Friday, June 7, 2013

Mercurial and Inquisitorial.

When everything around you is making you crazy, it's nice to escape into a dream.

Or, in tonight's case, into "Dreamscapes," the name of Ghostprint Gallery's new show which was previewing tonight.

Described as a show demonstrating that you can live with good art and good furniture, it was a beautiful expression of both.

Catherine Roseberry's enamel-painted wood cabinet, "Aerial" had a scene with figures painted on the front, but it was the list of words painted on both sides that caught my eye.

Capricious. Sanguine. Mercurial. Inquisitorial.

Jeremy Witt's silver image print was absolutely compelling, because it was impossible to figure out what I was seeing.

The black, gray and white that made up the image were exquisite in their richness of color but gave no clue as to what they represented, which naturally pulled me in further.

There were plenty of vintage pieces - an antique Parisian bed, a '70s white plaster twisted column lamp, a '50s glass table with seahorses supporting the top- with my favorite being a classical architectural head on a custom stand.

Easily one of the most striking pieces in a room full of unique pieces was Maurice Bean's "Twig Table," painted a heavenly shade of pale green with black forged steel "twigs" that stretched over 3/4 of the drawer as handles.

Walking around the gallery, I saw many favorite artist names from former Ghostprint shows, only this time integrated into tableaux with tables, lamps and other furniture.

Satisfied that the goal of showing how it's done had been achieved in the most charming manner, I left to meet a friend for dinner.

Hey, people gotta eat.

We decided on Lemon Cuisine of India because neither of us had been yet.

At first, we were worried about the lack of Indian customers in the dining room, always a good indicator, but it wasn't long before that changed.

I'd been curious about how the former Byram's had changed to accommodate an Indian restaurant, but while it was less fussy and dated looking, it really didn't seem all that different than my last memory of it, except cleaner.

We began with a bottle of Gruner Veltliner and the Tandoori sampler, with lamb kebab, chicken tikka and mint chicken kebab.

It wasn't long before I heard my name called and turned to find a friend out on a school night.

"Twice in one week!" she boasted proudly, a nod to her early morning schedule and the fact that she knows I'm out every night.

Like us, it was her first visit and she was eager to experience the food, so we hugged and she moved on to the back room, where they apparently put the cool kids.

Meanwhile, we went back to talking about my friend's recent trip to Charleston, the difference in sand at various beaches, the meals, including Hank's, and the relentless rainy weather while there.

The way I see it, a rainy day at the beach still beats a rainy day anywhere else, if you know what I mean.

Having adjusted our taste buds to Indian spice blends, we ordered lamb pasanda, naan and palak paneer, a creamed spinach with homemade Indian cheese and gorged until we had no more room and the dining room was almost empty.

Not sure if that's the Indian way, but it worked for us.

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