On the road again - NYC

Hi friends and family,

Everything going smoothly here, although it is still quite hot and humid. Many NY'ers walking around in short shorts and flip flops.

Arrived very late Tuesday evening. Wednesday had a very good meeting with Chuck Close at his studio. Some promising projects and new ideas. Got a tour of Chuck's apartment and tasted some delicious Sweet 100 baby tomatoes he is growing on his rooftop deck. Lunch at Chuck's studio; delicious sandwiches from The Smile. The executive chef is Melia Marden, Brice Marden's daughter. Keep it in the family.

We met two lovely women at Chuck's Studio, one being the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She's a very attractive and pleasant woman named Cecile Richards, who is also the daughter of Ann Richards, former governor of Texas. They loved the tapestries hanging in Chuck's studio.

Went to the Rubin that afternoon; we were pleasantly surprised to run into Tsherin Sherpa, a Tibetan artist who lives in Oakland and visited Magnolia along with Katie De Tilly, Hung Liu's Hong Kong dealer, and Gonkar Gyatso, an artist who shows at Katie's gallery, 10 Chancery Lane. Tsherin Sherpa and  Gonkar Gyatso  are currently in a very interesting show at the Rubin called Tradition Transformed. All the artists are living Tibetan artists and looking at Tibetan imagery from a contemporary or Western perspective. Two of the artists, Losang Gyatso and Tenzing Rigdol, have works in The Missing Peace. Tsherin Sherpa gave a talk, which Don and I crashed, to a group of students from The New School. He spoke about his struggles and doubts while learning traditional thangka painting and then breaking with tradition. He is a lovely man with an open-hearted demeanor.

Tsherin said that he tries to paint happy paintings, and that is always his original intent, but somehow they all end up being dark. He got a sympathetic chuckle from the audience.

Tsherin Sherpa at the Rubin. We love his deities in gas masks. We were stopped from taking pictures by museum officials.

We're staying in Brooklyn and took a walk Thursday thru Prospect Park. Don't know if you heard about the tornadoes which ripped through Brooklyn and the Bronx about a week ago, but the devastation was shocking. So many stately old trees blown over. Paul Discoe, our daughter, Marisha, or many of our environmentally active friends would know what to do with these trees. I hope they're not wasted.



Broken Tree, Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Finally arrived at the Brooklyn Museum after walking in circles and dodging fallen trees. Loved this stained glass gypsy carriage in their lobby. Reminded me of Romania.


That evening we went to Thierry Despont's opening at Marlborough Gallery on 57th Street. Magnolia had produced 9 mammoth tapestries for Thierry. They looked stunning against Marlborough's gigantic walls. The whole effect was otherworldly. I'm afraid our pics of the opening are not great.


Era, Thierry Despont and unidentified art lover at Marlborough



More later; Love,

Era and Don