Art World Missed Connections: Wooing With Walton Ford, and More

Henry Peters Gray, The Greek Lovers (1846) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of William Church Osborn, 1902.

After a long hiatus, spent looking for love in all the wrong places, we’ve found our way back to Craigslist’s Missed Connections section, where this week’s postings bring us a pair of stand-out posts, one from Walton Ford‘s just-closed zoological show at Paul Kasmin, and the other from the Cloisters—or, more precisely, the scenic, romantic, and circuitous route leading to the Cloisters. Let’s start with the latter.

In his post “You & your friend Lost in the park on way to The Cloisters Museum – m4w (Inwood / Wash Hts),” a gentleman with a working knowledge of the Lord of the Rings books writes:

I gave you directions earlier today (Thurs) to the Cloisters for you and your friend from Jersey. You were telling me you live in Stuy-Town…and I was enamored w/your eyes.

You: wearing wizard (“Gandalf”) t-shirt and jean shorts
Me: blue t-shirt, hanging out w/dog and some old guy

Between the Gandalf T-shirt and the enchanting eyes, it should be clear to the author that the object of his affection is not an intrepid art-lover, but a high-ranking sorceress en route to the Cloisters to participate in some mystical ritual in its high towers. Proceed with caution.

Way, way downtown, a young fellow visiting Kasmin’s Walton Ford show came away with a greater appreciation for a fellow gallery-goer than for any of the art. The resulting post, “Walton Ford Show – m4w (Chelsea),” reads:

This is a long shot, but my sister and I were at the Walton Ford show at the Paul Kasmin gallery yesterday (Saturday) around 2:30. We were taking pictures of ourselves next to the paintings in the larger room and you asked us to take your photo next to the big, vertical painting of the snake. We left the gallery and were talking about how I might go back to get your number when we saw you on the street and said hi. You were about 5’7″, light brown hair, some geometric looking tattoos on your right(?) arm, wearing summery clothes. You seemed very sweet. Me: 6’0, thin, shaved head, wearing a black t-shirt, khakis, grey sneakers. Maybe we could grab a drink?

The real mystery here, as we see it, is why a woman with a taste for LeWittian tattoos would bother with Walton Ford. Romance will make you do strange things…


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