New York Art Collection - Hall Groat

26/11/2025

22/10/2024

This painting of Phoebes in Syracuse, NY, is the fifth of a series exploring public interiors. Local lore claims that the building was originally a bo****lo, and Phoebe was its madam. The tin ceiling above the bar is original to the building and the name still honors Phoebe, and it was in December of 1976 that William Eberhardt opened Phoebe's Garden Cafe with a bistro style menu and an ornately carved wood bar. This space certainly has a long history, like the subject of the interior itself depicted by artists within paintings.

Art critics once referred to this genre as “chamber art,” since the genre often depicts a person’s life through the world of things around them, while philosopher Georg Hegel called the interior “a kind of human clothing”. The genre itself gained popularity at the onset of the 17th century Dutch painting, when the bourgeois created a kind of cult of things and glorified the everyday life of man, often desiring admiration for their prized household items and way of life, like how social media today has become a form of vanity for many.

Would artists like Pieter de H***h and Johannes Vermeer perceive modern everyday life as poetic? Later during the 20th century artists, such as George Tooker and Andrew Wyeth turned “the room portrait” into an allegorical portrait of personality and time. This painting measures 9x12 in. and is in oil on ultra smooth panel.

10/10/2024

Hello 🔵 It’s official. Signed at 2:55 PM. It was even on TV. Mine really turned blue. Don't forget that tomorrow starts the new Facebook rule (aka... new name, META) where they can use your photos. Don't forget the deadline is today!!!

I do not authorize META, Facebook or any entity associated with Facebook to use my photos, information, messages or posts, past or future.
With this statement, I notify Facebook that
it is strictly prohibited to disclose, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. Violation of privacy may be punishable by law.

Here's how to do If you are thinking of getting off FB because of the volume of sales ads and trash stuff. So hold your finger anywhere in this post and click ′copy’. Go to your page where it says ‘What's on your mind?’ Tap your finger anywhere in the blank field. Click paste. This upgrades the system.
Hello new and old friends!

IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!! 👍👊🙏
Hold your finger anywhere in this message and “copy” will appear. Click “copy”. Then go to your page, create a new post and place your finger anywhere in the empty field. “Paste” will appear and click Paste.
This will bypass the system….

He who does nothing consents.

28/09/2024

This recent oil painting of the newly opened Station 45 restaurant in Binghamton, NY, is the fourth of a series. This chic, repurposed space was developed within the iconic, Lackawanna Railroad Station that was built in 1901 with its Italian Renaissance campanile (bell tower), which was once the passenger waiting area of the historic Lackawanna Train Station. This station, along with the Delaware, and Western Railroad passenger station are part of the National Historic Railroad Terminal District.

While painting this piece, I was not only recalling the delicious burger their talented chef had prepared during a visit to see Virgil Cain in concert on their outdoor patio, but thinking about the intense thought, vision, passion and entrepreneurship sprit that went into developing this unique interior space and how it could potentially contribute to the community. The attractive interior merges historic elements, such as the original ticket window and intricate woodwork, with modernized fixtures.

Station 45 is a prime example of 21st century adaptive reuse through preserving the historic architectural value, cultural heritage, transforming urban blight, igniting social change and providing a meaningful link between the past and present. Just down the road, the new SUNYBroome Culinary Event Center within the historic Carnegie Library built in 1910 is another Broome County example.

Similarly, I’m certain many of you are familiar with The High Line in Manhattan, Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, Jægersborg Water Tower in Copenhagen, Denmark, and House of Vans in London. All these spaces are excellent examples of how new life can be infused into historic structures.

Station 45 measures 9x12 inches and is painted in oil on smooth hardboard. We need to preserve and support the small businesses entrepreneurs, opposed to the multinational conglomerates. Community, family, heritage, cultural traditions, freedom, creative thinking and individuality all need to be embraced.

12/09/2024

This new painting of Broadway Diner in Endwell, NY is the second of a series. During a recent trip I had no other option but to purchase meals from a self-checkout kiosk at Panera Bread that was a very unpleasant, impersonal experience. Evidentially, many public institutions (i.e. hospitals) are moving towards these cashless, automated dinning setups. When the iconic red diner stools caught my eyes, I thought these are cool symbols of an era when face-to-face communication was the norm.

26/08/2024

Tomatoes with Copper Creamer, 8x10 in. Oil on stretched Belgian Linen. This type of painting is about beauty and the pleasure of perception. Available