Well-packed shelves

This 2011 piece by Manolo Valdés, Bookcase, is spectacular. This snapshot is a poor reflection of the towering sculpture, which appears at first glance to be a bookshelf stuffed with a compulsive collector's hoard; when you look closer, you see that it's slabs of gorgeous wood, full of beautiful textures and inevitably calling to mind the source of all those pages you've turned.

Shine on

Sometimes, works of art are cool as independent objects and as a basis for creating a new way of seeing. I was drawn to a few pieces at Armory that had bright, reflective surfaces, all the better for seeing the room in refraction.

At left is Dall'anno Uno by Michelangelo Pistoletto; the woman with the book on her head is screened onto stainless steel (for another view of the work, see here), but in this shot, there's the blue canvas, a few gallerists, you can make out a bit of my face, and you can also see a man's hands as he snaps a picture of the piece (as well as the reflection of his hands and his camera phone). Perhaps less interesting, at right, I took a close view of a shiny chrome cube, with the lights and the beams of the pier visible overhead.