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On my final visit to New York at the end of August, we were finally able to immerse ourselves in art. First stop was to Anton Kern's to see the Jonas Wood show, which was incredibly impressive. And we were in great company as Tiffany Zab stood between her two heroes Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach.
Then on to more galleries. At Simon Denny's epic show we came across Scott Reeder who is carrying out a very cool project in Detroit with Rirkrit Tiravanija. Simon's show, called 'Blockchain Future States' was a very cool, commercial version of his Berlin Biennale work. It looked quite wonderful and it explored three financial companies and models at the forefront of blockchain technology.
My friend Peter Fleissig took us to the New Museum to see 'The Keeper'. Was not sure I liked this type of collecting - very obsessive and directional. Nice teddies though.
It was something of a relief to get to 47 Canal and see Ajay Kurian's show called 'The Dreamers'. We loved his kooky works and perspectives on life. Often childlike in appearance, he also references previous locations he's worked in.
My favourite work of the day was this wall work hidden at the back at Casey Kaplan Gallery by Kevin Beasley, which of course became a must for the collection.
Jonathan Gardener's show was outstanding - attractive and compelling at the same time. His works referenced 20th Century masters like Matisse, Leger and Picasso.
I had a lovely time cycling around on the new Citi Bikes and walking along the High Line where we discovered a never ending succession of works as part of the 'Wanderlust' exhibition. Mike Nelson's 'public sculpture for a redundant space' was a poignant reference to homelessness.
I also loved Nari Ward's little cars called 'Smart Tree'. They were cute cars that had been covered with strips of shredded tyres. His works bring together materials he has collected from his original hometown in Jamaica and childhood memories of encountering an abandoned car with a tree growing from it.
We also headed to Cecily Brown's studio where Maria Babaikov with the New Museum had brought together a wonderful group to view Cecily's new paintings.
The studio was wonderfully lively, and she seemed to be in a very good place after a successful show at Thomas Dane.
One of our highlights was visiting the show by Meleko Mokgosi who had depicted various aspects of South Africa. Sadly we only saw half the show at Jack Shaiman which was split across two venues.
Oscar Murillo's show at David Zwirner was directed at different subjects including work and play, production and consumption. His painting were dynamic and livelier than the name of the show - 'through patches of corn, wheat and mud' suggested.
