The Eve of The Eve Of Destruction.
I got out of work early on the eve of New Year's Eve and I thought that it would just be a brilliant idea to go up to Times Square. Yes. They're handing out crack pipes at work now. What was I thinking? Not much apparently, but that's ok. I braved the ridiculously crowded sidewalks and got some pics of the the latest 59th Minute,
Aida Ruilova's Countdown.
As usual, it was worth it. I love the mangling of the countdown, the destruction of expectation that Ruilova's piece pulls off.
Especially in a place (and in a moment) that is so worshipful of both gods. Burn, baby, burn.
Pittsburgh.
First the bad news . . . I promised to return from my holiday with pics of Jenny Holzer's "For Pittsburgh". Well, not so much. I kinda blew it on the camera settings so the photos were truly crap. Not to worry. I'll be returning to Pittsburgh in the summer, and I'll get it all worked out by then.
Now the good news. The art gods of the universe seemed to want to balance things out by offering up a nice art surprise on my way out of town. (It's not Creative Time, but it certainly
was art where I least expected it.) There's an Alexander Calder piece,
Pittburgh, that had been on loan to the Guggeheim Bilbao for a couple of years. It was returned to it's home over the last year in the Pittburgh Airport. It had been a pretty rewarding visit to the Iron City art-wise with visits to the
Warhol Museum, the
Mattress Factory, and two galleries in town (
Wood Street Galleries and
SPACE) so this was a nice way to wrap things up. Like the gift that it was.