Female Astride Bike
It was a hot and humid August night and everyone wanted to be outside. The sidewalk in front of Gem Spa at Second Avenue and St Marks Place was thronged well past midnight. You could sense the sun’s heat still in the sidewalk even this late. A crowd was waiting to cross Second Avenue. Two young guys waiting on bikes were eying four young women also waiting. The girls knew they were being looked at. The light changed and they crossed.
“Shall we follow them?” one guy asked his buddy.
“That’s what we’re down here for.”
I don’t know how that episode turned out, but it made a visual impression on me that led to a whole series of paintings involving figures on bikes.
Peggy posed for the painting you see here. She was my student and was seventeen or eighteen at the time. The attitude of the painting is in keeping with the scene I just described. I went on to create a number of figures more stylized than you see here—males and females regarding each other and always a bicycle playing the part connecting the figures.
I’ve had a long love affair with bikes. My first was a tricycle with blocks on the peddles. I used to zoom down the gentle hill on my street and make a sharp right at the bottom. That usually tipped me onto two wheels and it was fun. My first bicycle was a one speed, black and red heavy job. I had training wheels for a week or so. I explored all around the neighborhood with it and one day went miles from home—to visit the train yard where the subways were kept.
In decades of riding I had only one accident. Riding near my home in Brooklyn I was looking up instead of down. I didn’t see the pot hole, the bike collapsed, and I broke my elbow. The pain was terrific but the damage to my arm turned out to be minor.
In New York I’ve had three bikes stolen. But I won’t stop riding. I’ve ridden on quiet farm roads in Maine and in the heavy traffic on Seventh Avenue. Its all been great fun and the best way to see the world.
Filed under: Who bikes NY?
