Knicks Fever

Our neighbors at Madison Square Garden are having quite the exciting season! For the first time since 1999, the New York Knicks are playing in the NBA Finals, and, along with the rest of New York, we could not be more delighted. Game one was a thrilling win that has us hoping for a sweep. In celebration of their historic run, we stopped by the specially designed Knicks Subway station stairway at Madison Square Garden, planned by the MTA. With basketball-shaped light posts and the team’s signature orange and blue colors painted across the gates, the stairway has certainly brightened our commute. Our office, just a few blocks south of the team’s home arena, is betting on Brunson and gearing up for what is sure to be a fantastic second game tonight. Let’s Go Knicks!

Outdoor Exploration

In celebration of New York Art Week, we explored the latest art installations in the Hudson Yards and Flatiron neighborhoods.

Our first stop was Roberto Lugo’s exhibition “Alfarero del Barrio” or “village potter,” which consists of a larger-than-life orange fire hydrant and a twenty-foot-tall urn, both carved from milled foam. Together, these works celebrate the artist’s Puerto Rican heritage and invite viewers to engage directly with a culture that has a vibrant and enduring presence in New York City.

We then stopped by Hudson Yards to see Brendan Murphy’s newest installation “Love Matters Everywhere,” which features a 12-foot reflective teddy bear, named “Loretta,” and sitting on a nearby bench, a masked astronaut. Murphy explores the complexity and beauty of the human experience, asking onlookers to look directly at themselves as they admire his sculptural work.

Just across the street, we cooled off by the fountains and took in Giangaetano Patane’s “The Last Five Fish in the Sea,” an installation of five terracotta fish, swimming at the base of the fountain’s pool. An intimate and simple portrayal of the sea, Patane’s work offers a calming respite in the middle of Manhattan.

With great art all around, we hope you get a chance to check out some of the ongoing exhibitions and installations!

“The Light That Shines Through the Universe” by Tuan Andrew Nguyen

While on our daily constitutional to take our minds off the ever-changing nuances of immigration law, we came across the brand-new installation at the High Line Plinth. Towering over the High Line Spur stands Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s “The Light That Shines Through the Universe,” a twenty-seven-foot-tall figure in the image of the Bamiyan Buddhas, two incredible statues in central Afghanistan that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 in an attempt to erase the history of religious and cultural congruence in the region. Nguyen’s piece references the iconic sculptures both in form and name, taking the name for his creation from the translation of the nickname for the buddhas coined by local Afghani communities, “Salsal.” Despite these remarkable similarities, Nguyen’s intention is not replication but reincarnation. The sculpture’s radiant gold hands, hovering just beyond the body of the sculpture, symbolize healing and empathy, a way to move forward despite loss.

Although we will miss Iván Argote’s pigeon sculpture “Dinosaur” which guarded the walkway and Tenth Avenue below for the past year and a half, Nguyen’s piece is a poignant reminder of the power of art and memory, and of the importance of nurturing forgotten narratives whenever possible.

 Photos by Laura Romig

Brooklyn Bonsai Bar

This Wednesday, we headed across the East River for a fun and creative evening at the Bonsai Bar event hosted at Farm.One, a unique local venue known for cultivating some of the world’s best salad greens and specialty herbs! Over the course of the evening, our patient instructors Sophie and Daniel taught us the basics of the ancient Japanese art form of bonsai with our own dwarf jade plants. From root pruning techniques to control the plant’s size to the aesthetic principles that allow the young shrub to develop into a small tree that looks wise beyond its years, we were lucky to receive a hands-on introduction to the craft that seeks to capture the beautiful patterns of nature.

After some seemingly aggressive potting and trimming, we began to shape our plants and each bonsai began to take on its own unique character, ready to grow and evolve over time (fingers crossed). We wrapped up the evening with a photoshoot of our creations and headed home with beautiful new plants to brighten both our homes and office spaces. Here’s hoping our bonsai thrive under slightly less supervision than we required that evening.