Chelsea Gallerista

While not technically in Chelsea - more like Midtown - I just attended the massive adult toy ( G-rated) extravaganza, Comic-Con, at the Javitz center. Read about it on my Galfromdownunder Upover blog . It's worth it - there's a movie!

Back in February I blogged about the amazing seed-beaded Munny dolls by Jan Huling . Popping by Lyons Weir Gallery recently I spotted her latest effort - a violin. It struck me that this would make the most wonderful prize for a student violin competition - it's Stradivarius on steroids! To remind you of Janet's original bead-breaking work, here's also a new item in her catalog - a beaded Kewpie doll. I'm just waiting for her to do a beaded Smartcar, then for someone to actually drive it ... or perhaps a beaded bicycle? Read my original post about Jan Huling

Shroomie by Scott Scheidly Twenty years ago, when I was a youngish yuppie of sorts, I bought a couple of paintings by Aussie artist Basil Hadley  for about $2500 each. That was the last time I bought a piece of "original" art and they are now gracing the walls of my ex's home in Sydney.  Admittedly they were, shall we say, "decorative" - unchallenging modern landscapes setting off my black leather sofa and seaweed green carpet beautifully. Since then, pursuing a largely traveling life, I've not been able to collect anything so unportable as art, apart from a very unportable print entitled  Sticks and Stones by (Sisters, Oregon) artist Paul Alan Bennett -  currently parked on the wall of a previous beau in Eugene, Oregon! What is this I have with ex's and art I wonder? But just recently, thanks to the affordable "free look" night at   The Affordable Art Fair in NYC , I bought my first piece of original art, a tiny painting called