I had a date with Katia after work tonight so I had to scuttle to a new thing ASAP. Thankfully this is Manhattan, so finding a great, quick experience nearby wasn’t too hard. Madison Square Park has a new outdoor art exhibit and I wanted to see it before it started getting dark out, so …
Read MoreCategory / Art
October 6, 2013
…visited Socrates Sculpture Park
I think I’ve found my favourite park in New York: Socrates Sculpture Park. As well as giving plenty of green space, the park in Astoria, Queens exhibits sculptures and multimedia installations. Nearly 30 years ago, a sculptor wanted to build the park on what was then a former landfill, and a group of artists and local youngsters helped him. It was …
Read MoreOctober 4, 2013
…tracked down a Banksy
My fellow countryman Banksy is causing a daily frenzy on the streets of New York. The artist has started a month’s ‘residency’ in the city, and every day this month, a new work will crop up somewhere – causing fans to sprint through the streets to be the first to see it. Today I tracked …
Read MoreOctober 3, 2013
…spotted an animation from the Q train
Ryan and I were traveling on the Q train from Brooklyn to Manhattan tonight when he told me to look out the right-hand-side window. Before I knew it, I was looking at a colorful animation created by panels on the walls underground. Check out the video: As you can see, we slowed down halfway through, …
Read MoreSeptember 27, 2013
…went to the Dumbo Arts Festival
Today I headed to Dumbo for the third time this week. So I know my photographs are getting a bit similar – but let’s be honest, can you ever get too much of this skyline? I went there to check out the Dumbo Arts Festival – a free three-day festival scattered among the streets and …
Read MoreSeptember 26, 2013
…visited Photoville
In the past six months, somehow I’ve become a crier. I used to let stories I wrote at work wash over me, but now I’m forever fumbling for the tissues. One of my news editors even told me recently that she can tell it’s a good story if she hears a sniff from my desk. I’m …
Read MoreSeptember 19, 2013
…got the dirt on the Earth Room
New York is full of bizarre things – sheep sculptures at gas stations, zombie parades and loos with transparent walls – but none as bizarre as what I encountered today: A room filled with nothing but 280,000 pounds of dirt. At lunchtime, Hayley and I headed a few blocks north to the Earth Room at …
Read MoreSeptember 18, 2013
…saw sheep grazing in Chelsea
I grew up surrounded by fields of sheep and cattle, but since moving to New York, the only animals I’ve seen are small dogs and bigger rats. Thankfully a new art space in Chelsea has brought the farmyard experience right to the heart of the city so that New Yorkers don’t miss out. ‘Sheep Station’ …
Read MoreSeptember 11, 2013
…visited the 9/11 Tiles for America
It’s been 12 years since Mr Caldicot sat down our Year 10 drama class and told us America had been attacked. I remember Rebecca getting upset – her father was traveling in the States that day – but the rest of us sat in a numb, confused silence. The sheer scale and enormous heartbreak surrounding …
Read MoreSeptember 10, 2013
…heard experimental music
Tonight I headed to Tribeca to an old building barely visible behind scaffolding. I found its hidden door and took its winding, marble stairs to the 13th floor where, through ancient wooden doors, sat a little-known radio station. The Clocktower Gallery station transmits experimental music and sound installations across the internet’s airwaves at ARTonAIR.org and …
Read MoreSeptember 8, 2013
…visited the Museum of Sex
It’s been a bit of a hedonistic weekend – a gluttonous picnic, gorging myself at the Vendys and a fair few beers last night – so this afternoon I decided to continue the theme with a trip to the Museum of Sex. I had expected the museum, which is at Madison Square Park, to cover …
Read MoreSeptember 5, 2013
…went inside the Chrysler Building
It took me about a year to tell the Chrysler and the Empire State buildings apart. No joke. Now I’ve realized that – apart from the fact they actually look totally different – the Empire State can be set aside from the Chrysler in one very central way: it opens its doors to the public. …
Read MoreAugust 28, 2013
…met the original Winnie the Pooh
I grew up just a stone’s throw away from Hartfield in West Sussex, where the stories of Winnie the Pooh and his friends were created. If you remember, earlier this year when I was back in England, I even played the characters’ favourite game, Pooh Sticks, at the bridge that inspired it. And even though I’m now …
Read MoreAugust 27, 2013
…made origami
For the past couple of months, the CourseHorse ‘Summer Sparks’ series has held free classes at Hudson River Park every Tuesday, but for some awful reason I’ve not known about them until now. Today I finally clocked on and headed to Pier 63 for their latest offering – an origami class. I had envisioned making …
Read MoreAugust 22, 2013
…read the time from the sidewalk
I spent my first year in New York looking down at the pavement – either trying to figure out where I was going or avoiding making eye contact with the letches. Now I spend half my time looking up, marvelling at New York’s beautiful buildings. But down in the financial district, they don’t have this …
Read MoreAugust 21, 2013
…explored a Masonic Lodge
I’ve had a pretty horrible sick day, so I wanted to do something close to home. Bizarrely, just a few blocks north of my apartment is the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons, which is open to the public for tours. It seemed like a perfect, quiet activity to try. The tour is ongoing throughout the …
Read MoreAugust 19, 2013
…found a Picasso in Greenwich Village
So far this year, I’ve managed to track down some impressive works of hidden art – art which thousands of people no doubt walk past every day without knowing they’re so close. Today I found another piece I’d never realised was there before – although this one was a little easier to spot. After work, …
Read MoreAugust 13, 2013
…saw sculptures made from Lego
After work, I headed to the Discovery museum at Times Square with Dave – the biggest Lego geek I’ve ever met – for an art exhibit of works made entirely from the teeny plastic bricks. The Art of the Brick is showcasing the handiwork of Nathan Sawaya until next year. Sawaya is a New York-based artist and famed …
Read MoreAugust 9, 2013
…went punk at the Met
I’ve got a couple of days off and have nothing planned apart from making the most of New York activities. Today I finally fulfilled my months-long aim of going to the Met; it’s somewhere I’d avoid completely at weekends. And even first thing on a Friday morning, the place was heaving. I made the trip …
Read MoreAugust 7, 2013
…touched the Berlin Wall
New York is packed so tightly with art and history that sometimes it’s easy to overlook a real winner. Tonight I popped up to Midtown to see one of these giant gems: A section of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Wall is actually one of my earliest memories. I was only three at …
Read MoreAugust 4, 2013
…went back in time on Long Island
Today Ryan and I drove an hour from the city to Centerport on Long Island, where he grew up. After passing gorgeous houses lining green streets and boats dotting the Long Island Sound, we reached the Vanderbilt Mansion. I’ve been to a mansion built by this obscenely wealthy American family (who owned most of the …
Read MoreJuly 27, 2013
…browsed the Brooklyn Flea
When I was little, Mummy and Daddy Warren always wanted to visit antique shops. My big sister and I would groan as we were pulled into yet another shop cluttered with higgledy piggledy chairs and chipped chandeliers. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, somehow, I got it. Even though I rarely …
Read MoreJune 26, 2013
…took a life drawing class
Tonight Elektra, Jessica and I headed to 3rd Ward in Bushwick for a life drawing class – something I’ve been meaning to do since I started this blog. And while it didn’t disappoint, my drawing did a bit. The $10 class – named Drink and Draw – is long. With the help of free cans of …
Read MoreJune 21, 2013
…trekked to graffiti Mecca
Tonight after work, I jumped on the E train and, to my surprise, was in Long Island City only 25 minutes later. It was my first trip out there and worth it to see one of New York’s hidden gems: 5 Pointz. 5 Pointz – a nod to the five boroughs – is known as ‘graffiti Mecca’ …
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