Apologies to Cindy Sherman

I passed by a party supply store on Broadway and 12th the other night and took this picture:

Open studio starts today, 4/29/11

The annual Toast Art Walk starts today at 6 pm. My studio will be open for visits. I'm excited to be showing the new pieces I'm working on. My new work is getting more abstract, but is still firmly rooted in correct internal anatomy. I like this interplay between loose and rigid I'm seeing. Here are two of the pieces I'm showing tonight:

I always enjoy opening my studio. Once during a studio visit someone asked me why I called my work "art." She was referring to this piece:

A pretty interesting conversation ensued. I've wondered the same at times, especially with my very tight anatomical work. I believe Marcel Duchamp answered this question about what art is definitively (at least for now) with his ready mades. It's all about the intention of the artist. To interpret lamely, if an artist calls it art, it's art.

The hours are Friday 6-9pm, Saturday 1-6pm, Sunday 1-6pm, and Monday 1-6pm.

My address is 67 Greene Street, between Broome and Spring, New York, N.Y.

The artwork is for sale. Most are limited editions of seven with one artist proof. I look forward to seeing you this weekend!

Based upon what I'm seeing in these photos let me get back to cleaning.

Tea pot

Here are a couple of photos I took of a tea pot that's being displayed at Cyrus Company:

Greene Street at night, 4/27/11

I took these two photos last night while I was leaving the studio:

Radiator love

There's a radiator in the bathroom of Cyrus Company, the place I'm currently exhibiting. I've fallen in love with this radiator. Look at how the light gently caresses it's curves! This radiator is tall and only three segments high. Proportionally it reminds me of a skyscraper. I find an inherent humor in this object's proportions; a lowly radiator reaching to the heavens.

My difficult relationship with music

One of things I love about blogging is that it forces me to work on my art. I need some kind of output in order to blog about it. Contemplating my work is good, but actually CREATING my work is much better. Not much contemplation going on when there's nothing to see.

My training is in music. I played tenor saxophone. I was beginning to gig in NYC when I stopped playing at twenty. Since then I've flirted with music. I took up piano. I studied with a great classical teacher, John Kamitska. I still compose occasionally. Composition has always been the most pleasurable aspect of music for me.

So, I'll be taping a new song once a week and posting the audio or video file here on this blog. There, I said it. Now I have to do it.

Photo taken on my walk to the studio

I took this shot this morning on my walk to the studio. It's taken from the corner of Broadway and Houston. This minimalist sculpture by Frosty Myers was erected in 1973. It was then taken down in 2002 for structural reasons. A legal battle ensued and it made its return in 2007.

City roofs and sky

Here are a couple of shots I took on Greene Street yesterday:

Lola doing homework

I went out to Maplewood yesterday to have dinner with the family. I took a couple of snaps of Lola doing her homework:

Hand (black, blue and magenta)

Here's a piece I just finished in the blue and magenta palette. I'm liking how the color interacts, and there's a good luminosity happening.

Fine art website redesign

I'm pleased to announce that I just redesigned and relaunched my fine art website. It's a soft launch, and there's more work that needs to be added to the site.

http://www.bryanchristie.com/

Black, blue, and magenta

Here's another torso color study:

WTC by night

I took this shot last week. I'm happy with the light in this one.

Toast art walk

I'm participating in the Toast Art Walk this Friday, April 29th through Monday May 2nd. It's a long weekend of open artist studios in Soho and TriBeCa.

Please come by for a studio visit. I'll be showing my fine art and architectural photography. I'll be able to give you a closer look at the process. The studio will be cleaner than it is in the photos below. And yes, I'll be serving wine.

Our address is 67 Greene Street, between Spring and Broome. Floor 3.

For information about toast- http://www.toastartwalk.com/toastartwalk/home.html

New color study

Here's a blue figure I worked on over the weekend. I'm liking the energy these thin lined pieces have.

Maplewood photos

Here are some shots I took this weekend in Maplewood:

Easter weekend

I spent the weekend with the family this Easter. Sunday we went to Pete Samek and Sue Kass's house for a wonderful easter egg hunt and dinner.

Loosh and his bad-ass cousin Reilly Samek

Lola and her cousin Lucy

Pete Samek

Loosh schools Pete at "COD: Black Ops."

From virtual gun to wooden gun

My father, Andy Christie.

Loosh and Molly

Lola and Molly

Loosh Christie

Lunch on Molly's birthday

Last weekend was Molly's birthday. While she was getting her spa treatment I took the kids out to lunch. As the photos may make evident, the kids really balance each other out well. Sometimes I can't believe how well they play together.

My therapist's dumpster

I arrived early for my session today so I snooped around in the back of my therapist's office and took some photos:

On the train back to New York I took these:

Later that evening I was having a Friday night pity-party in my apartment. So I grabbed my camera and took a few more pictures: