Ouiet before the Storm - Image shot Brooklyn Heights

The Quiet Before the Storm

After listening to the news for several days, little seems to be said, about two neighborhoods that are an enclave - neighborhoods so close to Manhattan but are now hours away without transportation.

Brooklyn Heights, is a community high above sea level, this neighborhood was lucky and maintained electrical power. However, Brooklyn Heights is sandwiched between two neighborhoods built along the waterfront: to the South is Red Hook, and Dumbo is to the North.(DUMBO - Down Under Brooklyn Manhattan Overpass)

All three neighborhoods Brooklyn Heights, Red Hook, and Dumbo are generally minutes from the City, but in actuality are isolated neighborhoods that are working extensions of New York City’s life.

Red Hook is an older neighborhood, that began to rise in the last ten to fifteen years bringing in a more hipster-youth that wanted an opportunity to be near the waterfront, and bring to it their own flavor of distinction, with new night life, intertwined with the nostalgia of historic restaurants, deli’s, and bars.  Together the neighborhoods began to have an awesome quaint and savvy hood with Fairway Supermarket, and Ikea moving there and little stores with their own flare.

Now with the bridge and tunnel connection from NYC to lower Brooklyn – Red Hook the neighborhood has been waterlogged.

While the water level at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel has receded, there is still about 86 million gallons of fuel soaked liquid inside which needs to be pumped out.

The area known as Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Brooklyn Overpass); at the corner of Main and Water streets suffered about $80,000 worth of damage that is five feet of water that surged in with Hurricane Sandy…although according to the news, this wasn’t a hurricane but a tropical storm that obviously has given more thought to the environment and the weather colliding with warmer cycles.  

Weather patterns will be another topic of controversy; where to reside and how will insurance companies issue their resources should someone build their home near a waterfront area.  

The Day of Quiet before the Storm

Cliffside - Summer trip to Venezuela

Inspiration from summer trip in Venezuela; Tepui mountains
Oil Painting- canvas -  30 x 40"
Title: Cliffside 
Maia Nero © 2012

double click to enlarge image size

A New Living Room For Monument of Christopher Columbus

Discovering Columbus Living Room Exhibit, at Columbus Circle, referred to by most New Yorkers as West 57^th Street, Columbus Circle, is a circuitous landmark site that encompasses W.57th to W.59th at Central Park West. Now stands a scaffold that holds captive the monument made of marble of Christopher Columbus within an 810 square foot living room. The exhibition titled: Discovering Columbus – Living Room, September 20 – November 18, 2012, designed by Artist Tatzu Nishi.

I didn’t have the time to wait in a rather long line to venture on a scaffold  six flights of stairs to the living room where the marble statue of Christopher Columbus, stands 75 feet atop a granite rostral column and was designed by the Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo. The statue was unveiled in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas.

 In the past I have favored public art exhibits in Manhattan. However, I find this withholding and scaffolding obtrusive keeping the original statue at this prominent location in Columbus Circle from public sight. It is recognized that Mayor Bloomberg has always supported public art exhibitions, which encourages a cultural flavor of distinction in Manhattan. However, I walked downstairs to the Columbus Circle subway station and saw this homeless person hiding, not behind his public funded living room, but rather what appeared to be his entire life in black garbage bags. I just couldn’t help but wonder what is more significant a person made of flesh or an exhibit that is holding captive a monument residing in an 810 square foot living room, which is larger than many NYC apartments.  

The Public Art Fund a nonprofit organization that presents art within the city is raising money and doesn’t disclose their budgets. The city’s Cultural Affairs Department is giving more than $1 million for the restoration; cleaning of the Sardinian granite base and column on which the statue rests is already under way. Yes, this  public funding allows innovative exhibitions. I also understand the cleaning of the granite column is underway although, there is speculation as to how long it will require to clean the marble statue that stands 13 feet; while the actual cleaning of the monument will not begin until the exhibition closes.

I realize after living in NYC for many years that there are shelters for the homeless, but this living room is almost an insult to the artist that created a vision for everyone to see, and although I didn’t have an opportunity to witness the inside from everything I read there is a coffee table, French lamps, purple couch, flat-screen television, as well as custom pink wallpaper of Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe, and Martin Luther King Jr., Mickey Mouse, illustrated by the artist and copies of Mayor Bloomberg's magazine, Business Week to peruse while you gaze at Christopher Columbus in his new digs.

Before it opened on Sept. 20^th, the exhibition required multiple approvals from the Buildings Department, including permits to erect a temporary structure, for equipment, for construction and exhibition fencing and one for an elevator, which is required under the law to provide access for the disabled. 

*One Voice Coalition's Andre Dimino, told WCBS-TV that he is disappointed that the statue won't be visible during the annual Columbus Day Parade in October, calling the exhibit a "disgrace." - CBS News/ September 20, 2012, 2:18 PM

*Not everyone is a fan. John Mancini, executive director of the Italic Institute of America, said the artwork turns the 1892 statue by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo into "a stage prop. "How can one artist hijack the work of another artist?" He complained.  - Published October 08, 2012 Associated Press

A Night of Jazz with Manuel Valerz - Cuban Express

A night of Jazz at The Rubin Museum

Manuel Valerz and the Cuban Express played this past Friday evening, a hot modern-fusion of Cuban/Afro jazz, at the Rubin Museum, located on W. 17^th Street with a percussion section that had the audience dancing while feet were taping and heads were bopping in their seats.

The Rubin is not just a museum that exhibits art from India, but is known for their jazz series titled: Harlem in the Himalayas; for a very modest fee music lovers are inspired in a quaint concert hall where on the lower level an art exhibit inspires the entrance into hall. Manuel Valerz on piano accompanied by fellow Cuban musicians alto saxophonist Yosvany Terry and percussionist Mauricio Herrera; Valera leads an exciting sextet that brings the voices of New York guitarist Tom Guarna, Grammy award-winning Puerto Rican-born bassist John Benitez and much in-demand drummer Eric Doob, to the fore in blending the Latin flavor with the high-energy texture of jazz fusion creating the new sounds of “Latusion.” This performance inspired energy then softly transcended moments where total relaxation found peaceful memories. In addition, the Rubin Museum offers lectures, and if that isn’t enough the bar and food is a great place to just hang prior to the concert, or browse in the gift shop.