Grapevine Panel by Louis C. Tiffany

This is the Tiffany Grapevine Panel (leaded favrile glass) on display at the Metropolitan Museum's American Wing. Louis Comfort Tiffany (American, 1848–1933) is known for creating one of a kind art objects—handblown vases, special order mosaics and windows, and finely crafted jewelry—consistent with his mission to bring beauty into the home. Tiffany’s stained glass brought him the most recognition, particularly his opalescent Favrile glass. When green opalescent Favrile panes were placed behind etched and pierced metalwork design, it gave an effect of a grapevine window.

Design Times Square Lounge: The Hottest Seats on the Coolest Street

Lounge designs on display in Times Square included last May 30th included "ErgoErgo" by Allen Heller (2009), "Joe" by De Pas, D’Urbino, Lomazzi (1970), "Chaise-Lawn" by Degar Cengiz (2009) and "Pythagoras" by Chris Jackson (2009).

iPhone 3G S debuts at Apple's Fifth Avenue Flagship Store

Luis from Mexico was one of the first to get the new iPhone

Earlier this morning, there was a long line outside the "glass cube" for the debut of the new iPhone 3G S. About 300 people stood outside the Apple Store on New York's 5th Avenue - some of them since early Thursday waiting for the doors to open.

My Blog Photo in a Philippine Newspaper

One of my blog photos (June 12, 2009 post, Photographing Pacquiao) of Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao attending a function in New York made it to the front page of the Manila Bulletin, a leading newspaper in the Philippines where Mr. Pacquiao is considered a hero.

Fifth Avenue Building Clock and the Flatiron Building

The Fifth Avenue Building Clock with the Flatiron Building in the background. Photo taken on June 7, 2009.

ABERCROMBIE and FITCH Flagship Store Fifth Avenue Store Greeters/Models

Some of the ABERCROMBIE and FITCH Flagship Store Fifth Avenue Store Greeters/Models.

FIGMENT Art Festival on Governors Island

Eternal Knitter

Shield/Coraza by Hector Canonge

Steel Neal's The Agony of Man

The Temple of Truth by Jennifer Upchurch, Chris Niederer, and Douglas Hart

Minute of Parallax by Jamie Leo and Chris Jordan

Guns and Poses Rosebushes by Natalie Giugni

Discarded by Benjamin Jones and Anna Hecker

Dodecahedron Planters by Bernard Klevickas

Last Saturday, I went to Governors Island for the first time to see the Figment Festival, a celebration of participatory art and culture.

From the website:

FIGMENT is an annual arts event on Governors Island, with artwork in every medium, from installation to performance to music to games and many things in between. Participation is open to any artist who would like to share their work. It is a free, non-profit endeavor run by volunteers. In 2008, FIGMENT’s second year, over 10,000 people attended.

FIGMENT’s vision for art looks past the white-walled galleries and into the realm of participation. Art is not just something that you stand still and quietly look at – it is something you participate in. You touch it, smell it, climb it, write on it, talk to it, dance with it, play with it, learn from it… Interactive art creates a dynamic collaboration between the artist, the audience and their environment.

As a free, public, non-profit event, we aim to advance social and personal transformation through creativity. FIGMENT is uninterrupted by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. Selling or advertising goods or services is not permitted. Neither our artists nor our planners and staff are paid – everything that you see at FIGMENT is born from a simple desire to share imagination with each other and the public.

In these challenging economic times, it is important that artists devise new ways to create, share, think, and dream about what is possible. FIGMENT is an alternative to many of the shortcomings of the commercial art world— exclusive, expensive, impersonal, untouchable and often simply boring.

Famous for his role in New York’s artistic heritage and the Pop Art movement, Andy Warhol believed that everyone had it in them to be a star for fifteen minutes. Through his own art, he defined his identity and shaped the world around him. He once commented that he’d like his tombstone to say only one word: “Figment.”
Governors Island, in the heart of New York Harbor, is only 800 yards from Lower Manhattan, and even closer to Brooklyn. It is a world unto itself, unique and full of promise. For almost two centuries, Governors Island was a military base - home to the US Army and Coast Guard. Due to changing needs in operations, the Coast Guard closed and “mothballed” the Island in 1996. New York’s leaders recognized the Island’s potential, and in 2003 the federal government sold most of the Island to the people of New York for one dollar. Today, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) oversees 150 acres of the Island, while the National Park Service manages the balance, the 22-acre Governors Island National Monument which includes two 1812-era forts.

Bowery Street, June 12, 2009

Bowery Street looking north, with the Empire State Building in the background, photographed on June 12, 2009 at 11:25 PM. The Empire State Building tower is lit in blue/green/yellow to celebrate Caribbean Week.

From wikipedia:

The Bowery (pronounced /ˈbaʊ.ə.ri/ or /ˈbaʊ.ri/) is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood's boundaries are East 4th Street and the East Village to the north, Canal Street and Chinatown to the South, Allen Street and the Lower East Side to the east and Bowery (the street) and Little Italy to the west. The Bowery is the oldest thoroughfare on Manhattan Island. Originally a Native American footpath which spanned roughly the entire South-North length of the island. When the Dutch settled Manhattan island, they named the path Bouwerij road -- Bouwerij, the old Dutch word for farm (today boerderij), because it connected the farmlands and estates on the outskirts to the heart of the city in today's Wall Street/Battery Park area.

Photographing PACQUIAO in New York City (Boxing Writers Association of America "Fighter of the Year" Awardee)

A lucky fan proudly showing his autographed magazine

Facade of "The Capitale"

I made these images outside The Capitale in Manhattan's East Village earlier this evening when Filipino professional boxer, MANNY PACQUIAO arrived to attend the awards ceremony of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Mr. Pacquiao received the BWAA's Edward J. Neil "Fighter of the Year" award for 2008. The top photo was published in the June 15 issue of the Manila Bulletin.

From wikipedia:

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao (pronounced /ˈpækjaʊ/; born December 17, 1978), known as Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao is a Filipino professional boxer, part-time actor and recording artist. He is the former WBC Lightweight world champion, WBC Super Featherweight world champion, IBF Super Bantamweight world champion, and WBC Flyweight world champion. He has also held the Ring Magazine titles for Featherweight, Super Featherweight, and Light Welterweight divisions. For his achievements, he became the first Filipino and Asian boxer to win five world titles in five different weight divisions. He is currently the IBO and Ring Magazine Light Welterweight champion and is rated by the Ring Magazine as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He is also the first boxer to win the lineal championship ("the man who beat the man") in four different weight classes.
Located at 130 Bowery, The Capitale’s 40,000 square foot space is not only impressive in size, but also in structure. Stanford White's Roman classic 1895 landmark that served as the first Bowery Savings Bank is adorned with Corinthian columns, Venetian glass, marble mosaic floors and a 65-foot high decorated coved ceiling with an art glass skylight. The Capitale is a multi-level, multi-room venue equipped to accommodate private parties from 2 to 1,300 guests. The Bowery Savings Bank exterior was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966. Now regarded as one of the most luxurious event spaces in all of Manhattan, the Capitale features a ballroom with 75-foot ceilings supported by marble Corinthian columns as well as a 4,000-square-foot restaurant and four private tasting rooms with Internet access, Capitale is outrageously over the top, with its billowing curtains and ferns-in-urns décor.

Four Weddings in Manhattan

Four random weddings in one day (May 30th). Two at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, one near City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge, and another in Times Square. And I enjoyed photographing them. Earlier that day, I took photos of another wedding officiated by the Naked Cowboy in Duffy Square posted on June 5, 2009 (http://nyclovesnyc.blogspot.com/2009/06/naked-cowboy-officiates-wedding.html).

Blown-Molded Glass Collection, American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

These blown-molded bottles are on display at the mezzanine of the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.