I’d been to the NYC 1993 exhibit at the New Museum a few weeks earlier, but this time my eyes were closed and a stranger was guiding me through the second floor. He described the installation in front of us and, based on his clues, I couldn’t think back to what it could be: “A domestic scene. A red room and a white room. There are family photographs on a table. They look like they could be from the 70s. There’s an American flag, broken dishes on the floor, an open can of Coke…” (more…)
This shot of Tom Fruin’s water tower was submitted to us by @betsybatman.
This week’s #untappedcities Instagram “Pic” of the Week goes to this colorful shot of Tom Fruin’s Watertower, taken by @betsybatman, on display in Brooklyn Bridge Park untiL June. A big congratulations to @betsybatman! and thanks for tagging your picture #untappedcities. This capture is brilliant in so many ways. It is not every day that anything, let alone a water tower dwarfs the famed Manhattan Bridge, or East River, but this shot takes on the ask head on. Aside from this, it is hard to believe that the colors produced by Fruin’s Watertower could be rivaled, however @betsybatman does the unthinkable by framing the Watertower with the sunset over the East River. Amazingly, this contrast between the setting sun and the kaleidoscope of a water tower compliment each element in this beautiful photo. (more…)
Shinglekill Falls, New York
Public pools always seem like a good idea; there’s nothing more refreshing than jumping into a rectangle of clear, blue water on a hot, humid day. In reality, however, public pools can be a crowded, smelly, noisy, dirty nightmare filled with chlorine (and, in all likelihood, urine). But luckily—even for those of us who can’t afford a membership to a fancy private pool—there is an alternative: fresh water swimming holes.
As we compile our 5 favorite quirky museums in New York City, we feel like we’re revisiting them by looking at the images, reading our own enthusiastic impressions and remembering the particular things that remained with us long after we left. Also, there is a sense of appreciation as they remind us of how quirky can mean so many different things, how even two elevator museums in the same city can be complete opposites. It is a great testament to how the wildly diverse denizens and sides to New York City combine to form a multi-faceted yet harmonious whole. Without further ado, here they are. May you enjoy reading about them and visiting them as much we enjoyed getting to know them.
1. Lower East Side Troll Museum
Image courtesy of Lori Zimmer, Art Nerd New York
ICY (born 1985) and SOT (born 1991) are stencil artists from Tabriz, Iran. Their works are about peace, war, love, hate, hope, despair, children, human rights and Iranian culture. The two brothers have held numerous exhibitions and unofficial street works in Iran and foreign countries. You can view more of what they have been up to in the states recently in their latest East middle west tour / San Francisco/Los Angeles/Houston/Chicago facebook album.
A new show at (Art) Amalgamated in Chelsea strives to test the boundaries of communication and connection in the 21st century. Some Fifty Miles of Concrete Pavement is a collaboration between the artists David Birkin and Jeremy Hutchison. The two kept correspondence from their respective home bases at the time, Birkin in Southern California, and Hutchison in London. The show is a testament to the two artists attempting to bridge the gap between their locales, connecting through each other’s work, ideologies, as well as the similarities and differences between their respective environments.
