(Photos: NYCDreamin Archives)
We arrived a bit early, so we had a liesurely look around the Spot Art Gallery, taking a few photos of some of the more interesting pieces, notably the very detailed metal sculptures on display. These were really cool, the photos don't do them justice...
...there was this wooden sculpture with a guitar neck used in it's design...
Near the center of the room was a white beam, covered in layers of signatures, doodles, graffiti...and there were several markers placed on a small ledge about half-way up the beam on one side. It was evident you were supposed to add something, so I added a small tribute to the place the beam reminded me of immediately, CBGB in NYC...
As we wanderd around enjoying the various artworks, we kept running into this cute, dreadlocked little guy, who we decided must be named Dog Marley. He was super friendly and was even more so when, a bit later in the evening, I bought a BBQ pork sandwich from a vendor outside on the sidewalk and sat down outside the gallery to eat it. He was not obnoxious, just respectfully...hopeful. So I tossed him a few bits of my sandwich which he really seemed to enjoy. He's lucky - the sandwich and BBQ sauce were excellent. He also didn't mind posing for a few photos...
A little after 7:00pm, our artist, along with his wife and adorable baby daughter in tow, arrived to mingle and discuss his works on display with those braving the rain to attend the opening. We chatted outside for a bit then went inside to have a look at his paintings.
Jim poses for a shot with some of his latest work.
James recently did an interview (read it in it's entirety HERE) where he explained what he has been working on recently:
"I’ve been working on a series of flat, nude human forms against black backgrounds, taking equal parts inspiration from Attic vase painting and from the paintings of John Wesley. My previous project was a series of office scenes depicting employees in anonymous office spaces. While I started this series with the idea of painting the office as psychological landscape, as I worked through the images, I discovered my deeper interest in the form and framing of the human figures within these scenes. My current series of nudes sheds reference to a physical context and presents the contours of flat human forms interrupted by the edge of the support."
And here are the two series of painting he has on exhibit this weekend. First up, the "Office Scenes" series...
...and the "Nudes" series.
After catching up with Jim and his wife and trying to get the baby to smile for us and looking around a bit more, The Gorgeous One and I were off to look at some of the other artwork located in some of the other buildings in the neighborhood. We stepped outside into the rain, popped our umbrella and we were off...
Continued in Art-A-Whirl Part II - The California Building.
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