METRO CURATES

We had the great honor of attending the opening night of Metro Curates, thanks to our friend Gaol Martin, who participates in several of New York's annual art fairs, showing a marvelous selection of hand made textiles from the Gail Martin Gallery. Above, we're posing in front of a 1988 acrylic on canvas untitled painting by Oli Sihvonen. Valerie is posing below with Gail Martin.

Metro Curates (formerly the Metro Show) has something for almost every taste.  There's Americana, Meso-American art, outsider art, ethnographic jewelry, just to name a few, and many other styles and periods in between.

Hill Gallery was showing the photography of Bill Rauhauser, whose style and period bring to mind Robert Frank.

The Scott Jacobson Gallery showed, among other things, furniture by Jay Stanger in beautifully hued marquetry.

At M. Finkel and Daughter, we loved this wooden sculpture of a flying fish, with the words Pitcairn Island carved into it.  A souvenir of the period (ca. 1920)?

At Gemini Antiques, a fabulous modernist sculpture seems to have been made from parts of salvaged equipment.

And how could we not include a Cameroonian headdress from the Douglas Dawson Gallery?

Metro Curates was great for people watching, too.  This gent was every bit as well curated as the show itself.  We've left this picture at high res so you can zoom in on his waxed mustache, but he's put thought into absolutely everything he's wearing, including his boots.

See?  Didn't we tell you they had something for everyone?

We loved this gent's whale-patterned jacket (where did he get that?!) as well as his glasses.  You can't see it, but there is also one bejeweled whale under his left elbow.

At Steven S. Powers Works of Art and Americana, we had to love Steve most, since he was wearing polka dots.

Special mention has to go to any man who dares to wear a lime green suit and red suede shoes in this minimalist city. In this case, the gent is from Adelson Galleries in Boston, MA.

Here, let us give you a close up. of the bunny head design. Where did he get that?

Self-taught artist Stephanie Wilde poses in front of Migration, one of her Golden Bees series begun in 2008. Through her Golden Bees, Wilde treats the disappearing Western Honeybee as a malevolent biological/ecological puzzle of helpless victims involving a creature embodying an elaboraete mythology.  Her work is available through private dealer Angela Usrey through Tannerhill Gallery.

 Effects of this inexplicable phenomenon are far-reaching given the role of the honeybee in the ecosystem, leading some scientists to describe it as AIDS of the colony or colony collapse disorder, just as the medical community struggled to accurately define AIDS in its early years. Both subjects resonate strongly in Wilde's art, addressing matters of  life and death.

What a fine pair! These incredibly dapper gents are from American Garage Antiques, which just celebrated its 25th year and which specializes in Americana and Folk Art.

This Porky Pig figure in Gemini Gallery's exhibit  combines a comic figure with Americana at its best.

Debby Lee Cohen and her two daughters are all a study in black and white. Debby also the wife of John Molloy (of John Molloy Gallery on East 78th Street i NYC).

This Johnny J. Jones Exposition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a colorful cira 1940 circus poster.

Jean ran into Courtney, a neighbor from the East Village, who loved the show as much as we did.

The car is a circa 1925 African Native Dancer by Hubley Toy Company ofLancaster, PA, is a scarce elaborate hand cranked version. The Arcade Moving Van is a very rare circa 1930 van from Merchants Transfer and Storage of Washington, D.C. Both are from Gemini Gallery.

Jean says: 'How's this for a dandy pair of book ends?' None other than J.D. Hotchkiss of Hotchkiss Art and Daniel Park of Daniel Park Design did the honors.

The eye-pleasing manner in which the tools are displayed at Ames Gallery (from Berkeley, CA) is an artwork in itself.

Likewise, the Spartan nature of this circa 1940 three-gable house from Ames Gallery makes it all the more interesting.

We'll end with some tantalizing upcoming NYC events:
The Outsider Art Show starts Friday, January 29 through Sunday, February 1, 2015 in New York City at Center 548 at 548 West 22nd Street.  And next weekend, check out The Manhattan Vintage Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street on Friday and Saturday, February 6 and 7, 2015 ... and again on Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, 2015.