Letters from Across the Pond: Part 2

Dear Yas and IQ,

I'm heading for Atlanta tomorrow, so I'll close out my New York portion of this trip. The week has been pretty quiet so far, in large part to everyone else having....you know....a job. So I've been on my own a bit, which I don't mind at all. One of the big reasons I like coming to visit my Dad is that I can catch up on sleep and spend a couple of days just being comfortable and letting my brain catch up with me. I've not been a complete slugabed however, and have gone on a few forays into The City to catch up with friends (or rather just one, the other canceled on me. Twice ;p) and see some awesome art.
First there was dinner with Jen on Sunday night -
Complete with a very nice view of the City on the ferry ride back. I used to take the Ferry in every day when I did a summer internship in the Financial District. It's always pretty to look at, some days more than others. Particularly when it isn't raining (Ferry when it's raining = le crap).

On Monday I went into city to a little gallery in Chelsea to see...well...Legos. But not just *any* Legos. Legos by this guy; Nathan Sawaya. I know I've already raved to you guys in just about every imaginable electronic medium available about this exhibit...but, clearly I have to get this one as well. OH MY GOD, THAT WAS SO COOL! Seriously...beautiful stuff, and I wish I could have some of his art in my house. I never thought of LEGO bricks as being able to communicate emotion (other than frustration when you're missing that last piece in the 3,000 piece LEGO Star Destroyer kit...that was a dark day) but apparently I was wrong....have you ever wanted to hug a LEGO sculpture because it looks sad? Don't answer that...(YARR PHOTO BLIZZARD AHEAD!!!) ( See Flickr for better versions of these photos, it's not nice to kill the blog/people's internet connections by putting these full res, but a lot of them came out really well) .

















Of all the works, I think this one is probably my favorite....not to say the others weren't amazing...but I kept coming back to this one for some reason...If i ever get a spare 10,000 dollars (Lotto anyone) I could stare at this all day...


After that? Well....obviously I had to swing by Times Square. Not much has changed, but it's still nice to take a look at. If only to remind myself why I DON'T want to live here full time.



Tomorrow I'm heading for Atlanta to take a look at Emory....woohah.

Cultural Monday's....Topolski's Century and Gabriel's Wharf

Hidden among the arches of Waterloo is Topolski's Century, the artist's 600 ft record of the 20h century. Topolski was an eye witness to many of the major events, including both World Wars, the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement in the US (to name a few). In particular, he was an official war artist for the Brits in World War Two, creating many sketches during the Blitz, and he was embedded with one of the units involved in the liberation of (if i recall) Bergen-Belsen.
In short? Dude's seen a lot, and his art is worth taking a look at. More over, his gallery has free admission on Monday's (2 quid for adults during the rest of the week). So off we went.


















Left: The UN Wheel, Right: World War I

One of the more interesting items for me, personally, was the original door to Newgate Prison, which was demolished in the late 17oos. Now...WHY Topolski had the door to Newgate, and decided that it would be a great piece to display as part of his artwork relating to the Soviet Union and Cold War mentality....I don't know. I can understand the prison connotations etc etc, but why THIS door? There's so much more history related to it! Sigh....silly artists.
History note: The 'original' Newgate was demolished in 1777, but the prison existed, in some form or another from the 1100s through to 1902. Also note that the 'original' as previously referenced, was definitely not the original, if nothing else, it burned down in the Great Fire in 1666. I'm not entirely sure which iteration the door is from, but that's neither here nor there.

After wandering through Topolski's Mural, his paintings regarding the opening of Bergen-Belsen being particularly poignant for me, we went for a walk along Southbank, including a visit to the top of OXO Tower and Gabriel's Wharf.