very simple

public art in union square. From The NYC Parks Department description:

Lionel Smit,MORPHOUS
June 13, 2016 to April 30, 2017
Union Square Park, Manhattan

Description:
MORPHOUS is an exploration of hybrid identity and its ever-changing nature within South Africa’s social landscape. This bronze sculpture, featuring the conjoined heads of two outward-gazing young women, evokes the question of time, of past and future, and a societal commentary without judgment. The “double-vision” portrayed in this work is simultaneously a foretelling of things to come and an acknowledgement of what has already passed. The figures are charged with an emotive and gestural energy, a hallmark of Smit’s evocative work. The spontaneous gestures in his three dimensional figural forms animate the beauty and grace of the faces he sees in the neighborhoods around his studio. The scale of his work invokes both a sense of celebration and power.

This is the South African artist’s first public art installation in the United States, and will be complemented by an exhibition of his work at CYNTHIA-REEVES’ gallery in North Adams, MA in July and August 2016. This exhibition is presented by CYNTHIA-REEVES , Union Square Partnership , and Art New York/Art Miami .

Closeup detail of railing to stairs on a brownstone.

Tekserve is closing. For those who don’t know, tekserve was the oldest, originalist, apple store in NYC. They were where you went back when apple stores didn’t exist, back when apple was actually the struggling upstart. And even after apple became the behemoth it is today, Tekserve was still the place to go if you wanted anything other that basic service – if you wanted to upgrade your hard drive or RAM and walked into an apple store, they would just try to sell you a new computer. Tekserve would actually help you – my second most recent iMac has additional RAM installed by the tech guys as Tekserve – it was underpowered for whatever OS had come out at the time, and instead of scrapping it, I realized I could extend its life by at least a little bit if I just added some more RAM. I figured I’d get another year or two. That machine is over 8 years old and in active use at my parents’ house. They were the guys who helped me soup up my powerbook before I moved to Italy a decade ago, so that it could go from being a ‘peripheral’ device for my main computer to my primary device for that trip.

But, in honor of their closing, I present to you the ultimate in Tekserve adventures, the saga of attempting to repair my G4 iMac. in NINE parts.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
Part Eight
Part Nine

New York City fire houses, even the relatively nondescript ones, still have the best signage. One of my favorite podcasts is 99 percent invisible, which discusses the hidden design of everyday things. I don’t think they’ve addressed this specific item (yet!), but it really does make a difference when people put thought and care to even the municipal backdrop of our everyday lives.

Subway traffic signal. We are not exactly using cutting edge technology in our 100+ year-old system for moving millions of people around on a daily basis. I marvel daily at our ability to function.

Classic window signage down on Houston street. From back when it was essential to advertise your air conditioning.

I’m going to try to upload individual or small sets of photos on a more frequent basis. I’ve been carrying the new camera almost everywhere, and if I wait until I get around to editing large batches, I’ll never catch up. So while this isn’t approaching anything like a 365 project, there will (at least until I inevitably get bored) be more posts with fewer pictures.

Taken down on Houston Street. I cycle in the city, but generally avoid traffic nightmares like this because I have a well-developed sense of self-preservation.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, on Memorial Day weekend I took the new camera out for a spin to Coney Island. The trip was somewhat dampened by this bizarre fox/haze that rolled in halfway through my wandering down the boardwalk, which you can see halfway through the photos here – I lost any sort of visibility, and it was just…weird. I actually thought there was a fire, but couldn’t find any information online either then or later, except for some other folks on twitter also commenting on the weirdness of the whole thing. Apparently there was supposed to be a blue angels air show that afternoon, but no one could see anything because of the haze. Oh well.

As with any new, expensive toy, I’ve been carrying the new camera with me almost every day. It helps that it’s significantly lighter than the old one. I’ve also been trying to challenge myself by only using my prime 25mm lens for a little while (equivalent to a 50mm on a full frame camera) rather than one of the zooms that I also got. Don’t get me wrong – I find the zooms to be incredibly useful devices, but there’s something…elementary about having to go back to basics a little bit and work with a camera that that doesn’t move. If I wan’t to get closer to something, I actually have to physically move myself (Cropping afterwards has its own limitations).

Apparently I’ve spent the last few days focused on signs (one of my favorite things), and really noticing all of the municipal “works” we’ve got going on around here. and coffee of course.

I took the new camera out over the holiday weekend last weekend as well as all week back and forth to work. Here are some random photos from my wandering (specific pics from Coney Island still to come).