Greening Van Gogh

Left, a green wall in Trafalgar Square, mimicking Van Gogh's 1889 A Wheatfield With Cypress (right). Absolutely amazing, and it'll be up through October 2011. (As seen on Treehugger.)

Our shoes are made for walking

We were too indolent to make any firm plans for the day, so around noon, we simply starting wandering aimlessly, toward a few thrift stores, and then down Crescent toward Long Island City. So many strange little scenes mere minutes away! A sampling of the sites. At left, pants hanging on a line.

A sweet stenciled request

Instructions for reaching the right resident (Yell louder!)

A reminder of the dangers of drugs

Yellow pages

A disheveled directory on the street in Astoria

Tippy toes

Red toe shoes hang from a crosswalk at 60th and Park. Art installation, or runaway ballerina?

Sentences

From Oscar and Lucinda, by Peter Carey:

My mother would not hear him speak of it, and not because she was silly, but because she understood as women often do more easily than men, that the declared meaning of a spoken sentence is only its overcoat, and the real meaning lies underneath its scarves and buttons.

Bopping around

This weekend was surprisingly busy! On Saturday, I wandered around the city and spent some time at the green market in Union Square, before we had a lovely dinner at ABC Kitchen (suggestions: ramp and goat cheese toast; roasted carrot and avocado salad with sour cream and seeds; salted-caramel ice cream sundae with hot fudge, candied peanuts, and popcorn). On Sunday, inspired by a few books my mom sent me about day hikes in the tri-state area, we took a stroll on the Appalachian Trail; on Monday, we met with friends in Prospect Park for a barbecue. Some scenes:

 

50 faces in chalk, near Union Square, by Felix Morelo

A water tower and signs near section two of the New York-New Jersey section of the Appalachian Trail

Grilling in Prospect Park

Spring in your step

Springs, presumably from an old mattress, on 10th St. near 36th Ave. in Long Island City.

Scenes from Socrates

Image: portion of Leif Low-beer piece against the skyline; Flickr user Joel Speasmaker has a better image of how the sculpture plays with perspective.

Ambled on down to Socrates Sculpture Park yesterday evening and poked around the Vista exhibit (which is on until August 7):

Vista will explore the ways that methods of viewing and observation determine the assessment and evaluation of an object or scene. The works in the exhibition will employ visual alignment, perspective, and the framing of a site-line or point of view to dictate perception.

Which Side Are You On?, Howie Sneider, 2011

Closeup of one side of Jillian Conrad's Relative Distants, 2011

Between Lines, Priscila de Carvalho, 2011

One Way, Ivan Argote, 2011

Under the surface

Three shopping carts just beneath the surface on the shore of the East River; this photo is from Rainey Park in Long Island City, at Vernon Boulevard and 34th Avenue. The park takes its name from Dr. Thomas Rainey, who helped drive the effort to build the Queensboro Bridge (his NYT obit contains this interesting tidbit: "... because of a thrashing, he ran away and wandered out West. With only the moderate education he had picked up in the local schools and with a pistol and $3.50 in  his pocket, he continued his journeyings by working his way until he had crossed West Virginia, Ohio, and Missouri.")

Through Flushing Meadows to QMA

Today, the Queens Museum of Art hosted the opening reception for our friend Niyeti's latest piece, A Script for a Landscape, a site-specific work she installed in a gallery on the QMA's second floor. If you've never been to the museum, it's well worth the trek on the 7 train; Niyeti's piece will be up through mid-August, and you can of course check out the Panorama, the Neustadt collection of Tiffany glass, and artifacts that recall the 1939 New York World Fair. QMA is also supporting Tania Bruguera's Immigrant Movement International, an exploration of politics and art with regard to immigration in New York.

The museum is a bit off the beaten path, but if the sun is shining, nothing beats the walk between the Mets-Willets Point 7 station; a 10-minute walk through Flushing Meadows Corona Park and you're there. Glances of what I saw along the way:

Textures and lines at a yard where trains idle

Crossing the slatted overpass to enter the park

Venus mosaic in what is now called David Dinkins Circle

Pickup games aplenty

A shiny silver sculpture

And, of course, the Unisphere in all its glory (I saw a few pairs of shoes that had been flung onto its frame; I suppose people must pull that stunt all the time)