NYC Artscene & personalities

X Initiative Takes Over at Dia:Chelsea

2009-03-15T11:08:05-04:00

A casual stroll down West 22nd Street yesterday reinforced my theory of infinite recursion in the New York art world. On the east end of the street I saw a gallery has co-opted the spray-painted upside-down cocktail glass of Missing Foundation, the former 1980's East Village punk-cum-violence sensation whereas at the west end I found the newly-reopened Dia:Chelsea in a wonderfully stripped-down version operated by the X Initiative. The vibrancy and creativity of this new collective deserves serious attention, especially at this critical time when the helium has been let out of the hideously overinflated hot air balloon that symbolized art at auction as well as the Chelsea gallery scene. Whereas just last summer you could walk by 548 West 22 Street and see a leasing opportunity sign, and just a few weeks ago you would have been surprised there by the pop-up offices of Ralph Lauren during Fashion Week, now the raw energy that originally symbolized this first outpost of New York art in far-west Chelsea has returned. The non-profit X will exist for one year and present its programming over four phases (one for each season). Site-specific projects, in-depth exhibitions, performances, lectures and weekly events restore the spirit we all came to admire at Dia: currently on the ground floor you'll find Mika Tajima's The Extras, a curious installation combining film set, stage, green room and prop house that play on the irony of unfinished luxury condominiums and scaffolding—which assuredly symbolize the scourge of recent development in far-west Chelsea. On the middle floors, an extensive survery of the videography of Derek Jarman features a number of his rare pieces, a nice revival given the dearth of his work on display in recent years. On the roof, Christian Holstad's Light Chamber (Part 2) offers a clever diatribe on the nexus of war and body modification in American society, featuring a colonic machine, tanning bed, sandbags, war implements and blaring music in the former cafe. Essentially the only visible remnant of Dia is the Dan Flavin untitled light work in the stairwells as the Jorge Pardo lobby work has been covered over. And perhaps that makes sense: covering over the mistakes of recent years that led to Dia's New York demise. As I wrote in this space on December 1, 2006: Saltz makes two key points about Dia that merit more discussion: "Dia has the credibility and pockets to do anything it wants" and "It could even move back into its 22nd Street space." When the renovated space reopened in early 2000—with the bold Pardo project—Dia reinvented itself as the fresh-faced pioneer of Chelsea. As the crowds swelled to bloated Chelsea with its countless galleries, Dia seemed too small; ergo additional renovations allegedly commencing three years ago. Despite the tiny elevator and narrow staircase, the space has worked and could still work—were only the initiative there. Meantime, Dia's permanent Manhattan installations the Earth Room and Broken Kilometer remain open. Even with its presence at the Hispanic Society of America, Dia remains a shadow of its former self. I thought about this while hiking over frozen mud and ice to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty on Great Salt Lake a few weeks ago. The Dia Foundation acquired Spiral Jetty ten years ago, and early last year learned of an attempt by Pearl Montana Exploration and Production to conduct exploratory drilling near the Spiral Jetty. While derelict rigs dot the Great Salt Lake close to the Spiral Jetty, this latest attempt would have overwhelmed the fragile ecosystem. It's worth dwelling on those last two words—fragile ecosystem—for it appears the X Initiative will succeed where Dia left off, chronicling the fragile ecosystem that has become the New York art scene. Stay tuned for X-sponsored March 19 Town Hall Meeting at 548 West 22 Street at 6:30. As I began with my theory of infinite recursion, I close by mentioning X's benefit event for Throbbing Gristle on Friday, April 17th. Seems only fitting that on the same block where a gallery has co-opted Missing Foundation's cocktail glass that the group that inspired Missing Foundation will be fêted. Photo: Sprial Jetty, February 27. Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved.

Tags: christian holstad, dan flavin, derek jarman, dia chelsea, jorge pardo, missing foundation, robert smithson, spiral jetty, throbbing gristle, x initiative

2009 Exhibitions at the Guggenheim

2008-12-22T13:12:01-05:00

Museumgoers have much to look forward to concerning next year's offerings at the Guggenheim, which was recently meticulously renovated. The museum just announced the following exhibitions: THE THIRD MIND: AMERICAN ARTISTS CONTEMPLATE ASIA, 1860-1989 January 30-April 19, 2009 The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989 is an interpretative survey exhibition illuminating the dynamic and complex impact of Asian art, literary texts and philosophical concepts on American artistic practices of the late nineteenth century (ca. 1860-1900), early modern (ca. 1900-1945), postwar avant-garde (1945-1970), and contemporary periods (1970-1989). The exhibition features approximately 250 objects in array of media, including painting, works on paper, books and ephemera, sculptures, video art, installations, film, and a live performance program, representing the work of 108 artists. The Third Mind is a masterpiece show featuring works by canonical and lesser-known figures of the late-nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. The exhibition and related materials trace how the classical arts of India, China, and Japan and the systems of Hindu, Taoist, Tantric Buddhist, and Zen Buddhist thought were known, reconstructed, and transformed by American cultural and intellectual forces. The project examines the history of the construction of Asia as an imaginary, the enduring aspirations to know and internalize Asian art and thought among American and Asian-born artists working in the U.S., and the geopolitical conditions that made America's engagement with Asia unique. The exhibition is organized by Alexandra Munroe, Senior Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The Third Mind is made possible by a Chairman's Special Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Generous support is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, The Rosenkranz Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, and The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and The W.L.S. Spencer Foundation. The Leadership Committee is gratefully acknowledged. THE HUGO BOSS PRIZE 2008 February 6-April 15, 2009 The Guggenheim presents an exhibition of Emily Jacir, seventh winner of the Hugo Boss Prize, an award established in 1996 by Hugo Boss and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to recognize significant achievement in contemporary art. A jury comprising an international panel of museum directors and curators selected Jacir from a group of six short-listed finalists including Swiss artists Christoph Büchel and Roman Signer, Americans Patty Chang and Sam Durant, and Danish artist Joachim Koester. The exhibition will feature selections from Jacir's work which spans a diverse range of mediums including photography, video, performance, and installation-based work-and addresses repressed historical narratives, resistance, political land divisions, movement (both forced and voluntary) and the logic of the archive. This exhibition is organized by Joan Young, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art and Manager of Curatorial Affairs, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT: FROM WITHIN OUTWARD May 15-August 23, 2009 Fifty years after the completion of Frank Lloyd Wright's most iconic work, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation have partnered to develop Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward, an original exhibition which examines Wright's concepts of space and its impact upon the organization of modern life, highlighting the Guggenheim's famed spiral as a culmination of the continuous spatial experiences that defined Wright's 70-year career. The exhibition explores how Wright's forms, designed from within outward, showcase the positive effects that architecture can exert on the human psyche. Through the presentation of over eighty of Wright's projects, from privately commissioned homes to office, civic and government buildings to religious and performance spaces as well as unrealized urban megastructures, the exhibition elucidates his visionary projection of the modern lifestyle-initiating open, communal spaces and stimulating social exchange. It also examines his ability to organically unite people, buildings, and nature in physical and spiritual harmony. Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward will be presented through a range of media including over 200 original drawings, newly commissioned and historic models, one-to-one scale replicas, newly created video and digital renderings, photography, and ephemera such as correspondence and blueprints. The curatorial team includes Thomas Krens, Senior Advisor of International Affairs for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and David van der Leer, Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with Philip Allsopp, President and CEO of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation; Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives; Oskar Muñoz, Assistant Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives; and Margo Stipe, Curator and Registrar of Collections of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. KANDINSKY September 18, 2009-January 10, 2010 No other artist epitomizes the character of the Guggenheim quite like Vasily Kandinsky-his history is closely entwined with the history of the museum and his work has been collected in-depth for the museum's permanent collection since its founding. Presented to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Guggenheim Museum, this full-scale retrospective of Kandinsky's oeuvre is the first in the United States since 1985, when the Guggenheim completed its trio of groundbreaking exhibitions on the artist's life and work in Munich, Russia, and Paris. This presentation of more than 100 paintings brings together works from the three partner institutions that own the greatest concentration of the artist's work in the world: the Guggenheim, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich-as well as significant loans from private and public holdings. Kandinsky offers a chronological survey of the artist's work through a selection of his most important canvases, including examples from his series of Improvisations, Impressions and Compositions, and presents a reexamination of the geographically and time-based periods traditionally applied to his work. The unprecedented collaborative efforts of the Guggenheim, Pompidou, and Lenbachhaus have brought together works that rarely travel and offer new contexts and comparisons for those works that have been apart. The exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum is organized by Tracey Bashkoff, Associate Curator for Exhibitions and Collections, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. ANISH KAPOOR: MEMORY October 9, 2009-March 21, 2010 With the inauguration of the Deutsche Guggenheim in 1997, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Deutsche Bank launched a unique and ambitious program of contemporary art commissions that has enabled the Guggenheim to act as a catalyst for artistic production. Anish Kapoor: Memory is the fourteenth commission project to be completed since the program's inception and is the Guggenheim Foundation's first collaboration with the artist. The commission will travel to New York after its Berlin debut, demonstrating Kapoor's ability to create a site-specific work that engages with two very different exhibition scenarios. Anish Kapoor was born in 1954 in Bombay, India. He has lived in London since the early 1970s and quickly rose to prominence in the 1980s. Best known for his explorations of "the void", and for his use of color and scale, he has redefined contemporary sculpture since then. Memory is a remarkable new work in industrial Cor-Ten steel that transforms the galleries through shifts in physical, mental, and architectural scale. Curated by Sandhini Poddar, Assistant Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. TINO SEHGAL January-February 2010 London-born, Berlin-based artist Tino Sehgal constructs "staged situations" that often defy the traditional contexts of museum and gallery environments, focusing on the fleeting gestures and social subtleties that define lived experience rather than the material aspects of conventional artmaking. His unique practice has been informed by his studies in dance and political economics, yielding totally ephemeral works that consist entirely of the interactions between their participants, and are not documented visually. Organized as part of the Guggenheim's fiftieth anniversary celebrations, Tino Sehgal sets the artist's projects within the museum's Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda, offering visitors a unique opportunity to engage with the architecture as a purely social space. photo: Frank Lloyd Wright during construction of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1959. Photograph © David Wheatley.

Tags: 2009, anish kapoor, frank lloyd wright, guggenheim, hugo boss prize, kandinsky

2009 Exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

2008-12-18T15:53:57-05:00

Museumgoers will eagerly anticipate next year's offerings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first year in the post-Philippe de Montebello era. The museum has announced the following exhibitions: Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna January 21–April 26, 2009 This is the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to European old master and 19th-century drawings from the distinguished collection of Mr. Jean Bonna in Geneva, Switzerland. Many of the 120 drawings on display are masterpieces, ranging through 500 years of art history, from the Renaissance to 1900, and representing a diversity of artistic schools in Italy, Northern Europe, France, and Great Britain, among other regions. The selection includes works by famous artists-—such as Carpaccio, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Watteau, Chardin, Boucher, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Gericault, Delacroix, Manet, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Seurat—as well as superb and poignant drawings by others less well-known. Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors January 27–April 19, 2009 The first exhibition to focus entirely on the radiant late interiors and still lifes of Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), the 80 paintings, drawings, and watercolors on display date from the artist’s later years, when he centered his painting activity in his pink stucco house overlooking the Mediterranean in the village of Le Cannet. Working in a converted upstairs bedroom, Bonnard transformed the rooms and objects that surrounded him into iridescent subjects, remarkable in color, light, and vision. Compelling metaphors for a range of sensations, the late paintings convey a disquieting effect. It is these luminous late interiors that define Bonnard’s modernism and prompt a reappraisal of his reputation in the history of 20th- century art. Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution February 24–May 24, 2009 Beginning in the 16th century, a tradition of bronze sculpture developed in France that was influenced by achievements of the Italian Renaissance but soon revealed its own distinct force, refinement, and panache. Even though French bronzes were among the glories of royal châteaux, including Versailles, and were always collected eagerly by connoisseurs, they have received relatively little public scrutiny. Evolving from a decadelong collaborative study among scholars, this is the first exhibition to address the subject in 40 years. Approximately 110 of the finest statuettes, portrait busts, and monuments proclaim the French genius for bronze from the late Renaissance through the times of Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. Germain Pilon, Barthélemy Prieur, Michel Anguier, François Girardon, Antoine Coysevox, Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, and Jean-Antoine Houdon are only a few of the cavalcade of masters in the exhibition who lent their prodigious talents to this prestigious medium. Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400–1600 March 17–June 21, 2009 This international loan exhibition presents approximately 45 works of art that illustrate the height of artistic production under court and elite patronage during the first 200 years of the Chos_n dynasty (1392–1910), a time of extraordinary cultural achievements. The diverse yet cohesive group of secular and religious paintings, porcelain, sculpture, lacquer, and metalwork highlights the aesthetics, conventions, and innovations of a Neo-Confucian elite and its artistic milieu. This is the first in a series of special international loan exhibitions at the Museum focusing on significant periods in Korean art history. The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984 April 21–August 2, 2009 This is the first major museum exhibition to focus exclusively on “The Pictures Generation.” Born into the media culture of postwar America, this tightly knit group of New York-based artists created some of the most important and influential works of the late 20th century. Their overarching subject was how pictures of all kinds not only depict but also shape reality. Highly seductive photographs by Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman reveal the ways in which images from B movies and magazine advertisements determine much of our sense of who we are. Louise Lawler and Sherrie Levine examine how the myths and legends of modern art are inextricably tied to the institutions of the museum and art history. Also included are photographs by Laurie Simmons, James Casebere, James Welling, and Allan McCollum, as well as works in other media by Robert Longo, Troy Brauntuch, David Salle, Matt Mullican, Jack Goldstein, and Dara Birnbaum, among others. Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom April 28–October 25, 2009 (weather permitting) American artist Roxy Paine (b. 1966) is creating a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless- steel sculpture, especially for the Museum’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. Immersing viewers in what seems to be a cataclysmic force of nature, Maelstrom (2009) is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date. The most recent in a diverse body of work, this sculpture is one of the artist’s dendroids based on systems such as vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia. Set against Central Park and its architectural backdrop, the installation explores the interplay between the natural world and the built environment amid nature’s inherently chaotic processes. The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion May 6–August 9, 2009 Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the 20th century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition, organized by historical period from the early 1900s to 2000, will feature haute couture and ready-to-wear masterworks accompanied by fashion photography and video footage of models who epitomized their epochs. Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective May 20–August 16, 2009 The first major exhibition in New York in 20 years devoted to one of the most important painters of the 20th century, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective will feature 153 works (70 paintings, 19 drawings, and 64 archival items) that span the entirety of the artist’s full and celebrated career. The landmark exhibition and its accompanying catalogue, which mark the centenary of the artist’s birth in Dublin in 1909, will bring together the most significant works from each period of Bacon’s career, focusing on the key subjects and themes that run through his extraordinary creative output. This presentation will afford the most comprehensive examination to date of Bacon’s sources and working processes, offering a reevaluation of the artist’s work in light of a range of new interpretations and archival materials that have emerged since his death in 1992. Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages June 2–August 23, 2009 For hundreds of years before the old masters, medieval artists explored and tested the medium of drawing, producing whimsical sketches, intriguing graphic treatises, and finished drawings of marvelous refinement. Gathering some 70 works from the 9th to the early 14th century, this exhibition will be the first to celebrate the quality and range of drawings from the Middle Ages. Early maps, artists’ sketchbooks, and masterfully decorated manuscripts—rarely seen objects borrowed from European and American libraries and museums—will appear alongside related works in ivory, enamel, and stained glass. African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting June 2–September 27, 2009 The collections of African and Oceanic art in the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, begun in the 1920s by Josef Mueller and continued by Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, represent the culmination of more than eight decades of wide-ranging collecting of works from both regions. Presenting more than 30 highlights from the Barbier-Mueller’s holdings of African and Oceanic sculpture, most never before displayed in the United States, this exhibition will explore a rich legacy of connoisseurship. The African works on view will feature a select group of sculpture and masks from western, eastern, and central Africa. From miniature to monumental, made of wood, ivory, metal, and terracotta, the outstanding African works have been selected to illustrate both the creativity of the continent’s artists and the discerning eye of the collectors. The Oceanic works will comprise an array of rare and spectacular objects exemplifying the breadth of achievement by artists from across the Pacific. They will include a striking group of figures, masks, and decorative art from Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Easter Island, and other areas. Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul June 23–September 20, 2009 Ancient Afghanistan—at the crossroads of major trade routes and the focus of invasions by great powers and nomadic migrations—was home to one of the most complex, rich, and original civilizations on the continent of Asia. This exhibition will celebrate the unique role of Afghanistan as a center for both the reception of diverse cultural elements and the creation of original styles of art that combine multiple stylistic materials—such as the Hellenized examples from the second-century B.C. city of Ai Khanoum, the array of trade goods found in the first-century city of Begram, and the astonishing nomadic gold found in the hoard at Tillya Tepe, which also dates to the first century. It will also commemorate the heroic rescue of the heritage of one of the world’s great civilizations, whose precious treasures were thought to have been destroyed. Among the highlights of the exhibition will be gold vessels from the Tepe Fullol hoard; superb works and architectural elements from Ai Khanoum; extraordinary turquoise-encrusted gold jewelry and ornaments from the tombs at Tillya Tepe; and sculptural masterpieces in ivory, plaster medallions, and Roman glass from Begram. T Augustus Saint-Gaudens June 30–October 12, 2009 The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns some 45 sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848– 1907), the American Beaux-Arts sculptor who worked in New York, Paris, and Cornish, New Hampshire. The Museum’s collection fully represents the range of his oeuvre—from early cameos to innovative painterly bas-reliefs to reductions after stirring public monuments for East Coast cities. Through the lens of the Museum's unparalleled holdings as well as some related loans, this exhibition will offer a reappraisal of Saint-Gaudens's groundbreaking role in the history of late 19th-century American sculpture and the Aesthetic Movement. The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry September 22, 2009–January 3, 2010 On view will be all the illuminated pages of the Belles Heures painted by the Limbourg Brothers in 1405–1408/09 for Jean de France, Duc de Berry. Works of art in other media acquired by the duke and other Valois princes in the opening decade of the 15th century will also be included. Imperial Privilege: Vienna Porcelain of Du Paquier, 1718–44 September 22, 2009–March 21, 2010 The second porcelain factory in Europe able to make true porcelain in the manner of the Chinese was established in Vienna in 1718. Founded by Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier, the small porcelain enterprise developed a highly distinctive style that remained Baroque in inspiration throughout the history of the factory, which was taken over by the State in 1744. Du Paquier produced a range of tablewares, decorative vases, and small-scale sculpture that found great popularity with the Hapsburg court and the Austrian nobility. This exhibition will chart the history of the development of the Du Paquier factory, setting its production within the historic and cultural context of Vienna in the first half of the 18th century. Robert Frank: The Americans September 22–December 27, 2009 This exhibition will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank’s elegiac suite of black-and-white photographs made on a cross-country road trip as a Guggenheim Fellow in 1955–56. The show will feature all 83 photographs published in the compact volume that became one of the medium’s most influential publications. In addition, the exhibition will include a full set of contact sheets, the artist’s earlier essays in sequencing photographs, and his later reuse of iconic images from the series. Watteau, Music, and Theatre September 22–November 29, 2009 The exhibition will demonstrate the place of music and theatre in Watteau’s art, exploring the tension between an imagery of power, associated with the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and a more optimistic and mildly subversive imagery of pleasure, developed in opera-ballet and theatre in the first years of the 18th century. It will show that the painter’s utopian vision was directly influenced by musical works devoted to the island of Cythera, the home of Venus, and to the Venetian carnival, and will shed new light on, and offer new interpretations of, the subjects of a number of Watteau’s pictures. Eccentric Visions: The Worlds of Luo Ping (1733–1799) October 6, 2009–January 10, 2010 Luo Ping was one of the most versatile, original, and celebrated artists in 18th-century China. The youngest of the so-called Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, he was a fiercely independent artist whose works—including portraits, landscapes, and flower paintings—deeply influenced the course of later Chinese painting. Organized by the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, the exhibition, which consists of 37 paintings by Luo Ping, members of his family, and his mentor Jin Nong, is drawn primarily from leading museums in China and will feature a number of National Treasures that have never been shown in the West. American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915 October 6, 2009–January 24, 2010 This loan exhibition of more than 100 masterpieces of American painting explores a major mode of artistic expression from the pre-Revolutionary era to the beginning of World War I: figural scenes of ordinary people engaged in life’s tasks and pleasures. In the exhibition’s first section (ca. 1765–1830), John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Samuel F. B. Morse and others produce evocative portraits that tell personal stories and reflect the shift from colonies to nation. The second section (ca. 1820–1860) includes multi-figured compositions by William Sidney Mount, George Caleb Bingham, Lilly Martin Spencer, and others that help to define national identity and national character. In the exhibition’s third section (ca. 1860–1876), Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Thomas Eakins, and others respond to the Civil War and, going forward, encode Reconstruction and the Centennial in pictures that contribute to healing the nation’s spirit. In the fourth and final section (ca. 1876–1915), Homer and Eakins are joined by John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, John Sloan, George Bellows, and others who respond to new subjects and new expressive modes in an increasingly cosmopolitan age. Arts of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor from the Late Heian through the Edo Period (ca. 1156–1868) October 20, 2009–January 10, 2010 This will be the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai. Arms and armor will be the principal focus, bringing together the finest examples of armor, swords and sword mountings, archery equipment and firearms, equestrian equipment, banners, surcoats, and related accessories of rank such as fans and batons. Drawn entirely from public and private collections in Japan, the majority of objects date from the rise of the samurai in the late Heian period, ca. 1156, through the early modern Edo period, ending in 1868, when samurai culture was abolished. The martial skills and daily life of the samurai, their governing lords, the daimyo, and the ruling shoguns will also be evoked through the presence of painted scrolls and screens depicting battles and martial sports, castles, and portraits of individual warriors. The exhibition will conclude with a related exhibition documenting the recent restoration in Japan of a selection of arms and armor from the Metropolitan Museum’s permanent collection. This will be the first exhibition ever devoted to the subject of Japanese arms and armor conservation. Duncan Phyfe, America’s Legendary Cabinetmaker November 30, 2009–March 7, 2010 Referred to during his lifetime as the "United States Rage," Duncan Phyfe (1768–1854) remains to this day America's most widely recognized cabinetmaker. This will be the first major retrospective on Phyfe since 1922, when the Metropolitan mounted a monographic show on the cabinetmaker and his work. The exhibition will cover the full chronological sweep of Phyfe's distinguished career, including his earliest and best-known furniture based on the published designs of Thomas Sheraton as well as work from the middle and later stages of his career, when he adopted the richer "archaeological" antique style of the 1820s and a refined plain Grecian style based on French Restauration prototypes. photograph © 2008 NYC.com Inc.

Tags: met, met museum, national museum of afghanistan, philippe de montebello, raphael, renoir

Zaha Hadid at Sonnabend and 169 Tenth Avenue

2008-11-02T10:05:45-05:00

A truly exciting exhibition of Zaha Hadid's massive sculptures opened yesterday afternoon, and the two galleries were immediately mobbed with starchitecture fans. Curated by Kenny Schacter/Rove, the works on display through December 13 were orginally architectural commissions. Hadid's astounding vision of urbanism spans the globe, from Istanbul to Dubai to Cincinnati, and her sense of space and movement are utterly astounding. While the recent opening of Hadid's Chanel-sponsored Central Park installation Mobile Art might smack of commercial appropriation of the art/architecture/park space, taken collectively these three New York installations present nothing less than a revolutionary view of how to conceptualize and execute visionary forms. For example at Sonnabend, Relief 1: Domestic takes up an entire gallery wall, a deceptively simple yet amorphous sitting space that expands in multiple directions. Created out of fiberglass and high-gloss lacquer paint finish, at 9'11" x 20'9" x 4'3", this confection is something one has hitherto never seen the likes of. You'll also find a splendid creation, the Kartal Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul, made of polystyrene with polyurethane shell and white matte paint finish. At a massive 10'5" x 37'10" x 14'9", it symbolizes not just the important link between the European and Asian parts of Istanbul. You might think of it as an exploded view of nanotechnology, or perhaps even a masterly synthetic version of the urban space, or even a synecdoche for the great divide between East and West. Hadid's website characterizes it thusly: The fabric is further articulated by an urban script that generates different typologies of buildings that respond to the different demands of each district. This calligraphic script creates open conditions that can transform from detached buildings to perimeter blocks, and ultimately into hybrid systems that can create a porous, interconnected network of open spaces that meanders throughout the city. Through subtle transformations and gradations from one part of the site to the other, the scripted fabric can create a smooth transition from the surrounding context to the new, higher density development on the site. Even more breathtaking is Stalactices, made of fiberglass with high gloss laquer paint finish. At 9'11" x 20'5" x 14', I have never seen a small gallery space so superbly transformed into something so vastly other. Although the sculpture immediately transports the viewer into the underworld of cave spelunking, one does a double-take at the artifice of highly-polished green stalactices, something so incredibly inorganic. To describe it as mesmerizing would be an understatement. I arrived at the Sonnabend gallery while the crew was finalizing the installation and polishing the surfaces; the challenge of preparing and executing such a complex installation was everywhere evident. I felt like a voyeur, truly marveling at a ceiling-mounted sculpture that extends downward nearly to the floor, yet another virtuoso performance of Hadid that very consciously defies gravity as well as our concept of the traditional gallery space. Of course, one frequently sees ceiling-mounted sculpture, that much is not new; but the fluidity and free-flowing nature of this form of Hadid's underscores a sense of functionality and ergonometrics like no other sculptor—or architect, for that matter. At 169 Tenth Avenue—until recently yet another Empire City Subway vehicle depot-cum-warehouse—the massive sculptures and videoscreens (photographed above) seem almost otherworldly. In fact, these highly-polished forms are so fluid and so gigantic they appear at times to float. Their airiness belies their weight and size, and the video projection behind them simply reinforces the brilliance of this Pritzker-prize winning, Baghdad-born genius, who has assuredly earned the title of most admired living architect. photograph © 2008 NYC.com Inc.

Tags: kenny schachter, rove, sculpture, sonnabend, zaha hadid

Guggenheim Hosts Free Day This Thursday, October 30

2008-10-27T12:27:55-04:00

As a special invitation to New Yorkers to celebrate the magnificent restoration of this Frank Lloyd Wright landmark, the Guggenheim Museum will open its doors for a day of free admission this Thursday from noon to 8 pm and will illuminate its facade with a specially commissioned work of art by Jenny Holzer, For the Guggenheim, which illuminates the building's exterior with large-scale texts from poems and the artist’s own writings, from dusk until 11 p.m. We visited the Guggenheim during the recent Open House New York weekend to get an insider's view of the meticulous renovations. NYC.com will subsequently post a detailed photo essay showing behind-the-scenes restoration work. For now, visitors can enjoy the Museum’s newly restored exterior and fall exhibitions: theanyspacewhatever; Catherine Opie: American Photographer; Catherine Opie Selects: Pictures and Words; The Thannhauser Collection; and A Photo Tribute to the Life of Robert Rauschenberg. Audio tours will be available free of charge. photograph © 2008 NYC.com Inc.

Tags: catherine opie, guggenheim museum, jenny holzer, robert rauschenberg

Museum of Arts and Design Opens at 2 Columbus Circle

2008-09-23T11:30:51-04:00

Following its recently-completed renovations, the new Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), will open to the public on September 27. With an impressive 54,000 square feet, this new building offers nearly three times the interior space of the museum’s former incarnation. More importantly, for the first time in its history, MAD now has a space dedicated solely to housing its permanent collection. During a ribbon-cutting ceremony held this morning, Mayor Bloomberg inaugurated the new building along with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn as well as Jerome Chazen, Chairman of the Capital Campaign for 2 Columbus Circle. While exploring the six exhibition floors at the new MAD during a press preview held last week, one was immediately struck by the way natural light bathes the interior artwork without ever competing against it. MAD's new Columbus Circle address affords it the rare New York independent stand-alone location, allowing sunlight to shine in from every direction. And that’s to say nothing of its exterior; the nine-story building, designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Construction, is adorned with iridescent ceramic tiles and strips of glass that allow the exterior to shimmer all around the circle. Within the mirrored, cubic tower you'll find a collection of contemporary art that emphasizes and celebrates the creative process as well as the finished product. While looking at so many stunning pieces, it can be easy to forget that they were once simple, raw materials—and moreover that it took the work and ideas of an actual artist to craft them into innovative works of art and design. To further the museum's mission, the sixth floor is entirely dedicated both housing three artist studios that are open to the public (so that anyone can observe masters in the midst of their craft) as well as to educational workshops. On the lower level, there is also a 155-seat auditorium that will serve as a valuable space for lectures and educational presentations, as well as film screenings. During the museum’s press conference held last week, we previewed the striking new galleries and inaugural exhibitions. "Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary" was among the most impressive. The exhibition features everyday household items transformed into imaginative works of art. Vinyl records are metamorphosed into swarms of butterflies; hundreds of chunky sunglasses compose a chandelier; plastic forks and cotton swabs make up a flower-shaped light installation. It is fascinating to see mundane objects contextualized in such a way that their functionality is all but forgotten in favor of art. "Second Lives" runs until February 15th. MAD’s vast array of jewelry was also among our favorites. As part of their permanent collection, surprisingly enough, MAD houses the only collection of contemporary jewelry in the United States. So aside from Tiffany & Co., this is the best place in town to get your fill of sparkling chandelier earrings and necklaces that defy chunky. In addition to the cases that adorn the walls of the second floor, there are literally dozens of pull-out drawers underneath them, which contain even more pieces—an eclectic array of bracelets, rings and more—in a variety of mediums from wood to bronze and even paper. This strikes us as a really clever, space-effective way to display an incredibly varied collection. As MAD officially opens to the public September 27, admission is free during the inaugural weekend. You can read more about the Museum of Arts and Design here. All photographs copyright © NYC.com. Special thanks to Heidi Riegler.

Tags: 2 columbus circle, Brad Cloepfil, mad, museum arts design, Second Lives

Museum of Arts and Design To Return Soon

2008-09-09T12:31:52-04:00

The Museum of Arts and Design is set to re-open in its new home at 2 Columbus Circle on Saturday, September 27. Fortuitously, MAD will be open to the public for free during its inaugural weekend. Some of the exhibitions on display include Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry and Remixing the Ordinary, which showcases mundane, mass-produced objects transformed into contemporary works of art. Also be sure to look for the performers wearing large, balloon-like sculptures known as "Megamites" (designed by Jason Hackenworth) in the front of the museum during the inaugural celebration. At 54,000 square feet, the new location is triple the size of the museum's old building. Designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works, the museum can now hold its entire permanent collection, as well as variety of revolving, temporary ones. MAD also houses several unique installation pieces, including a ceramic, abstract wall relief by Ruth Duckworth and a stained-glass commission by Judith Schaechter. In keeping with its mission to inform, educate, and encourage artistic exploration, there are several classrooms and studios on the museum's sixth floor, as well as a 150-seat auditorium for lectures, performances and symposiums. Architecturally speaking, the new exterior remains loyal to the boxy original. While it has a more geometric, tiled façade, it still resembles the museum’s old look in a way that’s sure to satisfy preservationists. However, some critics claim the design isn’t bold enough to justify its remodeling. Whatever your opinion on the design, New Yorkers are sure to acknowledge that the new MAD will serve as yet another great artistic space in the city. Admission is $15 dollars for adults and $12 students and seniors; members get in free. For additional information and historic background, do visit the museum's recently-upgraded website. Image © Allied Works Architecture

Tags: mad, museum arts design

Met Holiday Monday

2008-09-01T08:41:32-04:00

One of the many rooms you might enjoy during the holiday opening today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the panoramic portrait of Versailles, shown above in a photograph taken yesterday. Painted at Kingston, New York, and New York City between 1818 and 1819, this seminal work fills an impressive space found between the Temple of Dendur and American Wing. Take along your copy of Richard Brody's Everything Is Cinema, a seminal quasi-hagiography of Jean-Luc Godard, and stand out from the crowd by reading it perched on a shaded bench on the rooftop garden, where you can also enjoy Jeff Koons' whimsical sculptures. Also read our review of the Greek and Roman galleries which undoubtedly will be packed with visitors.

Tags: john vanderlyn, met museum, temple of dendur, versailles

Invader 'Attacks' in New York

2008-08-27T12:10:11-04:00

In recent years, the French artist known as Invader installed a number of intriguing street-art projects he calls attacks in several cities, some of which are still visible here in the Chelsea gallery district. Above (right) the former Heavenly Body Works building on West 22nd Street between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, home now to a Comme des Garçons boutique, you'll find a handsome green Pac-Man ghost made of Rubik's cubes. And a block away (left) at the corner of West 21st Street and Eleventh Avenue you'll find this nice tile Space Invader. Invader first installed some great tile work in 2000 in SoHo and around town. In 2006, Invader installed some massive Rubik's Cube-inspired sculptures around Paris, and you can admire some of his more recent exhibitions on his website.

Tags: comme des garcons, invader, pac man, space invaders

Forthcoming events at Dia

2008-08-17T16:34:51-04:00

While the forlorn Dia flagship at 548 West 22nd Street remains for lease, the appointment of Philippe Vergne as Dia’s new director heralds a new season in hopefully a new direction—any direction would be appropriate. On September 10, both the Broken Kilometer site on West Broadway and The New York Earth Room on Wooster Street re-open. And on Monday, September 15, Robert Buck will lecture on Andy Warhol at the Dia Art Foundation, 535 West 22nd Street at 6:30 pm. Admission is $6; $3 for members, students, and seniors. Tickets are available at the lecture only. Reservations are suggested, please call 212 293 5583. On September 21, Zoe Leonard's "You see I am here after all, 2008" opens at Dia Beacon. Phone (845) 440-0100 or visit Dia's website for more information.

Tags: andy warhol, broken kilometer, dia chelsea, dia foundation, earth room