Penn Represents USA, Topless Times Square Painting, New Museum Gallery Walk

Jeremy Penn "Young American" Painting

BIG NEWS: friend and artist Jeremy Penn will represent the United States of America at The Pan-American Games in Mexico this August. He will be painting a 5’X5′ rose for our nation, one of 42 from around the world. Check out the full press release here. Congratulations on a well-deserved honor for a talented artist.

And, now on to a less savory tale from the streets. On to the show, a trip to Times Square turns into a topless peep show (for the corporate types, definitely NSFW — Not Safe For Work).

Borbay Photos in Times Square

It started out innocently enough: I called artist Paul Zepeda to do some drawing in Times Square. Like all naturalized Manhattanites, I avoid TS like the plague, but this was for a commission.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

A nice clear view of Paul’s sketchbook and some tourists, doing touristy things.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

Good fun times, just a little bit of a sketch.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

Oh wait, what’s this? A guy with a matching shirt and backpack accompanied by two tweens, stripping down across from Toys’R’Us, and, literally, right in front of my view.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

Normally teeny boppers stripping is something one might pay to see, or view for free on the web, but it really was a business trip for yours truly.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

The girl on the left looked at Paul and me while removing her bra and noted, “you guys get to see some free boobies”. This, of course, was a true statement.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

Things were going well for who I later found out was artist Andy Golub and his tween-girl-squad… that is, until…

Borbay Photos in Times Square

Oh snap! The cops squashed his location choice. It’s legal to be topless in NYC, however, if you create a clear and present danger, you can be forced to relocate. Here, a crowd was building in lanes of oncoming traffic, so the cops capitalized on the latter. Now, knowing the law quite well, I would have jumped-in to help a fellow artist, but Golub was video taping his exploits and specifically stated several times his intention to paint in front of Toys’R’Us, so I let him sandpaper away his convo with the Police. After a small amount of griping, he simply moved across Times Square, and we were able to get back to our business.

Borbay Photos in Times Square

Afterward, Paul and I went back to the Upper East to check his new studio… some dope works in the works.


Exhibition Preview: CLIPPED, at Le Salon d’ Art… by Borbay

Finally… tomorrow night, stop by Le Salon D’Art for the Lower East Side Gallery Walk from 6-9PM. Click here to download the PDF Gallery Tour Map. And, I leave you with Andy Warhol’s thoughts on Jasper Johns, thanks to Ari Lankin.

Love them sandwiches.

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