Our man on the street in New York City, Kosmo Vinyl, recently posted a comment on our blog about the Raymond Pettibon Surfers exhibition at Venus Over Manhattan. 

It's nice to live vicariously through our friends in Manhattan sometimes. Sure, we read about art online at excellent websites such as Artinfo.com, and I enjoy following famed NY critic Jerry Saltz on Facebook - but the personal touch of getting a 'note' from a friend is a fine way to discover a new artist or gallery show I might otherwise miss when scanning the blogs and online art magazines. 

This exhibition, the first ever to be devoted entirely to the California-based artist's 'surfer paintings', closed a few days ago - but you can still view it online. I liked the short video of the installation, and couldn't help notice all the folks sitting around watching one guy work (reminded me of a construction crew), but that's another story. 

Here's what Kosmo Vinyl had to say... 

... Those sage words of advice came from my friend Eric last year, while we were discussing my to-do list... 

Eric, better known as Wreckless Eric, is an ‘antique English pop musician’ who once wrote a song called (I’d go the) Whole Wide World. Considered “one of the great Stiff singles”, it was produced by Nick Lowe for London’s Stiff Records in 1977 and re-released in 2013 on the Ten Big Stiffs compilation. His name may or may not sound familiar, but you’ve probably heard the tune before. Perhaps you know the 2007 cover version by The Proclaimers, or maybe you recall Will Ferrell singing it to Maggie Gyllenhaal in Stranger than Fiction? In his book, A Dysfunctional Success, Eric wrote: