Two months of my Residency are over, one more month to stay. I experienced so many great things, met many people and produced a lot of art. Somehow, I should be over the peak but I can’t stop working. Ideas are coming, whether inspired by the city or by my own practice and I have to work them out. The people at Guttenberg Arts became something like an extended family. The studio is as beautiful and well equipped as ever, just I brought some new big screens for silk-screening into it.
I visited great spots like the Knockdown Center, the Socrates Sculpture Park with its current goat exhibition - both in Queens - and the Smack Mellon in Dumbo, Brooklyn. But then I experienced a real NY highlight, and not a NYC but a NY Upstate highlight. I did a beautiful 1,5 hour train ride along the Hudson River, the clouds were beautiful, the hawks were flying around, the air got nice and breathable. I headed there of course for the famous Dia:Beacon Museum. It´s a collection of mostly US minimal artists around the 70ies, though there are some international positions as well. The museum is huge! It just uses daylight for the artworks - that’s amazing, the opening times change due to the season and the sunset. The exhibition started with two almost 100m works by Walter De Maria. Here, art has the space that it deserves and needs. Especially such minimal works need a lot of attention in the space. Just enjoy the pics ...
After the museum I strolled around in Beacon and ended up in the local brewery, talking about American, European and Austrian beer. Back in NYC the air changed back to what it is in the city - shitty.
Another impressing spot in Queens is the Sculpture Center, with its industrial architecture, the basement exhibition space, the good art and the nice openings in the yard. Back in Manhattan I have been at the opening of my Austrian college Karl Salzmann at the Austrian Cultural Forum. He did an amazing performance where he destroyed a microphone in a vice during shouting the Human Rights into it.
Finally I went back to Jersey where Matt, the director of Guttenberg Arts, invited me for BBQ. There was his family and friends. Do you have an idea how old the two persons in the picture on the right side are? Together almost 200, she is 82 and he is 95, he drove the car and had some beer with me… Amazing! Matt did a great job with BBQing and offered one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. Finally we had some fireworks in the backyard of Guttenberg Arts.
