The first thing I noticed

The first thing I noticed when I climbed the stairs out of the union sq. subway station on 16^th st into the cool fall late morning was how quiet it was. The light was gorgeous and  everything stood out, the few people wandering around, the buildings and the fall foliage of the Union Sq. Park. This was my first trip to the city from my apartment of isolation in Brooklyn since March and I was nervous as hell. I was going to go to the Whitney to see two shows of interest, the Mexican Mural show and the paintings of the lost but now found Agnes Pelton. The subway to the city was not crowded at 10 in the morning and I was able to get a corner seat where I would be left alone. If anyone sat next to me I would get up and move. Everyone was wearing masks except for one fool who got on in downtown Brooklyn.  He was far enough away from me, but I was still annoyed with him for his reckless stupidity and lack of compassion. Crazy? Homeless or just  plain selfish. I walked. I decided to walk to the Whitney from Union Sq. after stopping off at Barnes and Noble and Blick Art Suplies. Both stores seemed sad and depleted to me, actually the whole city seemed sad and depleted even in the crisp golden air and light. I walked along familiar streets that seemed cleaner than ever, and mostly devoid of people except for the dog walkers, all of us masked like in a sci-fi movie after some big disaster. I finally got to the Whitney a little early for my arranged ticketed time so I rested on a chair outside the immense building waiting for my allotted time to enter to arrive. I should have started with the large Vida Americana Mexican Muralists show but instead took the small elevator up to the top floor to look at the Agnes Pelton show of mostly mystical and fantastical paintings that had the appearance of animation cells from the 30’s and 40’s. Light and airy and  happy that this forgotten artist is finally getting her due. By the time I reached the Mexican show, I was exhausted and weary with art fatigue and tired from walking down the 8 flight of stairs. I pushed on and slowly moved through this massive gorgeous show, but wish I had as I said started with this exhibition first. The galleries were very sparse, people wise, which made viewing easy enjoyable. I made my way to the crosstown 14^th street bus to ride it to Union Sq. no more walking for me, and made my way back to Brooklyn. My first foray into my city after nearly seven months. I will return.