Lotus Moment: Life Imitating Art

Why This Is Awesome: Back in mid-September, I braved a trip into New York City to attend a gallery opening at Galleria Ca' d'Oro. It was a small, but delightful space where two-thirds of the attendees spent the event chatting with each other outside and everyone else inside (wearing masks, of course) enjoyed the creative ingenuity of William Sorvillo and Yul Vázquez. The apparent need for face-to-face human interaction as much as dynamically expressive art was not missed on anyone.

On the way back to my car, I made a point to walk slow and take in my environment. I hadn't been in the city since January for an event in the Village, and my plans to celebrate my birthday with a production of The Hangmen on Broadway were derailed by the lockdown. So I was determined to bask in the energy of the city for a little while longer, even if the circumstances were less than ideal.

During my multi-block trek, I passed a few outdoor dining spots, as well as this now-probably overly exposed, but still uniquely powerful mural on the corner of 10th Ave. and W. 18th St. above Chelsea Square Market. Although I typically try to avoid the High Line area for a variety of reasons, I can appreciate international superstar muralist Eduardo Kobra's vision here. It's both engaging and subtle at the same time. You can easily walk past it and not notice it at all, and walk past it and notice nothing else.

Plus here, in the dusky, late summer evening, the pale blue sky at sunset punctuated by the skyscrapers in the background beautifully offsets the colorful lower left side of the image where New Yorkers are also casually making their way home, mimics the blue tones and bright colors of the mural itself, almost as if life is imitating art. A lotus moment indeed.

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Top Image: Mural of Ghandi and Mother Theresa - 10th and W 18th by Candace Nicholson