Wednesdays with Carol, March 14, 2018

Caftans and Canal Street

We have sun! It's not too cold! I can do a walkabout. I leave my apartment building through our Hester Street Park to Essex Street and head south. I'm in a good mood because I have a free day and the sun is shining. I pass the iconic Dutch Boy Paints sign on Essex. The sky is an Yves Tanguy blue. M. Schames moved their paint store from this building to Delancey Street years ago, but they left the signs, which I love. 

I notice that some jerk has put graffiti

on the paint sign.

 I am walking west on Canal Street. I am sure that I live in New York.

 At the junction where the Manhattan Bridge enters, yes, Manhattan,

I spy this mish mash of architecture.

 First stop, the Canal Street Market, a collection

of small stalls with artisan goods and food counters,

 I really like these sculptural bags from Ashya.

 I meet Juan Vallet, who makes silk scarves

and pillows. He photographs flowers and then

digitally changes them using a kaleidoscope effect.

 Everyone is doing flower shops these days.
The Canal Street Market has this one.

This was my lunch, chicken dumplings from Nom Wah.

Who can resist a little girl with zany pony tails.

A Japanese tea ritual at Izakaya.

My next destination is the Institute of Arab & Islamic Art

where there is an exhibition of the caftans and art by Huguette Caland.

Caland, who was born in 1931 in Beirut, is the

daughter of the first president of the republic of Lebanon. 

In the 1970s she moved to Paris to become

an artist. She created these caftans and also made

drawings and paintings.

Caland met Pierre Cardin in Paris and designed

this caftan for his label. She painted the

motifs on the fabric.

Caland's oil on linen painting of herself and her lover.

Her work has a subtle eroticism.

Caland eventually moved to Venice, California, where she lived

for many years. Now in her late eighties, she has moved back to Lebanon.

A brilliantly colored caftan.

A drawing using line as an evocative tool.

Many of the caftans have drawings on them.

Secret messages are applied to this caftan.

Details on two caftans.

This was a fascinating exhibit of an artist who I had

never heard of and whose eccentric sensibility, which

combines fashion and art, was a delight to view.

The gallery itself, located on Howard Street, is lovely

and lit by sunlight. It's a treasure in lower Manhattan.

The exhibit has been extended to April 18, 2018.

A Bientot.