Category ArchivePhotos
Photos &Steve Fisher 09 Oct 2011 08:06 am
Public Sculpture
- Here are three pieces of Public Sculpture that New Yorkers see on a daily basis and probably don’t see as they move right on by.
One that stands out is this balancing elephant just off U-nion Square park.
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Spanish artist Miquel Barcelò has contributed a
gravity-defying elephant to U-nion Square. The 15,000 pound,
26-foot tall bronze sculpture, “Gran Elefandret”, has traveled from
Madrid and Barcelona and now sits amidst the transportation and
cultural bridge between Uptown and Downtown Manhattan.
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Brought to NYC by the Marlborough Gallery in conjunction with the
U-nion Square Partnership, the elephant balances on its trunk with
its four legs outspread above its sagging skin. “The Gran Elefandret”,
completed in 2008, is a continuation of the zoological themes found
in much of Barcelò’s former work. In addition, the detail of the
textured skin recalls the artists’ highly tactile, layered paintings,
many of which take the form of sculptures on canvas.
He draws inspiration from nature, from artists such as Jackson Pollock a
nd Willem de Kooning, and from his time in West Africa.
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Born in Mallorca in 1957, Barcelò has been an active artist since the 1970s.
He was a part of Taller Llunátic which voiced its socio-political opposition to
the Spanish government during the 1970s and also pushed the boundaries
of the established art world. Barcelò now collaborates with the Fundación
Vicente Ferrer and the Eyes of the World Foundation and participates in projects
for Sahrawi refugee camps. He has received international awards and
commissions during his expansive career as an artist.
The second and more permanent part of New York is the enormous “Unisphere” globe that arrived with the NY World’s Fair back in 1964.
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This is pretty much what it looked like on opening day.
It sits in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, NY.
It was one of the few buildings not destroyed
when the Fair ended in 1965.
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This is pretty much what it looks like today.
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Steve Fisher sought a more intimate look in these remaining photos.
Steve Fisher also photographed these tiny sculptures in the 14th Street train station at 8th Avenue. They’re bronze and just a bit out of the way, so they can be easily missed.
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Greenwich Village is probably half owned by NYU. There are endless numbers of housing units for teachers and students spread out all over the area. One little enclosed area off University Place had this quiet little walkway on which I found the following statue.
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It reads: This statue was presented to the City of New York
by the Mayor of Madrid, Spain in 1986.
Presented in Bryant Park before being entrusted
to New York University in 1989.
Finally, we have this clock on Houston Street in the village that has a man waving. Very peculiar. This photo also came via Steve Fisher.
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The story behind this building is simple.
It was named “Red Square” by Michael Rosen who built it.
Tibor Kalman was hired to complete it. The Statue of Vladimir Lenin
atop “Red Square” luxury apartments in NY City’s East Village is by
Sculptor Yuri Gerasimov and was Installed on the building in 1994.
Photos 02 Oct 2011 06:55 am
Foodcart recap
Originally posted in Feb 2009, but given all the attention to mobile food vans on the Food Channels, I felt inclined to show off the NY contingent in this recap.
- Paddy Doyle’s novel, “The Van,” made me realize that we had a lot in common with our British and Irish friends. The travelling food sellers are a common dressing though the cuisine sold, I’m sure, is different.
A major part of the look and feel of New York is in the food carts that are standing everywhere. In the past, my childhood, the carts were basically hot dog vendors. Then they added the salted pretzel, and things started to develop.
With the new immigrant class in the city, lots of new foods entered the picture, and in fact, I believe, they’ve taken over. Today it’s almost impossible to find a hot dog vendor. I’ve searched for one in the last week and was coming up empty-handed until I saw one late last night. A vendor was wheeling his cart home after what was, obviously, a long and tiring day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera.
They still sell the hot dog and the pretzel, but you can add “Halal” foods to that menu. Shish-ke-bob, sausages, and so much more have been added.
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This is what carts look like today. They come in larger sizes and smaller
sizes. They sell everything from shish-ke-bob to hot dogs to pretzels.
Their prices are usually a good deal, if you trust the sanitation.
Many of these carts sell sandwiches, bagels and breakfast pastries in
the morning. Sandwiches in the afternoon. They usually are established
locations and the same people occupy a space for many years.
Here’s that very same cart as the vendor sets up in the morning –
I shot this at 6am. This same cart has been here for at least 12 years.
In the wee hours of the morning, carts are delivered to the requisite areas.
Oftentimes, if the cart is small, you’ll see the vendor pushing it himself.
This one is setting up early morning across from
Madison Square Park on 23rd Street and Broadway.
Stocking the shelves with pastries, preparing coffee and icing juices.
Getting ready for the morning rush about to start.
Another similar cart, in the Village, all ready for the crowds. This one has an
overhang, to protect patrons from the rain, and a external cooler with drinks.
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This guy is parked outside the IFC center downtown.
As you can see his menu is quite varied and ethnic.
Quite tempting.
You can also find fruit vendors around town. The prices of various fruits is about
half what the local supermarkets charge, and the quality is generally good.
Here’s a virtual travelling store. This truck is set up daily on 28th Street
off Madison Avenue to serve breakfast. They’ll cook the eggs for you.
Later in the day they move around the corner to Madison off 28th St. to serve dinner.
They’re open all night with lines of taxi drivers waiting to buy food from them.
I have to admit, I’m always tempted but haven’t tried it yet. After all,
can all those taxi drivers be wrong? The vendor must be doing
something right.
I also caught this truck downtown and wondered if they were
establishing a spot on Bleecker Street. But they never set up.
On the move.
Photos 25 Sep 2011 07:30 am
Signage Sunday Photo – recap
– Naturally, in a place like NY there’s an awful lot of signage about. The image to the left gives a good idea of the typical everywhere in this city. There are signs on the temporary construction, signs on the building, signs on the windows. Signs are everywhere and have become the ordinary part of the landscape. In fact, they’ve become part of the building, itself.
The signs that interest me usually are the ones that are actually painted on the buildings, themselves. I have to admit I’ve always been curious about these, and I’ve wondered how they actually do them.
Unlike the usual poster that’s printed onto strips that are pasted together on the billboard, these posters are actually painted in place on the brick walls. How, exactly, are these done? Realistic looking images are painted there. Paint by numbers? Perhaps I’ll do a little research and try to find out.
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Of course, the City provides many blank canvases (open building walls) where ads can be placed. Several can be seen looking down any street. It’s actually not much different from the construction site image at the top of this post. A space is a space, and that space can be rented out. (The image on the right is a closeup of the one of the several signs on the left.)
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The fashion industry seems to have their own wealth of ads on buildings. These are photographically realistic, yet they’ve obviously been painted there somehow.
You can see the bricks under the coating of paint.
This Cartoon Network ad for “Boondocks” is painted right over a number of windows.
(You can see the lit window shining through it.) How do these folk see out? I assume
it must be some kind of special paint.
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This ad for Sprint presents a new problem. When you look at the sign straight on, it looks fine. However, if you move a bit, you’ll see that the building/wall on which it’s painted has a shift in it. The sign had to have been designed to take in this change in level of the canvas. An interesting problem. (If you look closely at the Boondocks sign, you can see the same problem existed there.)
Here we have a melange of signage, not all of which are painted on walls. Does the skull represent a building under reconstruction?
Of course, any construction site offers plenty of blank canvas.
Naturally, I couldn’t pass up this image. The tiny Commerce Bank on the corner is overwhelmed by the Chase Bank next door and on the second floor. However Commerce seems to have painted its own add on the Chase construction-site doorway.
Finally, an image sent me by Steve Fisher, shows an odd and
funny juxtaposition of signs. It would make me a bit
nervous to have my pet cared for by this veterinarian.
Photos &Steve Fisher 18 Sep 2011 07:03 am
Textured Buildings
- The following first eight photos were sent to me by Steve Fisher. At first I thought there was a religious undercurrent to all of the photos, but then I realized they weren’t. But they felt connected. Steve tells me that the only real connection is that they were situated near each other. Within a few blocks he had photographed all of them. Yet, that religious feel still is there for me.
Steve had sent me the last four photos earlier, and I made the connection.
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Blue-tile roof of residential building on Parsons Blvd.
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Blue stain-glass interior of the Mary Nativity
Roman Catholic Church on Parsons Blvd.
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Domed Russian Orthodox church
on 147th Street and Cherry Avenue.
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Brick chimney at Oak Avenue and Parsons Blvd.
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Another tree that fell victim to Hurricane Irene.
Many thanks to Steven Fisher for the photos.
Photos &Steve Fisher 11 Sep 2011 07:37 am
9/11
- I remember that on 9/11 everyone had to be out on the street as long as possible looking toward the empty space in the downtown sky. And no one talked. There was a hushed silence over the city.
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All pictures shot by Steve Fisher. The Towers burning
were shot with a disposable camera from a nearby office.
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Photos &Steve Fisher 05 Sep 2011 07:28 am
Labor Day
Photos &Steve Fisher 04 Sep 2011 07:33 am
Remnants of Irene
- It seems like it was longer than a week ago that Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast. After 24 hours of non-stop talk on all the local channels about Hurricane Irene’s impending attack, it was something of a happy let-down to only have some heavy rain in NYC. By mid-afternoon, Sunday, things had turned sunny and Heidi and I took a walk down to the studio to see what was up, there. The two mile walk gave us a good view of lower Manhattan after the storm.
I took only a couple of photos and I mix those up with others by Steve Fisher.
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Trees and bushes went crazy in the winds.
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There’s something about a world that’s shaking so much
and the camera is perfectly still.
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It left a lot of fallen trees and branches.
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Madison Square Park was closed for all the fallen and falling branches.
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In Washington Square Park you could see the damage.
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Branches and tree limbs were everywhere.
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1,2,3,4,9,10,11 by Steven Fisher.
The other four by me.
Photos &Steve Fisher 28 Aug 2011 07:21 am
European Manhole Covers + recap
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11am follow up: Just got the news from my superintendant who said there were no problems. No flood, no debris, no broken windows. All I have to do is put the books back and the rugs on the floor and we’re back in business. Funny that this Hurricane wasn’t as bad as the storm we had two weeks ago. We had 6 inches of rain from the hurricane and 2 inches from the storm, but the storm was incessantly heavy; the hurricane was on and off. It gave the sump pumps time to push whatever water out.
7am report: I’ve been inside all night Saturday and this morning, Sunday. The rain is beating loudly on the skylight. It comes in loud then soft waves. I assume the studio will reap the damage, but I won’t call the superintendant down there until this afternoon. He’ll tell me what’s what. I assume I’ll be mopping tomorrow.
We don’t expect the subway back until midday tomorrow (if the subway lines haven’t been flooded.) There’ll be a lot of walking after this storm passes later today today and tomorrow.
I don’t think it’ll be too bad.
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- Steve Fisher sent me the following shots of manhole covers he photographed in Greece and Naples. This also gives me a chance to post a recap of my post from August 2007. Thanks to Steve for the pictures of European edition manhole covers.
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from Mykonos
– When I was in the sixth grade, I had an extra-ordinary teacher who left me with a lot of memories. One of them was his reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Casque of Amontillado, which chilled us all to the bone as we sat in those little student desks absorbed and thrilled and forevermore fans of Poe.
Another memory was his asking us all if we knew why manhole covers were round. After a number of stupid guesses, we were told the reason – any other shape would allow the covers to fall into the hole. If they were squared or triangular, they could be maneuvered onto their side until they fell in. Round objects wouldn’t fall.
He also told us that manhole covers in NYC were like snowflakes – no two were alike. This I found hard to believe until I started looking. He was right; they were all different in design. Markedly different in design. I looked for years and thumbed my way through many books admiring the designs I found.
Times have changed. Now they come in only a couple of designs.
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Con Edison is now the primary user for manhole covers, and they seem, these days, to have boiled down to four basic designs. See the two above and the two below.
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(Click any image to enlarge.)
The Department of Public Works features this handy little design. I like its simplicity very much. the color also makes it unique.
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Above left you can see an older model that is wearing down. Parts of the design are blending into other parts almost making a new shape. Above right you see an interesting model. There’s a cover within a cover. The smaller model seems to fit within the larger model, and both can be pulled out. Very interesting. There were three or four of these in the same area around 23rd Street.
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These manhole covers have been fitted into what were obviously larger spaces.
The concrete circle, above left, fills in for an earlier, larger model manhole cover.
Above right, you see a round cover in what was once a square hole.
The busy minimalism of this design works very well with the cracked asphalt around it.
Here we have an interesting model. No design. I guess some would say that that’s
a design in its own right.
If you look on line, you’ll find a lot of information and photos of manhole covers. It’s amazing how big an industry is manhole cover watching. There are many books on the subject, many websites and lots of photographers who specialize in it. I have to direct you to one Roland Muhler. His work is stunning. I’ve posted three of his NYC photos just below. He has many international manhole covers on his site.
Another site which gives a lot of attention to manhole covers is Manhole Covers etc. The site is subtitled: “I’ve been looking down so long, I don’t know which way looks up.” Here you’ll find some history, links and photos from across the US as well as around the world.
Through this site I found a Russian site called Sewers of the World, Unite. There’s plenty of information and links here as well as some excellent photos. The images below are Russian designs from this site.
On the site, the history of sanitary sewers, I found this document (pictured to the right) which gives a good view of a plan for some manhole covers. One cover is designed for Syracuse and another for Brooklyn.
I also learned in my small amount of research that most of the covers done for NY’s manholes are made in India. I imagine the shipping charges would be enormous.
I presume that the manhole covers are now made of steel whereas they originally must have been molded of iron (and which would have broken when dropped.) I also learned that the sewers once had a hard glass built into the sidewalk openings so that light could enter. Pre electricity must have made working below ground difficult.
I should say more difficult. It’s not a job I’d like.
Photos 21 Aug 2011 07:11 am
Noah
- The past week has brought torrential rains to New York. A week ago, last Saturday night, some 11 inches of rain fell on Manhattan within about 6 hours. At 3:30 am Sunday, I decided to go to my studio to see what the damage would be. I’d had major floods in the studio, and have sandbags permanently greeting guests at the front door. Usually, the sandbags work to keep the water out. However, the pounding rain let me know that things had gotten serious. I wasn’t as much concerned for the studio as I was for the cat within the studio, Robbie. He’d never seen floods within his home before.
Sure enough there were four inches of water troughout the space, when I got there. I propped open the door and went to work. There’s a subpump within the studio that never seems to kick in on its own. I jiggled it until it started, and it took up a lot of the water and spat it outside to the drain. Within two hours, the water was down to a mopping chore. I decided to lie down for an hour or so; the cat was hiding in a high space, and wouldn’t come out after initially greeting me with lots of purring. In two hours, I began the big mop and finished that another two hours later. Chore complete.
To get rid of the moldy smell within the studio, I mopped again two days later using bleach within the washing water. It did the trick. I’m sorry I didn’t take some pictures. Seeing the cat food floating would have made a good photo.
You can understand why Heidi continually calls me Noah. A drop of rain falls, and I worry about the possiblity of flooding within the studio. Fortunately, I think the space well worth the problems.
Here are some shots Steve Fisher took of a tennis court in Queens.
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It looks pretty in the photograph.
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But it’d be annoying if you wanted to play tennis.
Aside from the flooding coming in the front door, we’ve also had some coming in the back door through the bathroom. It’s not as pervasive, but it’s been MUCH more frequent these days. However, some arduous work by a plumber found the pipe line with a lining of grease about two inches thick, not letting the water move through it. Someone in the building’s been dumping grease in their toilet, and it’s been building. They finally cleaned that out and everything seems to be fine now.
The tiling in the bathroom has plucked up from the floor, and the builiding management is going to lay some marble tiles for me. So it’s an upgrade. However, the uplifted tiles have left an interesting pattern on the floor in the bathroom. I did take some pictures of that.
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These abstractions led me to look outdoors, and voila I found a nearby billboard about to be replaced.
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Meanwhile, just outside my front door, the sandbags remain and the bricks are ever deteriorating.
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The sandbags, made to step over.
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The plaster fades away revealing the disintegrating brickwork.
Enough said. I just hope the rain coming tonight won’t compare to last weekend’s deluge. There seems to be proof positive of Global Warming everywhere we look, but the Republilcans and the Tea Party refute science. We’re in a sad state.
Photos &repeated posts &SpornFilms 07 Aug 2011 06:44 am
Studio Photo Retreads
Remember when. Here are some baby pictures I first posted back in January 2007. I love this post so much, I ejoy showing again.
- Here are some of the grouped staff-shots we used to do a lot. For some reason we haven’t done any in the past ten years; maybe it’s because the numbers of people working here are quite a bit fewer. I guess it’s still worth while for posterity’s sake. We’ll do it soon.
I love these.
The Lyle crew, back in 1987:
These are, Back row L to R : Lisa Crafts – animator, Tom Repasky – coloring, Susan Tremblay – coloring, Madeline Fan (full pic w/T-shirt) coloring, Caroline Skaife (leaning on Madeline) – coloring, Mark Baldo (w/puppet Lyle) coloring, Doug Vitarelli (leaning on Caroline) runner, Theresa Smythe – asst. animator.
Front row, sitting, L to R: Caroline Zegart – coloring, Steven Dovas – animator, John Schnall – Prod. Coordinator/Animator, Ray Kosarin – Asst. Animator/coloring, Michael Zodorozny – Layout, Bridget Thorne – Art Director/Bgs.
The Abel’s Island group, 1988:
Back row (L to R): Betsy Bauer (colorist), Ray Kosarin (asst animator/colorist), Laura Bryson (behind Ray) (colorist), Robert Marianetti (Prod Mgr), Theresa Smythe (colorist), Mike Wisniewski (asst animator/colorist)
Center row (L to R): Steve MacQuignon (colorist), George McClements (asst animator/ colorist), Greg Perler (editor)
Bot Row (L to R): me, Bridget Thorne (Bg’s)
Not pictured in the photos is Kit Hawkins, my assistant, who took them.
After the move to 632 Broadway a small group working on Baby’s Storytime:
Back row L to R: Theresa Smythe, Mike Winiewski, Ray Kosarin, George McClements.
Sitting L to R: me, Jason McDonald, Steve MacQuignon, Mary Thorne, Masako Kanayama
Here’s a birthday party in 1992:
The whole staff and party:
(Back row L to R) colorist – Christine O’Neill, Masako Kanayama, Sue Perrotto, Steve MacQuignon, Ray Kosarin, Liz Seidman, Marilyn Rosado
(Fron row L to R) Ed Askinazi, Jason McDonald, Xiaogang He, Denise Gonzalez, Rodolfo Damaggio. I’m probably off camera still looking at the picture, or else I’m taking the picture.
A Christmas party back in 1996:
This is the crew just after the Secret Santa and just before the party.
Back L to R: Ed Askinazi – editor, Liz Seidman – prod coord, Matthew Sheridan – asst, Stephen MacQuignon (hidden) – colorist, Denise Gonzalez (in yellow) – publicity/asst, Sue Perotto (in red) – animator, Jason McDonald’s head – colorist, Masako Kanayama – production supervisor, Rodolfo Damaggio – animator, Marilyn Rosado – office manager.
This is the staff during the making of a pilot for Blackside Entertainment, The Land of the Four Winds. It’s another birthday picture. Lots of color deterioration in the photo. The exposure isn’t great – you can barely make out Champagne’s face.
Sitting around the table L to R: Farid Zacariah (runner), Greg Duva (Asst Anim), Adrian Urquidez(I&Pt), David Levy (Asst Anim), John "Quack" Leard (Asst Anim), Jason McDonald (design, I&Pt), Ed Askinazi (Editor), Robert Marianetti (Prod Coord), Heidi Stallings (casting), me.
Here’s one a couple of months later (a better photo by Kit Hawkins – who was also on staff then.) It celebrated Farid’s last day – our all around guy.
Back row standing L to R: Miho Moyer (I&Pt), Robert Marianetti (Prod Coord), Christine O’Neill (I&Pt), me, Jason McDonald (design, I&Pt), Tara Dolgopol (I&Pt)(in front of Jason), John “Quack” Leard (Asst Anim), Adrian Urquidez(I&Pt), Laura Kurucz(I&Pt), Francisco “Cisco” Sanchez(runner), David Levy (Asst Anim).
Front row kneeling L to R: Farid Zacariah (runner), Laura Bryson (Bg’s), Madeline Fan (Asst Coord), Greg Duva (Asst Anim), Ed Askinazi (Editor)
I’m sure this is boring for a lot of you, but I had fun.
By the way, you can enlarge all images by clicking them.