untitled (GOYA) 2007

The color and shapes outside the window above the Bowery almost rivaled those inside the gallery, at Thrust Projects last Friday.

Dalí would certainly have been pleased, had he been with us on the sidewalk outside the Chelsea Hotel this afternoon.

untitled (yellow cap) 2007

untitled (blue boat) 2007

I fell in love with many of the older doors (and their portals) in Spain, both for their beauty and for the physical scars which mark their survival. In some of the more ancient examples the wood had been replaced at some point and the original hardware re-installed.

The first three images were taken in Madrid, and the last was in the wall of one of the structures which surrounds the monastery/palace El Escorial.

untitled (floats) 2007

Getaria is an extraordinarily beautiful small Basque town on the Bay of Biscay where we enjoyed a wonderful leisurely lunch on a stone terrace high above the harbor, at a restaurant bearing the improbable name, May Flower [sic].

untitled (dog nap) 2007

I found this shaggy little guy asleep in the middle of Placa Barceloneta Tuesday afternoon.

untitled (skateboarder) 2007

untitled (laundry) 2007

These two shots were taken the same day, the first in El Raval, a neighborhood of Barcelona's Ciutat Vella, near the historic center of the city, the second in Barceloneta, a planned 18th-century barrio barely a stone's throw from the sea.

untitled (gilt holes) 2007

This is a large detail of the arcaded ceiling of the nave of Gaudi's extraordinary Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The backlit holes, haloed with gilt rays perhaps 60 meters above the floor, seem to suggest openings in the heavens, even to an unbeliever like me.

untitled (flames) 2007

Biggest votive candles ever!

These thick tapers (measuring approximately one inch in diameter) were burning inside the enormous Renaisance/Baroque interior of Zaragosta's Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar when we visited the church on Saturday.

untitled (walking sticks) 2007

Spaniards are almost always beautiful, but the older men and women have a kind of grace not found in youth, even the youth of Iberia. Not incidentally, they also dress much better than most of the kids and grandkids.

These three friends were sitting under the portico of a the Plaza Mayor in El Burgo de Osma last Wednesday afternoon.

untitled (roots) 2007

We're having some difficulty getting a decent internet connection, so I haven't been able to upload any of images I would like to have shown here in the last few days. This one was captured yesterday afternoon while we drove through a cloud on our way to the French border. Why France? I suppose because it was there. Today we drove along the coast west of Donostia/San Sebastián. Wow.

untitled (fish eye) 2007

untitled (jamon) 2007

untitled (tabac) 2007

It was obviously the azul hour. We were in Lavapiés tonight, walking down Calle Torrecilla del Leal toward Plaza Anton Martin, when we passed these two wonderful bars.

I took these shots in quick succession, almost impulsively and with uncharacteristic fearlessness (the taller man on the right in the second picture saw me snap the shutter and jokingly held up a small card pretending to block his face).

I had to bring a little bit of this environment home, fearing it might soon disappear forever.

untitled (monster magazine) 2007

It didn't look like they were there to see Felipe III's grand Plaza.

untitled (blue wall) 2007

Actually, it's not easy finding some bright color on Madrid buildings. This small old house near the Plaza de la Paja is a little eccentric, but it also needs a little more care than it's been getting.

untitled (cabbage) 2007

Restaurante El SoPortal displays its wares in the Plaza Major.