A day in NY between art and pleasure – Alan x el Mundo

New York is, for some, a chaotic, dirty city, where everyone runs and you hear all kinds of screams and things in the streets… But for me, it is one of the cities where I arrive and feel at home.

I think my connection with the “Big Apple” is due to the fact that my older brother has been living there for 12 years and that I did it for 6 months, in which I enjoyed it with all the intensity that a city like this requires.

I walked its streets in the company of my friends —some of them singers, designers, artists, writers— and people who, like me, greatly respected the history and past of this metropolis in which many artistic movements were born and in which fashion is breathed and music.

I remember how I enjoyed going to museums or galleries that offered abstract expressionism expos, which is an artistic movement that I have loved for many years, and also how I wanted to see all the spots in which the “ godmother of punk”, Patti Smith, was filled with that magic that she transmits to us through her music and art.

Cities are full of auras and their corners have their own imprint of the past and when I am in them I let myself be impregnated by all of it, but in my heart there is a special place for NY because thanks to it I decided to dedicate my life to art and every time When I come I feel inspired and attracted, it is as if something inside me was filled with energy and creativity. Being here reaffirms that I dedicate myself to what I love the most.

Yes, it is true that I treasure those moments of wild youth, but today visiting NY means an opportunity to experience it in a different way. In September I went for a couple of days, in which I set myself the goal of visiting the art fair The Armory Showin which I would be interested in participating with my gallery, so I had to analyze the market, what type of work they exhibit, the attendees, the space and the events that unfold in all the energy that happens in that art week. I took the opportunity to also support my dear artist Lucia Vidales and my colleagues from PROXYCO Gallery.

The truth is that everything was incredible, from the openings, dinners and even visits to some galleries or artist studios. I am fortunate that I like people and that is why I find it interesting to meet them in different settings.

Thanks to a friend and an art advisor, I had the opportunity to be at a dinner in honor of an artist from the Bortolami Galleryone of my favorite galleries because I identify with its roaster of artists —many of them dedicated to painting—.

I couldn’t not visit as many galleries and museums as possible, so the app SeeSaw It was my best ally to plan my gallery routes. Also, I was very excited to visit the MoMAwhich underwent a renovation process and reopened in 2019.

MoMA is a museum that I consider my teacher, there I learned to analyze exhibitions from top to bottom and where I fell in love with curating, a vital task for those of us who dedicate ourselves to art.

Curators are people who are in charge of putting together an exhibition from its concept to the selection of the pieces that are going to be exhibited —they work as a team with other areas of the gallery or museum so that the exhibition is perfect— and in the MoMA, curatorships are always daring and capable of turning everything upside down, teaching us another way of seeing, thinking and reading art.

In this space I understood a lot about how the world of exhibitions works, I saw the logos and credits that they always put below the text and I investigated what one thing had to do with the other and why they had that mention or if they occupied a “special” place.

During my visit I had to see the exhibition “Matisse: The Red Studio”, which first brought together ten surviving pieces at the time that the artist created in a studio in the Parisian suburbs and which inspired him to paint “The Red Studio” —for its translation into Spanish—.

Its montage and display seemed incredible to me because it was like seeing that painting in its real environment, giving the sensation of being inside the painting or of visiting Matisse in his day-to-day at his workplace. Great way to make an exhibition and to get value and dialogue out of a single painting.

Then I went to eat Steam, a new place that made its food stick on my tongue and in my head due to the quality of its dishes… uff, everything was healthy and exquisite. If you feel like visiting a Shanghai Asian fusion spot, Steam is the place. When I went, my brother-in-law told me that a few weeks ago the place was empty but apparently today it is the diamond in the rough of NY restaurants, so you would have to wait a little while.

That same night, I took advantage of the fact that I was staying in the West Village and went to the American Bar for, obviously, a cheeseburger and one of the best fries I’ve ever eaten, accompanied by a dirty dirty Martini… Oh NY, so much to see, eat, do and find!

The next morning, before heading to the airport, I had a delicious breakfast at the Bagel Pub where you will find all kinds of bread and spreads of cheese they have them exhibited as if they were gelatos… They are a delight!

New York… always there for me, making me happy over and over again, one of my happy places.

Karen Huber,
Gallery owner and cultural promoter
@karenhuber_

Photographs courtesy of Karen Huber and internet

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