Archive for the ‘City’ Category

Doctor Obama’s Waiting Room

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Waiting for Health Care_BW

Woman in a Waiting Room BWMan Waiting_BW

Seated Woman_BW

Waiting Room_BW

I started these sketches in the waiting room at my doctor’s office a while ago, sitting there thinking about what a crisis our nation’s health care system has become.

Later I kept adding to the drawings, so it’s kind of become a series.  I’ve been thinking about some of the narratives I’ve heard from people about their experiences with health care, and how it has affected their lives.  Some of these stories are from people I know personally, and others I’ve read in the news.  I started writing fragments of these different “broken narratives” down in my notebooks, and then adding them to the drawings.  One day I heard someone call President Obama “Dr. Obama” and it suddenly occurred to me that, for many people he is kind of like the “doctor” that everyone hopes will be able to heal the “broken system” that we have now.

Whatever one thinks about the healthcare debate, one thing seems certain:  the present system is not really working for many of us, and it can’t continue.  Whether we manage to come up with a single-payer healthcare plan, or some other public option, or some radical overhaul of the existing setup, something has got to change.  It seems like we’re all sitting in the doctor’s office, “waiting for Health Care Reform,” and at the risk of sounding naive,  I  am hoping that President Obama will turn out to be the “doctor” that can make the necessary changes happen.

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Henry Paulson and Alan Greenspan

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

The drawing of Mr. Paulson was done today from a photograph made by Dennis Cook of the Associated Press.  The one of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was done from life at the New York Hilton in November of 2006.

Henry Paulson 5c

Alan Greenspan 2

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Bastille Day Drawings

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

During a bicycle ride through TriBeCa today, I came across some Bastille Day festivities on West Broadway, where a large crowd had gathered to play petanque on a sand court set up for that purpose in the street.  There was a brass band playing music and a petanque tournament was in progress when I arrived, in front of the Cercle Rouge Brasserie, a French Bistro that is apparently named after the 1970 movie, Le Cercle Rouge.

Bastille Day 3This Petanque player’s energy was an amazing thing to behold; my drawing does not fully convey the intensity of his focus as he took his position to make his shots.  The other players were much younger than him, mostly college kids, jostling each other and laughing, their energy loose and scattered by comparison.  This man became completely rooted to the ground when he lined up to shoot:  his gaze penetrating and precise as he bent slightly at the waist, his right hand poised for a moment like a discus thrower in an olympiad.  I could almost feel the line of force radiating out from his face across the court.  He was good, too:  his boule frequently landed within an inch or two of the jack.  After finishing a round, he would take a drag off of a little cigarillo before casting the circle for the next shot, saying nothing the whole time.  Petanque, I recently discovered, actually means anchored feet.

Bastille Day 6On 10th Avenue and 20th Street, right on the edge of the Chelsea Art District, this accordionist was busking on the corner, his back turned towards the avenue, facing the parking garage that sits nearby.  I noticed him as much for his outfit as his music:  he wore a helmet modeled after a Star Wars character the entire time that he was playing.  He would not remove the helmet even to wipe his face (it was a bit warm outside), but instead would deftly lift the mask partially away and run his hand underneath:  I wondered if perhaps he was trying to conceal his identity.  At one point he began playing a Philip Glass theme that I recognized, then segued abruptly into La Marseillaise and the theme from Star Wars.  He was still there when I rode by again an hour later, groups of art tourists walking by tossing money into his open case.Bastille Day 4

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Watercolor Sketches

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

These were mostly done in my neighborhood in Brooklyn; the bridge goes over the Gowanus Canal at Union Street.  I sometimes carry a small tin of watercolors with a special brush that folds into a tube; the whole thing fits into my pocket or a shoulder bag, along with whatever sketchbook I’m carrying.  

Clinton Street

woman in an office

plant

 

3rd Street Bridge

Union Street Bridge_wc

 

 

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The Leaning Tower of Bond Street

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

3rd Street & Bond

A local resident passing by saw me drawing this building and without breaking his stride, said, “Oh, you’re drawing the leaning tower of Bond Street!”

You can see by the angle of the chimney that this 3-story apartment house has a serious foundation problem.

The siding was added sometime after the shift occurred; it runs over to cover the gap between the two buildings, and there’s a wide strip of roofing materials that covers the gap on top as well.  I wonder what the floors must be like inside.

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