b'attention. Also, now you see the children of thatWhen I studied with him as a kid, I remember generation and it is a totally different world fromhim telling me: Keep your brushes clean. Af-when I began. The New York story is one of so- ter a year, he would throw out the used brushes. phistication and worldlinessthe mix of the na- That was against my nature, so I kept them. tionalities of the worldand there is the play.Now I have a lot of brushes, his and mine.The mix of people and the surrounding skyscrap-ers are just amazingly beautiful! NMO: Have you ever had a moment where youthink,Ihavesolvedit.Iamgoingto NMO: There is a new building going up onmove on to another subject?the skyline. Is that a problem?JKR: No. But I think that when I get too old JKR: Each new addition to the skyline seemsto do this, Ill do portraits. I like portraits. The to bring its own personality. The Time Warnerface is a source of unending interest. buildings on Columbus Circle went up during my tenure. They reflect the sky and the clouds,NMO: Has your own collecting of artwork in-which is lovely.fluenced your art? NMO: Are there any influences for your paint- JKR: No. I think that my art has influenced my ing in the park? collecting. In college I started collecting Old Mas-ter and modern prints. I love prints. I knew that JKR: I think about my uncle Bucks oeuvre ofRembrandts Three Crosses in the fourth state was plein air painting. And that is in fact what Ia great moment in the history of printmaking, and doit just occurred to meexcept we differ inI sought to own a good one. Some of Rembrandts that he considered the plein air painting to bemost important prints have a lot of faces portrayed. an end in itself, and I consider it to be a sketchThisisanincredibleaccomplishment!Itryto for the subsequent studio distillation in the bigdraw every face in the park each day that I am oil paintings. Buck painted outside in Brittany.there. How to do all those faces as he did? Hewouldgooutpainting,likeMonet.He went to France during World War I and stayedNMO: Do you look at the works in your col-for a number of years, and then he left in 1936.lection from time to time as reference?'