Lazy in Long Island City

After a large and satisfying brunch with my parents this past Saturday, I met up with the filmmaker and a few friends, with the original intention of heading to a long, chaotic, energetic dj set at PS1. Scheduled to run about seven hours, we arrived an hour or two after it started, which was a huge mistake: hordes of hungry, sweat drenched hipsters stood in a stagnant, stale line, four people deep, which wrapped around the entire museum and proceeded down the block. Not wanting to subject ourselves to the heat and to the inanities that surely must be casual line-waiting conversation amongst young struggling and starving graphic artists and poets, we instead meandered over to 5 Pointz, an abandoned warehouse across the way that has since been converted to an appointment only aerosol art center.

I had actually paid a visit to this spray paint maelstrom Mecca last fall, regrettably before the days of my free camera, when a large group of artists had congregated to re-tag much of the building. Watching their discipline with the can, which for me in my very limited experience has always proven capricious and elusive, or bombastic and overzealous, one can only admire the technique and the fluency with the nuances of fluid dynamics. Generally, only the end result is visible to the public, whether the piece of art has been welcomed or not, so it was incredible to see the artists themselves, try to glean a small piece of their character from the intricate tableaus they created. Even for those who disagree with the medium and a certain presumed lifestyle it promotes, the intensity of color and sharpness of geometry are impossible to deny and to ignore.

An inaugural wearing of a Betty Draper inspired dress, the filmmaker took a few shots of my bold floral pattern against a blood lusting Grim Reaper fellow, who, thanks to his two-dimensional superficiality, was remarkably less than threatening. The juxtaposition of suburban housewife with urban death mural makes me chuckle.

Following our walking tour of 5 Pointz, our group decided that enjoying a few drinks in the sun was the only viable option to combat our disappointment at missing out on the dj show, so we traveled over to Williamsburg, to enjoy the rooftop at Berry Park. Surrounded by beautiful people, warm sun, and an impressive concrete skyline, I could easily forget the minor consequences of slightly haphazard planning and stubborn refusal to endure long, banal lines.