STORM KING

So somehow you seem to have missed my brother getting married in Hudson, NY  last weekend. What's up with that? What's worse, I didn't see you at the STORM KING ART CENTER, either. Both were beautiful. But if you prefer outdoor sculpture to hanging out with my family, you really missed out on the latter. Widely celebrated as one of the world’s leading sculpture parks,  Storm King Art Center has welcomed visitors from across the globe for fifty years.  It is located only one hour north of New York City, in the lower Hudson Valley,  where its pristine 500-acre landscape of fields, hills,  and woodlands provides the setting for a collection of more than  100 carefully sited sculptures created by  some of the most acclaimed artists of our time.
And this had to be the sooper most perfect time to visit. The Autumn leaves were INSANE!

Big sculptures,

little sculptures,

metal,

wood,

stone.

They're everywhere

and perfectly placed within

the environment.

We especially loved this kinetic sculpture called

SEA CHANGE:

My brother doesn't plan on getting married again, so you missed out on that. But Storm King isn't going anywhere. So get over there before all the leaves are gone!

TOM OTTERNESS

I got to visit my old

NYC stomping grounds over the holidays.

We ate and drank good:

We went ice skating:

Wandered the 

High Line:

And got to see the 

natural sculpture of NYC:

Speaking of sculpture,

I was reminded how much I love the work of

Tom Otterness

when we made our way through the 

14th street subway station.

His work literally

litters the place:

His pudgy little 

characters are tucked into 

all manner of crack and crevice:

I wish I had time to track them all down,

but here are some other pieces he's done for assorted 

other places:

And while I love the work of Mr. Otterness,

he's not without controversy.

When he was young he made an

"art film"

(sic)

where he adopted a dog and then shot it.

He has apologized profusely for doing 

something so heinous in his youth,

but that didn't stop

someone from adding their own

unauthorized fake

Tom Otterness

sculpture to the subway.

Another reason I love

NYC!

CHRIS BURDEN'S 2x4 TECHNOLOGY

When I was at the 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

a couple weeks ago,

I definitely had to go see

Chris Burden's

METROPOLIS II:

No matter how many times I've see it,

I always wanna see it again.

Obviously it's 2x4 Technology at it's finest...

which the museum's description

neglects to mention:

Chris Burden's Metropolis II is an intense kinetic sculpture, 

modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. 

Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate 

system of 18 roadways, including one 6 lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. 

Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour,

 the equivalent of approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings. 

According to Burden, "The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, 

and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the 

stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21^st Century city."

Numbuh Two would be proud!
And needless to say, kids will sit and watch this forever. For a more detailed look at this awesome sculpture go on over HERE!