BC and I started today’s adventure at Tender Buttons, a tiny store on the upper east side that sells buttons. They have buttons that were made for George Washington’s inauguration, buttons of intricately carved vegetable (palm nut) ivory, buttons made of horn, miniature 18th century portrait buttons, flapper stocking buttons from the 20’s, deco buttons of silver and lucite–a museum of fabulous tiny functional artworks.
We walked down Park Avenue and paid homage to Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building. The few elements–glass, bronze, tile, space, reflecting pools, columns–and complete lack of ornament create a harmonious and grand sculptural presence of form and meaning.
We visited a few more buildings, including the art deco General Electric building, with its zigzag motif evoking electricity, and crown of spires designed to complement nearby St. Bartholomew’s–the power of modern man firmly and phallicly towering over the power of the Almighty.
A bit further down the road, we made a brief stop to visit Nayland at ICP, and were briefly charmed by his graciousness and tour-de-force facial hair. Nayland, there should at least be a band named Nayland Blake’s Beard, or a wig and beard replica sold alongside Jeff Stryker’s penis! We checked out the contemporary African photography exhibit across the street, and then went DVD shopping near Bryant Park and scored several super cheap films, including a pirated version of the out-of-print Criterion Salo (which has sold for $1,000 on ebay). When I first saw it on the shelf, my heart stopped–Had I found the last cache of copies left in Region One? Should I buy them all and sell them on ebay and keep rent-bears into my old age? Well, it’s not even a copy of the Criterion release, filmed in a movie theater somewhere by someone sitting not quite in the center of the theater.
After a brief rest, it was back on the bus, for drinks with Donna and Bev at a lesbian taco bar in the West Village, and lots of laughs, drinks, dish about working for Louis Malle, and discussions of past life regressions.