I met up with Shirley on E 79th inside Acquavella Galleries to see “Jean Dubuffet: “Anticultural Positions”. I wanted to copy pretty much every painting in the first gallery I entered but we had a strict timetable so I whipped out the quickest drawing app and stood in front of the most colorful one. Unfortunately I was not able to get anywhere near the dark blues and reds or subtle hues of pinks, oranges and greens but I’m not displeased with my effort.
By the way, The Met loaned them, for this show, a magnificent painting, my favorite, “Apartment Houses, Paris” which should be seen in person. Exquisite, fantastic, Zowie! Also, there is a grouping of some pretty cool cows on an adjacent wall.

Benedicte texted that she was at the next gallery, Leslie Feeley on E 68th, so we hustled (huff, puff) down Madison Avenue. This exhibition did not disappoint. “Hannelore Baron: Collages and Box Constructions 1969-1985” is primarily small works on paper consisting of old fragments of cloth, sewn or glued, with ink drawings or handwriting. We spent some time hanging out here drawing. I drew my two friends as they busied themselves with whatever they were doing. This gallery space is familiar to us from several past visits so I knew there would be wonderful things to see in the small, unaffiliated (?), gallery through an opening that looks like a back room. There was a large Diebenkorn abstract on a wall, along with others, piles of books, (Milton Avery, for one), and, behind the sofa, leaning against the wall were three framed Diebenklrn figurative charcoal on paper drawings. I knew I’d find something good there. Snapped pics.

Next destination was Fifth Avenue just off of 57th Street. More huffing and puffing. Alexandre Gallery was showing “Will Barnet: 1950s Works On Paper”, wonderful small abstract paintings (doodles?) on what looks like his mail – envelopes, postcards, flyers. Delightful. Benedicte pointed out one of these small paintings that was actually in his figurative style but painted such that it was hidden amongst all the rest and could be easily missed without careful scrutiny. A jewel.

We hotfooted it to Lexington and 59th, took the subway down to Fulton Center (whatever the station is called), followed Shirley as she led us through the underground route (stay out of the drizzle) all the way into Brookside (big mall-like space with high end shops and lots of places to get food, sit and hang out on the Hudson River) where we got something for lunch and ran into NYC Urban Sketchers Alan and Paula. Afterwards we walked down to Battery Park’s South Cove since this was the first day of Figure al Fresco, and, even though we assumed it was going to be cancelled due to rain. Shirley and Benedicte (Alan also, it turned out) wanted to pick up their artwork from the winter show. (I don’t enter this show since they lost my artwork two years ago and I never got it back.).

Since Figure al Fresco was cancelled and, it was kinda cold, Paula joined Shirley, Benedicte and I as we made our way further south to the National Museum of The American Indian – nice exhibition on modern day ledger drawings – where we sketched and finally exhausted ourselves.

I skipped waiting for the bus and opted for a quick subway ride right into Penn Station. Totally pooped. Well, except for the commuters who posed as I waited for the train.

iPad; New Trent Arcadia stylus.
Apps Used: Finngr Pro and ArtRage for texture.