Friday Frivolity 

BANKSY is at large in Manhattan in what he calls his 1 month Manhattan "artist-in-residency"! 

The now famous black silhouette stencils appear and disappear in a matter of hours. Where? That's the trick. No-one knows. Pop up art. First one of a dog pissing on an iconic NY hydrant. Now u see it; now u don't. Each graffiti is accompanied by a phone number. Call and u get an ironic description plus great upbeat music. www.banksy.co.uk  "All I ever wanted was a shoulder to crayon," he says. Good fun. 

You may think private views are all about the pictures. Not so. A recent trend to the young and rich has pushed - Christies for example - into private views which start at 9pm and go till midnight, when all sensible folk are in bed! Really it's all about shoes and bags - as u can see here. Another trend is for THICK invitation cards. I mean THICK CARD solid enough to be a brick. Gagosian started it - now Pace and dominique levy  are following. A bad idea. Save that tree I say.

The last trend is the After Party - usual standard admission fee 300- 500 dollars. 

                                                                  sotheby's   shoes

In Chelsea Pace is showing white on white paintings by Robert Ryman who came to NYC in the 1950s to play jazz, and worked as a guard for years at MoMA. His 2010 multi-panel piece is titled "No Title Required."
PS. The links to my comments box and guest book are not working, so please do send any nice comments to me at Facebook and nasty ones to mail@birdsinmybeard.com. Thanks.