Letter to the Editor from a Visitor in Need of Art Tourist Therapy

Readers, I have interrupted my Easter recess in order to address the pressing needs of an art-crazed reader who plans to visit New York in the coming week. As her predicament is shared by so many, I feel a little visit to WOTBA's armchair psychoanalyst's office, to follow, is in order and should help others.

Dear WOTBA,

I need your help. I'm a big WOTBA fan who is lucky enough to be coming to town next week for a most amazing, one-of-a-kind gathering of people in my field and several related ones. So what's the problem? As a long-time resident of a sleepy "mid-sized city" in a decidedly rural state who hasn't been to NYC in waaaaay too long I'm hungry for all it has to offer; but I also have many reasons to want to attend as much of said "one-of-a-kind-gathering" as I can--it's that unusual multi-day Event where you really don't want to miss a single thing. I'm fairly sure I can squeeze in a fair bit of fab food, chocolate, and walking around (at least round and about the location of the Event). But usually my most favorite thing about coming to NYC is art: MOMA on day 1, Whitney day 2, and so on.

So, my question: to a visual art lovin' out of towner who could only steal away for one or two art trips before or after said fabulous Event that she is otherwise committed to fully participating in, what would be your top picks of what's hangin' now, this week? If anything immediately comes to mind ("You MUST see..."), I want to know. Also, if it's useful, I'm a huge fan of color, paint, collage, 20th & 21st century America, video/screen art, people (figures, psyches, smart/feminist domestic stuff, etc.), design....I'll leave it at that for now. Obviously I can't WAIT for your review of the Biennial. Also curious if you've seen that 70s show at MOMA, their Color show, or the car bombing installation at the Guggenheim. Once I start looking around I see days worth of interesting stuff, and I really only have time for hours worth.

Sorry to run long to ask a simple question. I just know you're the PERFECT person to answer it, which in itself makes it pretty exciting to ask. :)) Mucho thanks in advance for any thoughts, links, etc.

Warmly,

DTCBAHP
[Dedicated to a Cause But Also Hungry for Paint]

PS Do you crave anything from a mid-sized city in a rural state well below yours that you can't get up there? I would be very happy to toss something in my suitcase for WOTBA or the Colonel!!

Dear DTCBAHP,

Thank you for your kind words. I have been watching the television psychoanalyst Paul Weston shell out advice every weekday night on the HBO series, In Treatment, and, therefore, I know how to help you make the breakthrough that you need. In addition, a few months ago, while walking in Central Park, I passed the actress Dianne Wiest out walking her dogs. I feel I can be your Gina.

To begin, though I am concerned with your use of the word "waaaaay," I find your punctuation excellent. You should consider a career as an English professor.

Let's move on. You seem to be saying...what I hear you saying...is that you are faced with too many choices for your art-viewing hobby while visiting New York next week. Let me assure you that this is a common problem that visitors face all the time. Many squander their opportunities by skipping the art altogether, and as a way to cope with their anxiety, decide to visit my neighborhood and get drunk.

I also hear you saying that you would like me to make recommendations for you. But as I've learned on TV, a therapist should not make decisions for you, like deciding to skip the Whitney Biennial. That's up to you. It's also not my place to tell you to go to see the worthwhile exhibits, Color Chart and Design and the Elastic Mind, at MoMA or the exciting Cai Guo-Qiang exhibit (which you disturbingly call "the car bombing installation," and we'll have to talk about that. Otherwise, I think you're fine) at the Guggenheim. Two venues is enough, and you should not feel guilty that you did not see every new painting, assemblage, or documentary in New York in the space of five days.

Best,
WOTBA

PS You could bring me some Moon Pies.

Image: WOTBA's therapy chair is often claimed by an overweight fox terrier.

Letter to the Editor: The Not-So-Pink Building

"I tried to leave a comment on your blog, but I'm not so good at figuring out how to do that.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that your article on the pink building inspired me to go out yesterday in the cold and see it for myself. It doesn't look as pink or intrusive as I thought it would. In fact, it blends in surprisingly well with the neighborhood, except for its height, of course. It is rather interesting actually. Certainly makes a statement of some sort. There are quite a few other pinkish colored buildings around, which I never would have noticed if I hadn't been put in a "pink frame of mind." I'll attach my photo, which I think renders the color much like I saw it yesterday.

Thanks for the great blog. I have discovered new places because of it."

Stephanie Luke

Photo of Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi, W. 11th Street, by Stephanie Luke.

Ed. note: Thanks, Stephanie, for writing and sending such a great photo! I appreciate the building myself, and it's good to have some company. Maybe you and I can start a fan club for the building. Readers, it is hard to take an image of this building that accurately reflects its true color, and I find that the color changes during different times of the day. Stephanie did a good job here. In a follow-up communication with me, she said she was passionate about photography, and she provided a link to see her images. No kidding - she's awesome. Check out her photo work at photo.net.

Related posts:
Schnabel, WOTBA, and Venetian Masks: Most Popular Search Terms
Julian Schnabel's Tower of Pink Power

Letter to the Editor

I'm not really the kind of person that writes to a magazine to tell them how great they are, nor do I compliment too often, but in your case I just have to say I thought I could write smart and interesting little stories, personal thoughts and comments until I started reading your blog. It is lovely. I just can't stop myself from reading. It's like taking a trip back in time to the days when I, too, was walking off the Big Apple.

Now, everything that I have written in the past months on my blog seems faded and boring. I guess I have to try to be less superficial and think more about what I am really trying to say. Even now, writing this e-mail, I read what I have written so far, over and over again, checking if I accidentally misspelled something. Thank God for spell check!

I hope that eventually, inspiration will come back to me and then I will write back to you to thank you for helping me improve my skills.

Until then, I continue reading your posts with the same pleasure as when I first discovered them.

Iuliana
Iasi, Romania

Letter to the Editor

DEAREST WOTBO:

Excellent! I finally have an excuse to write a letter to the editor. And, I suppose, to shamelessly self-promote -- although to be fair, I am promoting a self that doesn't even exist anymore!

That is to say, in my deepest youth, living in the East Village in the early '80s, I too found myself going door to door begging for the crumbs of history, and was thrilled to cross paths with Leon Trotsky, W.H. Auden and many others, even if I just missed them by a century. Being a struggling musician at the time -- which, as a fellow Texan and Austinite, you will recognize as a civic identity I had no business trying to carry with me beyond that bucolic pale -- I managed to get some of this down in song lyrics. Here, then, is the first verse of a country waltz, as well as my humble answer song to Marty Robbins' "Big Iron on His Hip." In my hipster desuetude, I christened my version:

BIG IRONS (IN THE FIRE)

I was drinking downtown at the Holiday Lounge

I was thinking about Trotsky downstairs

He lived here in the springtime of 19 and 17

For two months, until he left in arrears
He was planning for the advent of worldwide revolution
And ascending to his rightful throne

Meanwhile, in the motherland, the revolution happened

And he had to take the first boat back home.

CHORUS:

Big irons in the fire
Branded a liar
For his big plans, and the big things he said

So pass me the vodkey

I'm drinking to Trotsky

Or make mine a screwdriver instead

And I'll wait for it to go to my head

Sincerely,

Paul Cullum

Los Angeles

Letter to the Editor

Teri..the wofBA is terrific.

I was caught by the eating cheap item and one doesn't
have to eat on the street literally to get a good
cheap meal. NY can be one of the cheapest places to
eat.
1. Breakfast at the "spanish" restaurants....eggs,
black beans and rice, maybe even plantains, for $4
2. All the Indian joints on Lexington around 34th.
3. A slice. A thin crispy slice at a regular old pizza
place.
4. Spanish/Chinos places. Just choose carefully.
5. Never, ever buy coffee anywhere other than on the
street.

Jeffrey Day
Columbia, South Carolina
 

Letter to the Editor

Hi --

Good for you! Seems like you're working on what could be a book, not simply a blog. Entertaining, and for a resident of the car culture whose dog died and no longer gets in 4 miles hoofing and pawing every day, inspirational.

Hope all's well.

Rick

Rick Prelinger
Prelinger Library & Archives, San Francisco
Board President, Internet Archive

About Letters to the Editor: Real Ones Versus The Kind We Make Up

Walking Off the Big Apple has recently received some authentic Letters to the Editor, one of which you see below. Thank you, Huge Fan! Readers hoping to distinguish between real letters and the ones we make up (such as the one from Titania and the woman from Muleshoe) must rely on their own judgments and media literacy skills.

Letter to the Editor From Our Nation's Capital

Dear Walking Off the Big Apple,

You are a genius! Please keep this up!

Yours Sincerely,

A Huge Fan in Washington, DC

Letter to the Editor Inquiring About the 6th Orphan Film Symposium

Here is another type of Letter to the Editor you could consider writing to Walking Off the Big Apple:

Titania, Queen of Fairies
Fairyland Film Archive
Athens, Greece

Dear Walking Off the Big Apple,

Though I am a fairy and can actually fly, I enjoy a good walk and love your work. Say, some of us plan to be in New York City for the 6th Orphan Film Symposium on March 26-29, 2008. I am in charge of the overlooked moving images here, and I plan to bring several of Puck's home movies and Peaseblossom's experimental shorts to NYU. Our recently restored print of Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding is not to be missed! Many of the sprites have a particular interest in small-gauge formats.

As all the archivists, filmmakers, scholars, and moving image theorists in the fairy kingdom like to plan in advance, we would appreciate any additional hotel recommendations you may have. We hear New York is expensive, and as fairies, we're in an awkward position as we have no currency to trade. We just need a few rooms, as many of our group prefer to stay in a forest.

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Titiana

P.S. Oh, I almost forgot Home Movie Day tomorrow, Saturday, August 11. Nick Bottom did a spot for our imaginary location on the local TV.

Reply: Thanks, Titania! I will certainly post more hotel recommendations in the days ahead. See here for two hotels.

Writing Walking Off the Big Apple

Frida Higginbotham
1 No Name Drive
Muleshoe, Texas

August 9, 2007

Dear Walking Off the Big Apple,

Love your work! Say, I would like to comment on your story about the squirrel, the tourists and the lady in the park. That lady was mean.
I love squirrels. Where is a good place in the Big Apple to see more squirrels?

Sincerely,
Frida Higginbotham
Muleshoe, Texas

I welcome and indeed encourage your questions, comments, and ideas. I tend to think of this site as a newspaper, so I welcome Letters to the Editor and would be deliriously happy to post them!

Please write the words Letter to the Editor in the subject line for the fullest consideration.

Please write walkbigapple@yahoo.com

Readers hoping to distinguish between real letters and the ones we make up (such as the one from Titania and the woman from Muleshoe) must rely on their own judgments and media literacy skills.