A year ago NYC went into complete lockdown. Spring went on without us. Holed up in our homes we missed the burst of new life such as the myriad of flowering trees of New York, pear trees, peach trees, cherry trees, magnolia trees, the empress tree, dogwoods…
We missed the daffodils and the tulips on the sidewalks and the wisteria vines climbing on the front of brownstones. The burst of color and fragrances that permeate the city during the Spring is unmistakable. Nature comes alive and with it our desires to go out and celebrate the new beginnings.
Spring is also a cultural season. New exhibitions open and with that, the cultural life of the city begins in earnest. Indoor and outdoor cultural offerings abound with you presented with many choices to select from.
Now there’s an optimistic feeling of a renaissance after a year of sacrifices and suffering, loss and despair.
Most of the city’s museums, gardens, and parks are open to the general public in a limited capacity. Please always check with the institutions’ guidelines and policies before you go. Most if not all of them have requirements that must be observed prior to visiting. So please plan your visit and have fun.
Art was popping up like crokuses and animated robots all week here in NYC with a plethora of art fairs gathered under Armory Week, a number of fresh green gallery openings, and the welcome sign of perturbed perennials appearing on the street.
Although it is not surprising in any way any more, Street Artists are represented across all three of those options today, like Pixote, Swoon, and Ian Strange (Kid Zoom) at Spring/Break. Also John Matos, aka Crash One, and Lady Aiko in conversation with cultural critic and curator Carlo McCormick moderated by Harrison Tenzer of Sotheby’s at Scope. And you can’t forget the gallery openings of Buff Monster with Dalek, and the first solo show of Brendan Fagen (the artist formerly known as Judith Supine).
You try to see as much as possible, and of course a number of non-Street Art installations caught our eye like the top image of Fernando Orellana‘s animated “Robot Protest”, which you can participate in HERE, and see a video of at the end of this post. For the actual street we’ll mention some new art in ad places from Abe Lincoln Jr and Swiss Miss as a dominatrix in pink latex and Trump as the submissive on bus shelters.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets (and elsewhere), this week featuring Anna Kustera, Annette Bragasuma, Danielle Mastrion, Demsky, DrscO, Eric Mistretta, Fernando Orellana, Ian Strange, Jonathatn Rosen, Laura O’Reilly, Abe Lincoln Jr. LMNOPI, Megzany, Pixote, Praxis VGZ, Sarah Walkco, Screw Tape, Stick N Twisted, Stylist of the Lambs, Swiss Miss NYC, and Turtle Caps.