Contrasts: Is your life full of them?

On my way Uptown to finally take in the posh Hans P. Kraus Gallery show, psyched to see 5- and 6-digit photos from Photography’s Esteemed Past like this:

I got a little dose of reality, in the subway:

The 86th Street Subway Stop of the 6 Train

An ad-hoc contemporary photo show — well, digital printouts — but totally cohesive in content. All for sale, of course.
O-Bar (did I get the name right?) was the African-American artiste in attendance, and he gave me his story of why he makes the work. He was pretty ambitious in his outlook. But would have taken 35 bucks for one image.

I downed two champagne flutes full of Veurve Cliquot at the opening; chatted briefly with a Photo Curator from the Met (who has great taste and is fun to talk to); then went back down to that subway and rode it back to Brooklyn.
No upbeat postscripts here. Just that lingering Recession feeling that pretty much permeates everything I see these days.
The NYC photography market is what it is.
Whatever it is.
Well, at least it is.