Just got home and now I will catalogue my embarassment of riches for the evening:

I met Rafael at the gallery he works at on the LES. It’s called Marc Straus after the owner. The gallery was closed and Rafael had work to do so I got a private view of all four floors. It’s so cool that I get to wander around this gorgeous space with fancy schmancy art. That’s a privilege I didn’t expect it n this lifetime.

Rafael hands me a limited edition print of one of the exhibiting artists. So I got an art piece too.

Then Vanessa met us. We talked about art and potential exhibition stuff, using LCD screens and materials that can’t be photographed just to be dicks to the people who take selfies in front of art. Because people who take selfies in front of art are the worst.

We walked to this weed dispensary/zine/bookstore in a basement with four of the biggest broskis and Vanessa talked to them about putting her next zine up on consignment with them. Then Rafael and I asked about the space because we might want to do something there. And then they handed us free joints. I’ve got two in my Gucci Bamboo bag with the limited edition print.

Rafael also donated to Trav’s moving fund.

Vanessa said her goodbyes and Rafael and I continued onto the New Museum to see a single artist’s retrospective. I like looking at objects to see how their made. Rafael likes looking at objects to see how they make him feel. We both like to see how things are mounted and displayed and lit.

We started from the 7th floor and made our way down to the first as the museum was about to close. The exhibit on the first floor had fabric bunched into mountain range shapes and we were trying to figure out what the fabric was without getting too close. We’d already been told by one Museum guard that we were too close to a painting. But the guard on the first floor goes, “Miss…Miss…”

I turn around to see what I‘d done wrong and he says, “You can touch it if you want to. It’s the end of the night and no one’s around. They’re fire blankets.”

We touch them and then ask the guard questions. He entertains us for about 10 minutes telling us how ridiculous Museum patrons are. They don’t respect barricades or gravity (they want to climb over the 7th floor balcony to take selfies in front of the World Trade Tower). And they take soooooo many selfies in front of the art (see, I told you…people who take selfies in front of art are the worst).

I like him enough that I ask him if he liked HiChews. He responds, ”Who doesn’t?” But when I go to give him one, I don’t have any. So embarassing . So I ask him his name and tell him I will come back another day with his favorite flavor (which is anything but banana).

We walk through the museum store and Rafael buys a sweatshirt. And then we get a car back from the gallery to Rafael’s in Brooklyn over the Williamsburg Bridge (LUXURY paid for by the gallery) and I have Abuelita hot chocolate and pasta with Rafael and his boyfriend Charles at their place.

I make Rafael do two spit takes with jokes. And then he calls me a car home. Another luxury. The whole time he’s showing me art books of his favorite stuff.

Also, Rafael curated his bathroom cork board with little art pieces and one of them was a painting I made last year that I ripped out of a sketchbook and gave him last week. He’s displaying my art in his home.

On my way out he gives me an art book to read. And when I got home and checked the mail, ther was a magazine that Celia subscribed me up for.

You guys. I’m such a lucky girl. Happy St. Patty’s.