad not long ago, and were chatting about The Botanical Beauties and Beasties. One of the things he said was ” they make me smile.” A friend also recently told me the same, she said ” Your creations make me smile every day.”  I thought how great is that!  I was thrilled.  As I reflected on these very kind and wonderful words to my ears, I remembered a mission I had set out for myself when I started creating the Beauties and Beasties. This mission had sort of been forgotten by me lately. Thanks to Dad and to Chris for reminding me. I wanted, and still want,  The Beauties and Beasties (who BTY were called The Critters at that time) to make people smile, and feel good! The world seems like a pretty hostile place often and it seems important to sooth those rough edges a bit if I can. I am honored, thrilled, delighted, and proud that one of the missions of  The Botanical Beauties and Beasties has come to fruition.  Now that is REALLY GREAT STUFF!

In the near future I am planning on telling you all some of the other goals that the Gang at Botaniumus and I have. We have big plans! In the meantime, Enjoy NYC, Park Ave on a near perfect spring 2011 day!

To read an interesting article from, of all places, The New York Social Diary, the first month the Roses bloomed on Park (Jan.)

Naturally the NYTimes had a review in Jan as well.

To see them in the snow The Huffington Post. or a slideshow from Paul Kasmin Gallery 

The Sign for “The Roses” 

Big Giant Head lands in Madison Square Park

Echo and Bloom in NYC
Echo and Bloom in NYC- Bloom just wanted to see better!

“OVER the last decade Jaume Plensa has become one of the world’s most celebrated public artists, best known for wondrously monumental figurative sculptures that can be seen from Calgary to Dubai. But ask this Barcelona native how he creates his work, which seems to involve feats of technology as well as imagination, and he prefers to talk about music, dreams and poetry…Clearly, though, more than poetry has gone into “Echo,” his 44-foot-high sculpture of a girl’s head, which was raised in Madison Square Park last week… The work is made from an amalgam of polyester resin, white pigment and marble dust, and its glittering neck rises straight from the grass, creating an otherworldly beacon amid the furor of the Flatiron district.” NYT

“Plensa’s sculpture also refers to an episode in Greek mythology in which the loquacious nymph Echo is forced as punishment to repeat only the thoughts of others. Plensa’s Echo plays on the narrative of this Greek myth by depicting a young girl’s face in a state of reverie, translating this sculptural portrait into a physical monument of the internalized voices of the thousands of daily visitors to Madison Square Park.” more at  www.madisonsquarepark.org

Well, as you can see- Bloom just had get up close and personal and see better!  The Blossoms and myself were in NYC checking out some ART, some Culture, meeting new friends and old. We all had a grand time, thanks to everyone and everyplace we were! We walked, we ate, we viewed, we bought street art, we went to the MET, we walked some more, we talked, we listed, we explored, we watched, we ate some more, and we even got to sleep some too.

Hear ye Hear ye- more exciting news! The OTHER reason we were in NYC was we checking in, and confirming, that all was set for summer camp for their son!  Here are a few hints of some summer fun to come. The camp is way downtown and on some lush green land, and will enable lots of iconic NYC activities to take place. It must be Eco friendly and near lots of natures green, after all you can take the county away from the boy but not expect him to live on concert alone!  Any guesses?  Leave a comment if you think you may know! Stay tuned soon for more info.

Back to the ART part now for it IS ART WEEK! The Giant Head as first was a bit befuddling to Bloom and myself. As we traveled around it we were drawn to it- she made us smile and wonder. She looks so peaceful even though she is 44 feet tall she is a gentle force. Yet her shear size makes her a force to be contended with. I looked away for a minuet and Whoosh Bloom was up on Echos ear! He needed to get a better look, to experience and to feel the art. Something many of most of us never do. My guess is, many artist would like it if we “experienced” their art, when art moves you to an emotion, that is good stuff.  The amazing part  of Bloom being up there was this is NYC and no one even noticed him up there, so we did not get into any trouble.  I read in the NYT article about Plensa  that he said,  “My intention is to offer something so beautiful that people have an immediate reaction, so that they think, ‘What’s happening?’ And then maybe they can listen a little bit to themselves.” That is indeed what Echo did for Bloom and myself.  We looked at her, we contemplated, we thought about how gentle and peaceful she looks in the middle of the often-frenetic city. We thought about all that goes on in the city, in that park, in that area, the throngs of people around “Echo” and yet she was unruffled by it all.

A good art event for us! What do you think? We would LOVE to know!

Imagination and food – now that is always fun!

New great Restaurant in NYC  called LAUT, located in the Union Square area. The Blossoms went, well actually just Tanka went, Sakura was shopping as they were visiting NYC.  How could a girl resist!  However, Tankas meal was so good they are going back (together) soon. The reviews are amazing.  NYT states “Lurking in all the fusion in this restaurant near Union Square is some of the best Malaysian food in Manhattan.”  Address: 15 E. 17th St. (bet. B’way & 5th Ave.) Manhattan, NY 10003 (and for the local New Yorker, yes they do delivery!) (Food Photo from LAUT) Laut Website

Question? Food Porn? What?!?
Is the body  you want just a figment of your imagination? Here’s the site for you! http://www.tastespotting.com/ “Sarah Gim certainly didn’t invent food porn. But she’s perfected it.

Gim runs TasteSpotting, a virtual buffet showcasing some of the most arresting food images available online with a collection that tops 140,000 stunning photos. The majority of the 5 million clicks logged each month come from visitors who graze with their eyes and gobble up kitchen inspiration and recipes. They drool. They lose themselves in the aspiration of it all. A red beet salad adorned with chives that were sprinkled just so. A snowflake cookie with impossibly perfect pink icing. And a plump fig, torn open and lovingly captured in a photo that is so simple, so transporting that it borders on heartbreaking.” Article from the LA Times

I just picked the first image ( easter is coming up and ….) for it’s fun factor – but the site is full of  fun, funky, serious foodie images and links!  This one is from aspicyperspective.com. Recipes included!