LONDON, ENGLAND – We spent the day dodging the Pope who is here on a historical state visit (but if I want to see the Pope I’ll go to Rome and security measures here snarled up traffic). We spent the day on foot, starting at the sensational Eadweard Muybridge show at the Tate Britain; catching a street food lunch in Chelsea near the Saatchi Gallery; a few well-spent hours in the Saatchi Gallery; and finally tea at the V&A. I had difficulty selecting so I’ve posted three images – I may winnow a bit further with a future edit. All images are with a Leica M9 and 30-year old 35mm Summicron lens.
Victoria and Albert MuseumSaatchi Gallery, LondonSaatchi Gallery, London
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Another day of meeting complicated by an early evening departure for London. My best shot at getting a daily images is in the early morning. I went by Lever House to take another look at the Mike Bidlo sculpture show. See this link for my Sept 1 photo Turns out the the sculpture has been packed up – the show has been taken down, with only the descriptive placard left behind. This becomes a very deep conceptual work: Mike Bidlo appropriating Andy Warhol’s Brillo boxes, but without the Brillo boxes.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – On my way to some meetings I stopped at one of my favorite spots in New York, Lever House, which has a varying selection of provocative art. Lever House had a new installation of the work of Mike Bidlo, a conceptual artist who “appropriates” the work of other artists, in this case Andy Warhol’s 1984 work “Brillo Boxes”. Bidlo calls this work “Not Warhol”.
What follows is not a photograph. It’s a piece of conceptual art that I’m calling “Neither Bidlo Nor Warhol”. Neither Bidlow Nor Warhol
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Today was packed with activities. Meetings in the morning, a business lunch and cooking all afternoon for a dinner party at home. I was planning on getting my picture for the day at dinner, but realized after the last guest had left that I had gotten so involved in conversations that I hadn’t picked up a camera. 11:00 PM and no picture. I’ve vowed never to post a picture of our dog, so that’s out. I tried shooting out the window at the dark city scape without much success. Finally I shot a pair of images on our wall by Penny Umbrico – blown up images from a curtain catalogue. Here’s a link to Penny’s work: Penelope Umbrico
NEW MILFORD CONNECTICUT – I went to Clamps, a roadside burger stand on route 202, for a burger for lunch, arriving just before the 2:00 PM closing, in time to place an order. Â By the time that I got my wits together to reach for camera the closed sign had gone up.
Clamps is a dying breed: a roadside hamburger stand that’s seasonal, has limited hours and isn’t part of a chain.  The following is from Roadfood:  “The business card of Clamp’s Hamburger stand says, NO SIGN, NO ADDRESS, NO PHONE, JUST GOOD FOOD. In fact, there is a sign about the size of a license plate on the side of the wood-frame hut: “Clamp’s Est. 1939.” Despite the lack of a billboard and a street address, you will have no trouble finding this place because there are cars and people crowded around any time it’s open … which is late April to early September every day from 11am to 2pm and from 5pm to 8pm.
“Edwin and Sylvia Clamp started the business sixty-six years ago, and now their great-nephew, Tom Mendell, is the boss. Tom told us that since 1939 Clamp’s has never advertised and never had a phone (and therefore was never in the phone book), and while it did have a prominent sign, when the sign blew down in a windstorm back in the 1960s, it was not replaced.”
CAYAMBE ECUADOR – This town hosts a week-long festival for Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and Taita Inti (Father Sun) around the summer solstice. This guy’s costume bears no relationship to the prevailing native garb at this festival – he probably looked as odd to the Ecuadorians as he does to us. His mask looks like it was made from a child’s bib, but on close examination it’s actually finely beaded. He’s sufficiently odd that I’ve adopted him in the header for my site.
