The Big Apple

I had such a great time in New York this time. Although I go there often, I usually spend most of my time with my nephew Jonathan. This time I had a whole week and was able to get out a bit. I went to the MOMA and saw some of my favorite artists. It was incredible seeing Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and for the first time Helen Frankenthaller. Their paintings were bigger than I imagined. It was an overwhelming experience. I put on my headphones and listened to some of my favorite music and blocked out the chitter chatter of others and entered my own world.

I also got to see Pollock's giant drip paintings. It was the first time. I was able to get up close and examine what he accomplished. It was fun to see some of Andy Warhol's and Jasper John's creations that they made right there in NYC 40-50 years ago.

The next day I headed to the MET to see an exhibit on Robert Rauschenburg. It was incredible. I spent an 1hr and 45mins just on his exhibit. There was so much to look at. I was so overwhelmed. I just stood there and stared at his paintings forever. It was amazing to see the paintings in real life after staring at them in my humungous book for the past 5 years.

This experience engulfed me into a new world. I wanted to take photos of all the paintings to capture that moment but had always thought it was disrespectful to the artists. I scoffed at the other tourists who would just take photos and move on. They never enjoyed the moment. It was like seeing an incredible sunset and you want to capture every moment of it, however you know a photo could never do it justice so you just have to live with the 10 minutes of satisfaction (or in the museums case) several hours and enjoy it while the experience lasts. That was experiences are, moments in time. You can't make every moment hold still forever.

Here's a shot of me walking through central park on Christmas Eve and enjoying the fresh air. I wanted to roll around on the grass but they were preserving it for the winter.