camminando & vernissages | "It's been a hard day's" Spring Evening

"It's been a hard day's" evening and I have been tired and upset.
     My usual dealing with my still legal spouse non-sense and irrational behavior, this morning has been aggravated by hearing of the appointment of new chief architect at New York City Transit (NYCT), Such appointment is related to of this NY State agency's corruption and nepotism, which I have been a victim myself in 2004.
      Focusing on the PhD work helped, yet a sense of frustration about my domestic situation coupled with the NYCT unhappy memories of discrimination, almost took over. But, as usual walking provided healing.
      My destination was the exhibition of paintings by the Hungarian Simon Hantaï (1922 – 2008) at Mnuchin Gallery, in the Upper West Side, The exhibition, titled "Simon Hantaï | Pliage: The First Decade", included paintings from the 1960s, created using pliage, (“folding”) technique. It was quite uncanny that the artist was Hungarian-born but Paris-based, similarly to Rufolf Laban, to whom I am devoting good part of my days while working on the PhD literature review.
     I found solace in the end of the afternoon sunlight, making the city skyline reflections nostalgic and comforting. The park was majestic and calming, so were the paintings.
   
    Art and nature...Spring is here, at last!

Midtown skyline from Oak Bridge

Crossing Central Park, on my way to the Upper East Side

"Simon Hantaï | Pliage: The First Decade" at Mnuchin Gallery

 

A waxing moon behind Belvedere castle

Total walk length: 4.5 km

Design | 3D Printed Wearable Art

Some images of my 3D printed wearable art, from 2011-12, which was not included in the 3D Print Design Show. To view more visit worldmaking

Fairs | NYC, 3D Print Design Show

The 3D Print Design show took place at the Javits Convention Center, part of the 3D Print Week NY 
(April 13-17).  
   3D printing is such a phenomenon that often it is difficult to discern the true value from the hype. The art show was definitely disappointing, with a remake of the Warhol's Brillo box in a mirrored room —reminiscent of Yajoi Kusama infinity rooms but without the attention to details and conceptual.
   The much advertised fashion show was also somehow disappointing, considering what can be done with other older mass produced technologies e.g.  metallic fabric, polymers, without the massive time investment required by 3D printing.  
  The most interesting part was the exhibit hall showcasing the latest 3D printers for the both the industrial, but mainly, the consumer oriented market. It is impressive what can be done with printers under $3000: the Lulzbot printer was particularly interesting for its capability of printing many materials —including polycarbonate, nylon and wood filaments— at the resolution of  0.07mm layer thickness.
  Definitely medical products seems to be the most promising 3D printing application, where the high precision and customization of 3D printed end products are most suited and cost-effective. 3D printed medical applications vary broadly in scale and materials, ranging from anatomical models and insoles to  prosthetics, tissue and organ reconstruction and implants, 

I appreciated the keynote session "The Search for the Killer App" presented by Peter Leys, executive chairman of the Belgian 3D printing services company materialise. My criticism was somehow confirmed: 3D printing is valuable when it offers a difference in making end products.

3D printed musical instruments

A few ornaments and dress from the 3D printed fashion show

camminando | Nevada Desert: Looking for Somebody Else's Art and Creating My Own

It does not take more than fifteen miles to leave the greatest extravaganza on the planet where everything is a re-creation of something else, namely Las Vegas. And then you get to the barren desert, cut by the multi-lane interstate highway I15.
Almost as going to a pilgrimage I am headed to visit "Double Negative", the 1969 earthwork by Michael Heizer. The site is not different from the overall Nevada desert; located in the the town of Overton, in the Moapa Valley. Direction are quite clear as a dirty road takes us to the towering Mormon Mesa. Then the desert becomes really deserted. We leave the car and armed with water bottles and sun lotion we adventure toward the eroding earthwork. We did not find it. But the view of majestic mesa overlooking the Virgin River has almost a cathartic effect. I forget all the tension and upsets of the past months. I am walking with the sand blown into my face by a wind gusting at over 30 mph. The Mesa shows the wind impact with its implacable erosion. Yet the fierce desert wind seems to heal. At least for a few hours. 
We are not able to find Heizer's earthwork. But our walk was an art expression on its own, bringing a healing quiet.

camminando | Easter Moon in Las Vegas

The Moon is real!

My axis mundi coordinates have relocated to 36°10′30″N 115°08′11″W, which host the greatest playground in the planet in the Mojave Desert surrounded by the mountain, namely Las Vegas "The Meadows". One of the grandest urban extravaganza not only conceived but actually built —out of money generated by of the most potentially dangerous, yet legal, human addictions: gambling.
In Las Vegas nothing is authentic but everything is real. You can find cultures across the globe and spanning thousand years in Las Vegas Boulevard, better know as Las Vegas Strip, although is located not in the city of Las Vegas but in the municipality of Paradise. The time travel spans thousand years from the ancient Egypt and Rome, to the Italian Renaissance. Venice, Rome, Paris, New York are less than a mile apart.

I am chasing Easter moon in the Strip: our poor satellite although at its full glamour is yet overshadowed by the neon lights. Isn't there perhaps a space Moon theme hotel and casino nearby?

Las Vegas infrastructure and Stratosphere Tower

Ancient Rome at the Cesar Palace

Water plays at music score in front of the Bellagio

Several floors high chandeliers at the Cosmopolitan

 

Easter Moon chasing in Las Vegas Strip