Kitchen Evacuation - Discovering Carol Bove

Paul had rappers in the kitchen this Saturday, which meant a kitchen evacuation for me. Paul is producing Corina Corina’s sophomore album, The Freeway, and she had a rapper come in to record a guest verse. The album is really coming along, but she’s asking for a little financial help through an indiegogo campaign.

It’s hard for artists. It’s not exactly a financially sound career path. But could you imagine a world where no new music or paintings or books were created? It would be horrible! Everyone benefits from artists taking risks and pursuing their passions. Most of my artist friends work several jobs just so they can do what they love. It’s definitely not the easy route. So if you make good money and can afford to invest in an indie artist you admire, do it!

Since I had to clear out of the kitchen for the afternoon, I went with a few friends to the High Line in Manhattan to check out the art walk ‘Caterpillar’. The artist Carol Bove has seven site specific sculptures on view along the last stretch of High Line that is still untouched and overgrown.

The sculptures were made out of I-beams and powder-coated steel. The I-beam sculptures have rusted from exposure and resemble their dilapidated train track environment, while the powder-coated steel ones are a shiny, crisp white that stand in stark contrast to the setting. I liked that Bove included pieces that appear to be relics of the train line, reminding viewers of it’s history, as well as futuristic looking sculptures that address it’s imminent fate as the High Line.

This final section is planned to open in 2014, when it will look like the rest of the well-groomed High Line. So even if you’re not that into the art, it’s still pretty cool to get up and see what the tracks look like after thirty years of neglect. The tours are free. And for that great price, you get an art tour and a sneak peek at NYC's history.

Kitchen Renovations

This past Saturday, Paul and I made the trek to Home Depot to get supplies for some home renovations. Between the wedding gifts, living in a NYC apartment, and me being a quasi-hoarder, it was time to clear out our crowded kitchen and make our closets more efficient.

I should have taken a ‘before’ picture of the closet. It consisted of precariously stacked plastic drawers and milk crates. It was my attempt at makeshift shelving, and it was pretty bootleg. Since we rent, I never wanted to invest much in home improvement projects. But we’ve been here for almost five years, and I don’t see us moving out anytime soon, so I figured it was time to put in a little work.

The curtain to my room.

Honestly, I’m just happy we have closets. My first apartment in Brooklyn was a loft where the previous tenants had unprofessionally installed the bedroom walls. Because of pipes along the ceiling, they didn’t build them all the way up, so we were basically living in cubicles. No doors either, just curtains. And of course, no closets. I built a shelving unit into my wall, but not knowing what I was doing, I didn’t use anchors. The whole thing pulled out and toppled onto my bed while I slept that night. A terrifying way to wake up. So when Paul and I found our current place, the number of closets (there are six!) was one of the selling points.

A thing of beauty!

The closet renovation really is amazing though. It took up our whole Saturday and we joked about how middle-aged we felt, but it was seriously satisfying to declutter and organize. The closet is now a pantry, linen closet, and bathroom vanity all rolled into one. Every time I walk by the closet, I stop to open it and sigh as I admire.

Prem stopped by over the weekend, and I proudly showed him the closet and solicited compliments on how much cleaner the kitchen looked. By default, the kitchen is an improved space for rappers too. If Paul had his way, he would have expanded and turned the closet into a vocal booth, which I think the rappers might have preferred. But I won’t let Paul take any of the closets away from me. They are too precious.