Monthly Archives

December 2016

Art & Culture

Recycled Maps and Bold Brush Strokes – A New Year’s Resolution

Chelsea-Market-exterior 2

Every day, no matter where I am, I strive to embody the essence of New York and emulate the traits that represent the city’s culture – qualities such as confidence, fearlessness, vivacity, distinctiveness, drive, open-mindedness, and growth.

During one of my recent wanderings around the Meatpacking District, I stumbled into Chelsea Market – a charming bazaar of gadgets and gismos galore, brimming with food, art, jewelry, clothing, candles, and every other charm or trinket you can imagine. I made my way towards the back corner of the room and came across a stand that displayed dozens of colorful paintings of New York City’s scenery, architecture, and people. I walked up to the booth for a closer look. Grazing my fingers over the different works of art, I noticed creases and folds running throughout each piece of paper-canvas, as if they all had been previously folded. “How odd,” I thought.

Recycling Maps of New York

The salesman noticed the perplexed look on my face and pointed above him to a banner that read, “Recycling Maps of New York.” He continued to explain that the vivid images hanging around him were handmade silkscreen posters that artist Kevin Marcell created by painting over recycled New York subway maps. I looked even closer; faded grids and maps of the city peaked through the artist’s bold brush strokes and prints. Ironically enough, the city’s timeworn subway maps – a visual representation of New York that has remained fixed and stagnant in time – served as the backdrop for Marcell’s fluid, refreshed interpretation of the beautiful, Big Apple.

In all their imaginative, vibrant charm, Marcel’s pieces reminded me of how much I love New York – a rhythmic island beaming with urban life, daring wonder, and star-lit romance that blooms on cobblestone.

Yet, his subway maps also brought to light the reality that New York runs on a firm geographical grid – both on street level and underground. Take away the shimmering skyscrapers and look past the quaint brownstones; at its bare core, the city is fixed in its paths and rigid in structure – a quality about New York I don’t wish to embody at all.

As we reflect on 2016 and look forward to the new year, perhaps we should take note from Marcel’s recycled masterpieces to assess our own intentions for the coming year:

Recycling Maps of New York

Regardless of who or where we are, we all have hopes, aspirations, and visions of what we think our futures should look like. Short-term ambitions and long-term dreams alike, it seems we often rely on fixed routes and directions in our minds that we think we must follow to succeed. There has always been some sort of “map” printed in my head that I’ve thought I must abide by to progress in life. I’ve become so comfortable within its framework that I’ve never really thought about what might lie beyond its boundaries. What would happen if I stray? Marcell’s unique reinterpretation has fed that curiosity – inspiring me to wander and explore the possibilities that exist beyond the map in my mind, to discover what else life has to offer.

From 2017 and on, let’s strive to paint a new, evolving map – one with curved lines that bend and change and shift directions, that we can freely paint over again and again based on life’s circumstances, with bright colors that mix together to make new ones, and shapes that can be interpreted in an infinite number of ways.

In this new year, rather than relying on the rigid paths ingrained in our minds that we feel compelled to follow for guidance, let’s trust our heart’s compass to lead the way – wherever it may take us. In doing so – in living life freely in the coming year, one brush stroke at a time – I’m curious to see how our futures take shape as we paint on the canvas that is 2017, over the lines and creases of our pasts.

Nevertheless, as Marcel’s art portrays, the truth is that life never grants us a completely fresh start or a wholly clean surface to paint on. Life’s canvases inevitably bear the marks and traces of the maps we previously drew – and that’s a beautiful thing. If we embrace this reality, we can repurpose our past experiences and draw inspiration from their lines, to invigorate our points of view moving forward.

Thus, as it seems, life presents us with many maps. But whether they represent our city’s geography or our hearts’ ambitions, these maps don’t have to dictate the paths we must take to progress; perhaps these maps just show us where to begin.

So, let’s raise a paintbrush to this new year, and create our most adventurous, unrestricted, colorful works of art yet. And in moments of doubt when we don’t know exactly where we’re headed, may we find the courage to keep painting. As the lines of our past mix with the brushstrokes of our present, maybe we’ll discover uncharted paths and possibilities within ourselves that we’ve grown brave enough to explore. Perhaps we’ll discover how boldly imaginative we truly are, and realize that we’ve had the potential to be the artists and visionaries of our own lives all along.

Happy New Year.

Yours, Always,

Daniel

 

 

 

Chelsea Market – 75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011

Fashion & Style

Cashmere Dinosaurs

CoachFor years, popular culture has placed fashion high up on a pedestal – and with good reason. Whether we’re talking about the craft that is ready-to-wear or the art form that is couture, the pieces we see and wear are mostly products of meticulous, stunningly imaginative visions that have been brought to life – patch by patch, stitch by stitch – that deserve our praise.

Yet, as fashion has continued to evolve, the scene around the industry has become more and more saturated; our perceptions of the craft behind the clothing seem to have reached an extreme. Now, as I’ve begun working in the social, digital landscape of the industry, I especially see, firsthand, how seriously people take fashion and view clothing as untouchable and even godly.

But even as highly as some designs are hailed on the catwalk, we interpret fashion and bring its pieces into the contexts of everyday life by wearing them. Whether on the rack or off the runway, our clothes become a part of us, and become extraordinarily, well, ordinary.

Coach, America’s sweetheart of the fashion industry, has just released its newest collection featuring the brand’s new mascot, Rexy The Coach Dinosaur. As I passed by the Coach boutique on Fifth Avenue on my way to work this past week, all of the designs in the windows proudly displayed the cartoon dinosaur – on cashmere sweaters, suede backpacks, leather key chains, and almost every other piece of clothing or accessory that was there.

Coach

I had some time to spare before my daily morning conference call. With a hint of a smile, I made my way through the store’s glass doors to quickly browse the collection. I was pleasantly stunned at how Coach’s high-end ready-to-wear featured the design of a dinosaur – a charmingly mundane symbol that takes me back to cartoons I used to watch, stories I used to read, and coloring books I used to draw in, as a little boy. Now, this speck from my childhood has been blown up into a full-fledged collection on Fifth Avenue that people across the country have added to their wardrobes.

With the birth of Rexy, Coach has found a happy medium in an industry of extremes that can take itself a little too seriously: a balance between elegance, quality, style, and luxury, and vibrant design, playfulness, and creativity – all infused with a spirited sense of nostalgia.

So, dare I say it, maybe fashion is more grounded, personable, and “un-untouchable” than we might think – and maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. Holiday collections and window displays aside, perhaps Coach’s beloved Rexy is telling us that it’s okay to be playful and childish, while remaining elegant at the same time, in any context.

Perhaps there’s even a need in this time we’re living in, to weave some colorful life and humor into the fabric of our daily lives, to seek that space within us and around us that makes us smile, and to embrace it – in our wardrobes, and in our hearts.

Coach

Sights

The Lemon in the Haystack

The Lemon in the HaystackDuring my daily wanderings in the neighborhood, I always observe the area’s architecture: buildings of soft greys and beiges, quaint brownstones, moldings reminiscent of the Victorian era, and of course, facades of warm red bricks crumbling at their corners – that have all become so charmingly characteristic of the West Village.

Today, however, on my way to The Elk, my beloved haven of a coffee shop, I passed by a building with a more distinct visual aesthetic: a modest, three-story building made of wooden planks painted vibrant yellow, with shutters as green as ivy.

I took a moment to stop and take in the site. Of course, the lemon-inspired building was individually unique and drastically different than the buildings around it. Yet, to me, its presence didn’t disrupt the visual fluidity of its more neutral surroundings. Rather than standing out from the rest unusually, I perceived the yellow and green building as a refreshingly bold ingredient that has been sprinkled into the grand recipe that is the West Village – adding a surprising sweetness to the neighborhood, as opposed to something random.

Others, however, might behold a different point of view – that this building is bizarre, strange, or odd, simply because it’s different – which is an unfair perception because those qualities rest on the building’s surroundings rather than its own individual identity. If the other buildings around it were painted of vibrant colors too, this particular building wouldn’t be different at all.

But even as “distinctive” and “unusual” are relative, flimsy qualities rooted in contrast and comparison, in my eyes, the yellow and green building embellishes its surroundings and contributes to the charm of the Village because of its uniqueness.

So perhaps we mustn’t think much of those judgments of us, that label us as peculiar or different in comparison to others – because who’s to say? Although being “different” is inevitable in many circumstances, we must remember the yellow and green building in a sea of neutrals sitting proudly on Charles Street: the needle in the haystack, or the sweet lemon in a row of bricks, if you will.

Perhaps if we embrace the qualities that make us unique and colorful and display them with confidence, we can view our differences as enchanting rather than odd, and add our own distinct flavors to the recipe that is life.

132 Charles Street, New York, NY 10014