Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 06/15/2013

This month, Jeff Koons.  Everywhere.

Jeff Koons at Gagosian

Hulk (Wheelbarrow), 2004–13. Polychromed bronze, mixed media and live flowering plants, 68 x 48 x 84 in. Photo by Rob McKeever, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Photo by Rob McKeever, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Ranging from Greek Antiquities to more recent culture (viz Hulk, pictured), begin your Koons-a-rama experience at the Gagosian.  Closes July 3.

Gagosian Gallery
555 West 24^th St. (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(212) 741-1111
www.gagosian.com

Jeff Koons at Zwirner

Apparently Koons is spreading the love.  Gazing Ball closes June 29.

David Zwirner
525 West 19^th St. (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(212) 727-2070
www.davidzwirner.com

NYC, c. 1985

Janet Delaney. Manhattan Bridge, 1985. 20 x 16 inches, sheet, 15.5 x 15.5 inches, image

We’re suckers for anything that tells a story about the city. This group show, which closes July 3, includes photographers like Janette Beckman, Nan Goldin, and Mark Morrisroe and their photos from (you guessed it) 1985.  No Jeff Koons here, by the way.

Clampart
521-531 West 25^th St. (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(646) 230-0020
www.clampart.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 06/01/2013

BOS is the BOSS

Photo courtesy of Bushwick Open Studios

While we are ordinarily partial to galleries and studios in Chelsea, this week is all about art in Brooklyn. Open any publication this weekend: Bushwick Open Studios is everywhere.

But really it is in Bushwick, where, according to our friends at Hyperallergic, 604 studios, shows and events will take place over a few short days. Hyperallergic has a dandy guide to help you navigate, and Arts in Bushwick has one-upped them with this comprehensive website featuring (ahem) 627 shows.  (For those planning on an extended tour, there is, of course, an iOS app.)

May 31 – June 2
Bushwick Open Studios
Bushwick
Subway: C or E to the L (Morgan Ave.)

http://artsinbushwick.org/bos2013/

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 05/15/13

International Contemporary

Photo courtesy of Jacob Jarvis Center

500+ exhibitors showing the latest designs in furnishings.  If you are not in the trade, you may visit on one day only: Tuesday, May 21.  Tickets are $60.

ICFF
Jacob Javits Center
11^th Avenue (38^th St.)
www.icff.com

Shakespeare

If it’s summer, it must be Shakespeare.  In the Park, that is.  The season kicks off May 28 with The Comedy of Errors. Free, but you need tickets (instructions on website below).  Bring a picnic.

Shakespeare in the Park
Delacorte Theater, Central Park
125 West 18^th St. (between 5^th & 6^th Aves.)
www.shakespeareinthepark.org

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 05/01/2013

Walking

Hard not to notice that it is pleasant to be out of doors. Make the most of being right here in Chelsea’s gallery district by exercising a bit of shoe leather.

Passport to the Arts

The New Yorker has rounded up a full complement of art, entertainment, and culinary delights to entertain you for all of Saturday, May 4^th. Organize your day around “Passport to the Arts,” which involves an actual passport of sorts. As you make your way around the Soho and Chelsea art worlds, your passport will be adorned with cool stamps designed by real live artists for each gallery you visit on the tour.

Apparently something unusual happens at the McKittrick Hotel , too.

The day wraps up at Hudson Studios with a party & silent auction.

$55 each or two for $99

Passport to the Arts

http://passport.newyorkeronthetown.com/

Passport to Pulse

Pulse New York is an art fair featuring contemporary art (its sister show takes place in Miami). Browse offerings from noted gallerists such as Eric Firestone and Galerie Wittenbrink.  May 9-12.

Pulse Art Fair
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18^th St. (between 5^th & 6^th Aves.)

http://pulse-art.com/new-york/

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 04/15/2013

Your Spring Concert Guide

Spring has got us rubbing our eyes and coming out of hibernation, and what better way to celebrate than with live music? Here are the best upcoming downtown shows for your listening pleasure. Buy your tickets now.

Cold War Kids

The Cold War Kids have been around for a while, but if you haven’t seen them live, you should. Their passionate and raw rock will inspire a lot of jumping, while slower, verging-on-eerie songs like “Pregnant” will give you chills. Saturday, April 13^th at 6 p.m. ($25)

Reason To See Them: “Something Is Not Right With Me”

Webster Hall
125 East 11th St. (between 3^rd & 4^th Ave)
(212) 353-1600
websterhall.com

Memory Tapes

Get ready to fall into a trance and figure your whole life out while experiencing an intense non-drug-induced body high at the Memory Tapes show. Dayve Hawk’s layering of funereal melodies with electronic and dance beats makes for a gratifying, all-encompassing experience. Sunday, April 14^th at 9:30 p.m. ($12).

Reason To See Them: “Bicycle”

Mercury Lounge
217 E. Houston St. (between 1^st Ave. & Avenue A)
(212) 260-4700
mercuryloungenyc.com

Phosphorescent

Phosphorescent seems fitting as singer-songwriter Matthew Houck’s chosen epithet. His folksy, somber-yet-uplifting tunes and engaging stage presence might make you see fireworks. Thursday April 18^th at 8 p.m. ($15)

Reason To See Them: “Wolves”

Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. (between Chrystie St. & the Bowery)
(212) 533-2111
boweryballroom.com

The Thermals

The Thermals were the perfect post-pop-punk soundtrack to my angsty teenage years, and trust me when I say nothing has changed. Go see these lo-fi heavy rockers to indulge your inner irreverent, head-banging rebel. Tuesday and Wednesday May 28^th & 29^th at 8 p.m. ($16)

Reason To See Them: “No Culture Icons”

Bowery Ballroom
6 Delancey St. (between Chrystie St. & the Bowery)
(212) 533-2111
boweryballroom.com

The Antlers

The Antlers. Oh, The Antlers. “Hospice” is a concept album about a hospice worker and his love for his dying patient, and if that doesn’t melt your heart then the vocals will. The piercing effect of their music can be summed up in Peter Silbermann’s multiple-octave jump in “Epilogue.” Wednesday, June 12^th at 8 p.m., ($20)

Reason To See Them: The entire “Hospice” album, but especially “Epilogue”

(le) poisson rouge
158 Bleecker (between Thompson & Sullivan)
(212) 505-3474
lepoissonrouge.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 04/01/2013

Cool Tools for Art Fools

Take advantage of warmer temps and hit the art trail. If you are the planning-ahead type, check out these apps and websites that offer a great way to plan a day of artful joy right here in the neighborhood.

Art Cards

Photo courtesy of Art Cards

Art Cards has a straightforward interface that makes it easy to select exhibition destinations from a comprehensive list. Users can navigate by neighborhood and select from a list of events & openings or a list of ongoing shows. Selections move to the user’s personal list, which can be exported to a printable map or an email.

This is a great site for creating a hit list of galleries you want to be sure to see.

Love:

• easy to share selections with a friend via email
• also works in San Francisco, Berlin, Miami, London, & L.A.

Love less:

• not much to help guide selections other than an “editors pick” signifier

Art Cards
www.artcards.com

Chelsea Gallery Map

Photo courtesy of Chelsea Gallery Map

Chelsea Gallery Map also has a side-by-side interface, but in this case the site pairs an interactive map with a list of galleries and their current exhibitions. Navigation occurs in two ways:

1. If you want to focus your art tour on, say, a single block, hover over the colored squares signifying galleries on the map side of the screen and basic details of each gallery will appear.
2. Click on a gallery on the other side of the screen and the location is highlighted on the map side, pointing you to your destination.

Chelsea Gallery Map is quite useful if you are new to Chelsea and want to scout a few gallery stops within a fairly circumscribed area.

Love:

• mousing over a bird’s eye view of a dense block of galleries

Love less:

• design of the exhibition list is tired and cluttered

Chelsea Gallery Map

http://chelseagallerymap.com/

NY Art Beat

Photo courtesy of NY Art Beat

The NY Art Beat app is available for both iOS and Android and is super handy both for planning and for on-the-go.  Users can navigate by geography—down to specific blocks in Chelsea, media (create your own ceramics-only art tour), and “smart lists,” which include obvious categories like “Closing Soon” and less obvious ones like “For Kids Too.”

Love:

• well, a mobile app is awfully handy
• reviews and other content integrated into site (but not app)

Love less:

• a bit more editorial (e.g., ten best shows to see now) would be awesome, but we are not really complaining—this is a solid app

NY Art Beat

http://www.nyartbeat.com/

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 3/01/2013

ARTS & CULTURE

Starkness Falls

Lots of worthy exhibitions this week.  But what caught our eye were the stark images in these two shows.

Nicolai Howalt & Trine Sondergaard

Boxer #16, 2001, analog c-print, 56 1/4 x 46 1/2 inches (photo courtesy of Bruce Silverstein Gallery)

Denmark is hot right now. A warm New York welcome, then, to Nicolai Howalt & Trine Sondergaard, artists who work together and separately, both with photography as their primary medium.

Images from their best-known joint project, How to Hunt, are massive time-lapse landscapes of Danish hunting grounds. Boxers, pictured above, shows before-and-after photos of young boys at the moment of their first fight. Most of the images (even the joint project Dying Birds) have a documentary feel that only heightens the feeling of melancholy.  Go on a sunny day so you can lighten your mood afterward.

Through April 13.

Bruce Silverstein Gallery

535 West 24^th St.
(212) 627-3930

www.brucesilverstein.com

Silke Schoner

Rehearsal II, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 28 inches, courtesy of Dillon Gallery

Silke Schoner’s paintings are fascinating because of what’s not there. Her use of white space intensifies the focus on a particular moment or slice of landscape. With noisy backgrounds and foregrounds cut away, we look more intently at what remains.

Through March 10.

Dillon Gallery

555 West 25^th Street

(212) 727-8585

www.dillongallery.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 2/15/2013

One Block, 3 Must-See Shows. Really.

Photo courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Jean-Michel Basquiat
Gagosian Gallery
555 w. 24 St.
NY NY 10011
212 741 1111
www.gagosian.com

Through April 6

This is the blockbuster must see show, a museum-quality retrospective in the biggest blue chip gallery on the block. Jean-Michel Basquiat was 28 when he died but he produced a massive body of work. Did it live up to the hype over the last 30 years? The answer is a resounding YES, as this show demonstrates. The colors, the primitive use of graffiti, the images that reference Charlie Parker, Cassius Clay, Sugar Ray Robinson, all look just as fresh as they did when they first started making waves and seeing this many pieces in one show is a real treat. The work is acerbic, witty, angry and ultimately beautiful. Warning: Thursday nights are packed. Last week the line snaked half way up the block. See it on a weekday afternoon if possible.

Photo courtesy of Luhring Augustine

Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors
Luhring Augustine
531 W. 24 St.
NY NY 10011
212 206 9100
www.luhringaugustine.com

Through March 16

In a beautifully decaying 200-year-old upstate farmhouse, this Icelandic artist assembled a group of 9 musicians to collaborate on an emotional and moving piece of music based on ABBA’s last album, The Visitors. Each musician is shot in one room and shown on 9 different screens in the gallery but held together by the soundtrack. It’s a highly-styled video performance piece that runs the emotional gamut from melancholy to pure joy. I stayed for the full 53 minutes and left with a feeling of pure pleasure, an exhilarating sensation that most theater, art or performance rarely achieves.

Photo courtesy of Paper & String

Marco Brambilla: CREATION (megaplex)
Nicole Klagsbrun
532 W. 24^th St.
212 243 3335
www.nicoleklagsbrun.com

Through Feb 23

If you’ve seen Kanye West’s “Power” video, you’ll recognize Brambilla’s touch. If you don’t, get ready for a spectacular visual treat. As soon as you put on the 3D glasses and sit down, you’ll feel like you fell down the rabbit hole. Assembled from hundreds of film clips, Creation [megaplex] is a swirling spiral that somehow encompasses the creation of the universe, the big bang, the id of every Hollywood animator, plus cameos from Julie Andrews, Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey. Impossible to explain but compelling to watch. And don’t worry: If the words “video installation” scare you, rest assured there’s nothing pretentious about Creation. It’s beautiful fun that leaves you scratching your head, asking, “How’d he do that?”

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 02/01/2013

Fashion Week

Visiting New York in early February? Brace yourself for an onslaught of fashion–you will feel the vibe right here in the hotel. That’s right—it’s Fashion Week.

The most anticipated shows this year: Thom Brown, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs, and Alexander Wang.  Needless to say, shows are invitation-only.

If you are not on the invite list, you will have to get creative. Best way to guarantee your brush with real fashionistas: head north to Lincoln Center, blanketed not with snow but with tents. It is just the spot to people-watch (indeed, you may fight for space with fashion bloggers), and do a little Instagram scavenger hunting for

·        The Highest Heel

·        The Thinnest Model

·        The Most Outrageous Outfit

·        The Most Outre Eyewear

While you are in the Lincoln Center neighborhood, consider taking in a performance. Michael Mayer’s Rigoletto, set in Vegas, has some buzz and if your timing is right, you can catch a free film.  For additional offerings, click the link below.

Lincoln Center

Columbus Avenue between 65^th & 68^th Streets

(212) 875-5000

http://lc.lincolncenter.org/

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 1/15/2013

Getting Small

In a city where big competes with big, a dose of small can be refreshing. Below, a collection of tktk

Airswimming

Photo courtesy of the Irish Repertory Theater

Airswimming is a tiny play: a cast of two, in a theater of modest proportions, and a topic that is easily swept under the rug. It is about two forgotten women, locked up for decades in an asylum in England for transgressions including an out-of-wedlock birth.  Dora and Persephone use alter egos, Dorph and Porph, to manage the sadness and solitude.

January 9 – February 3.

Irish Repertory Theater
132 West 22^nd St.
(212) 727-2737
www.irishrep.org

Fashion & Technology

Photo courtesy of The Museum at FIT

Among the city’s splendid small museums is the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and fashion lovers rave about the Museum’s deep focus on particular topics (Shoes, for example, opens in February). Admission is free.

The museum also has a terrific trove of online collections.

through May 8

The Museum at FIT
Seventh Avenue at 27^th St.
www.fitnyc.edu

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 1/1/2013

ARTS & CULTURE

New Year’s Resolutions

What to see in Chelsea this month? Here is a list of upcoming exhibitions that are worth adding to your list of resolutions.

McDermott & McGough: Suspicious of rooms without music or atmosphere

No Tomorrows 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches (photo courtesy of Cheim & Read)

Nothing like a new year to spur a meditation on the nature of time. If you are the visual artist team McDermott & McGough, however, you have already spent a lifetime on the topic. For the fifteen years beginning in 1980, both artists dressed and lived as if it were 1910, and their world consisted of detachable collars, candlelight, and 19^th century photographic techniques.

McDermott & McGough have now fast-forwarded forty or fifty years.  Their new exhibition at Cheim & Read, McDermott & McGough: Suspicious of rooms without music or atmosphere, captures flashes of deep emotion from movie stills of the late 50s and early 60s. Many of the works juxtapose multiple images, prompting the viewer to puzzle out the connections in a moment of high drama.

January 17 – February 23.
Cheim & Read
547 West 25^th St.
(212) 242-7727
www.cheimread.com

David Shrigley: Signs

Photo courtesy of the Anton Kern Gallery

David Shrigley is a deadpan observer of the mundane, and he turns his talent for wordplay to an exploration of the semiotics of signs in a new exhibition at the Anton Kern Gallery. This is serious art but, yes, you are allowed to laugh.

January 10 – February 16
Anton Kern Gallery
532 West 20^th Street
(212) 367-9663
www.antonkerngallery.com

Marina Zurkow: Necrocracy

Photo courtesy of bitforms

No, it is not about zombies. The dead things hanging over Zurkow’s Necrocracy are long-gone microorganisms that became oil. Zurkow’s exploration of the petrochemical industry ranges from animations that reference issues like fracking to a set of soft sculptures made of Tyvek (yes, it’s oil-derived) that feature images (The Petroleum Manga) of everyday objects made from petroleum.

January 10 – February 16
bitforms
529 West 20^th Street
(212) 366-6939
www.bitforms.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 12/15/2012

Art Takes a Holiday

There is something kind of awesome about visiting museums in the city in the holiday limbo between Christmas and New Year’s.  Yes, it is crowded, but the vibe is a rare one, relaxed and convivial and delighted. Those cooped up with relatives are happy for an escape, out-of-towners are reminded of the glory of New York, and the city’s long-timers remember some of the reasons they moved here (or stayed here) in the first place.

We will return to our observations of Chelsea galleries in the New Year.

Pop Goes the Whitney

If your holiday season has been bursting with material bounty, head for the Whitney, where you can meditate on how blasé you have become about ordinary objects and images.

Richard Artschwager spent part of his career as a furniture-maker, and his sculpture (Description of Table) calls attention to how easy it is to take for granted objects we see every day. Artschwager’s paintings of buildings being demolished convey a similar message: after all, don’t we all ignore the buildings we pass every day until they are gone?

If you need more perspective about the impact of the ordinary, Pop Art is a great big smack on the head.  The Whitney has two Pop exhibitions, Sinister Pop and Dark and Deadpan: Pop in TV and the Movies, and they both explore the darker side of commercial and pop-culture images.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
(212) 570-3600

http://whitney.org/

Feminism at the New Museum

Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos explores the German artist’s work over decades, including her “knitting” sculptures from the 80s that paired the domestic with other disciplines and, for a time at least, grouped her with artists focused on feminist issues. A goodly portion of the exhibition, however, is devoted to “individuals not normally recognized as professional artists,” including artists whose work in botany and zoology went largely unrecognized and with whom, presumably, Trockel feels some connection.

Speaking of feminism, don’t miss Judith Bernstein: Hard if your plans include the New. Bernstein makes being an artist look awfully fun, what with her bold and graffiti-esque pokes at machismo.

The New Museum
235 Bowery
(212) 219-1222
www.newmuseum.org

Moving Pictures at MOMA

Wow, there is so much going on at the Museum of Modern Art that you could spend the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s and never leave the building.  If forced to prioritize, though, here are a few picks, both focused on the moving image:

Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets. Uh, right. This is a big retrospective of the Quay Brothers, who have been making indecipherable films since the early 70s. The surreal has a starring role here: watch this for a creepy-but-gorgeous sample. Surely Tim Burton is a fan.

Goldfinger: Design of an Iconic Film Title.  Design aficionados will cheer the news that a film title sequence has been made part of MOMA’s collection.  James Bond fans will love seeing the opener that defined the franchise’s look for the next 40 years.  Film fans will appreciate the inventiveness of projecting iconic movie snippets onto the body of a provocatively posed female figure. Good times all around.

Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
(212) 708-9400
www.moma.org

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 12/01/2012

ARTS & CULTURE

Your correspondent almost always writes about galleries in this blog¾after all, some of the world’s most notable art is on display just steps from the hotel’s front door. But since there is a bit of a lull this time of year as the art world heads to Miami Basel, let’s spend a moment on another art form: books.

More than 192 Books

This superb book shop feels more like the private library of someone with great taste in literature. It’s light and airy with big windows and floor to ceiling shelves lined with books, yet it never feels overwhelming. There’s a kids’ table in one corner, plus a great photo and design section.

192 Books reflects the reading taste of its owners, gallery owner Paula Cooper and her husband, Holt editor Jack Macrae. The large selection of art books and literature in translation is also excellent. Occasional exhibitions and a fine reading series complete the bill.

This season, look for gorgeous books from Penguin. This major publisher seems to be on a mission: making the book worth buying for the cover alone.  Penguin has paired noted artists like tktk with classic title Alice in Wonderland, and Penguin’s new editions of other classics may make you want to chuck your Kindle.

192 Books

190 Tenth Ave (between 21^st & 22^nd Sts.)

(212) 255-4022

www.192books.com

Print that Matters

Printed Matter has appeared in this blog before, but it is worthy of another mention for the holidays. From the lofty to the bizarre, Printed Matter’s selection of art books could contain your gift for the difficult person on your list. Featured now: a Jenny Holzer wood postcard (“The Beginning of the War Will Be Secret”) for $5.

Printed Matter

195 Tenth Ave (between 21^st & 22^nd Sts.)

(212) 925-0325

www.printedmatter.org

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 11/15/2012

Back in Action

There are still far too many galleries with signs like these. The Hotel Americano is helping to support the relief effort.  Details below.

Cocktails for Good

Paul Kasmin Gallery, Artspace.com, and the Hotel Americano have organized a cocktail party this Friday to benefit the Art Dealers Association of America Relief Fund. The party will be at the hotel, and you can learn more and RSVP here .

Also on offer to benefit the fund are limited edition prints based on William N. Copley’s Think (Flag). The prints are $200 on Artspace.com, and 100% of the proceeds will go to the fund.

The Hotel Americano

518 West 27^th Street (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)

(212) 525-0000

www.hotel-americano.com

Robert Kushner: New Paintings, New Collages

Robert Kushner, Homage to Leon Bakst, 2011 Oil, acrylic, and gold leaf on canvas, 36 x 72 inches

Bravo for openings of new exhibitions—we will never take them for granted again. Cue Robert Kushner, whose paintings take cues from centuries of ornamentation.  Certain works looks like a merger of traditional Japanese painting and William Morris, with a smattering of Klimt—and it flows together seamlessly.

Through January 3.

D.C. Moore Gallery

535 West 22^nd Street (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)

(212) 247-2111

www.dcmooregallery.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 11/01/2012

Darkness Falls

In the aftermath of Sandy, many galleries and theaters looked like the square above.  The city that never sleeps was forced into slumber.

As the neighborhood wakes up, we recommend visiting these nearby exhibitions, many in galleries that were closed for days.

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams

Image via rare-gallery.com

Well, the title seems timely, doesn’t it, in a neighborhood wracked by Sandy?  Artist Nathan Ritterpusch’s paintings depict raw emotion in the middle of mod California-ized settings. Most of the subjects are women, and scenarios that could appear melodramatic are reined in by their stark expressions of desolation and lurid sorrow.

The exhibition is the first in a series entitled The Brunette, The Blonde, and Their Mistress.  Through November 8.

RARE Gallery
547 West 27^th Street (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(646) 339-6050
www.rare-gallery.com

CORED: Paintings by Catherine Tafur

The Assassination of Osama bin Laden, oil on canvas, 52” x 72”

News junkies may be intrigued by Catherine Tafur’s interpretations of current events. She puts a surreal spin on events that felt, at the time, truly surreal. Her paintings also point out the archetypes that help us explain traumatic events to ourselves.

Through November 24.

Porter Contemporary
548 West 28^th Street (between 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(212) 696-7432
www.portercontemporary.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 10/15/12

Serial Killers, Up Close and Personal

Do Ted Bundy, the Zodiac Killer, and Jack the Ripper ring a bell? If you like your culture extra frightening this time of year, visit “Killers: A Nightmare Haunted House” on the Lower East Side.  It brings serial killers to life, thanks to the efforts of a team of set designers, directors, artists, and actors.

First stop is a Serial Killer Gallery filled with media coverage and memorabilia about some of the grisliest murders in history.  With historical context in place, visitors move on to a series of re-enacted scenes in settings elaborately designed to depict the settings where the killings took place.

The production runs through November 3^rd.  Tickets are $30 online, $35 at the door.

Photograph courtesy of www.hauntedhousenyc.com

Killers: A Nightmare Haunted House
Clemente Solo Velez Cultural Center
107 Suffolk Street (between Rivington & Delancey Sts.)
www.hauntedhousenyc.com

Ha Ha Ha! You’re Killing Me!

If you like your spookiness with a side of laughter, improve shop National Comedy Theater puts on a Halloween Spooktacular on the weekend before the big day.  Described as Friday the 13^th-meets-Whose Line is it Anyway, you may die laughing.

Friday, October 26, and Saturday, October 27, 7:30 and 9:45p, $15.

National Comedy Theater
347 West 36^th Street (between 8^th & 9^th Avenues)
(212) 629-5202
www.manhattancomedy.com/spooktacular.html

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 10/01/12

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 09/15/12

Hello and welcome to history. Our take on the new crop of shows this week is that they are brimming with the past, no matter how modern the look.  Read on for details of a few new and noteworthy shows.

Stephen Powers: A Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures

Stephen Powers’ work is a collision of verbal and visual puns, with a debt owed to the modern rebus.  But the puns could ring hollow without some quirky delivery, and Powers’ retro style, reminiscent of 1960s outdoor signage and indoor board games, sets the mood.

Joshua Liner Gallery
548 West 28^th Street
3^rd Floor
(212) 244-7415
www.Joshualinergallery.com

Asuka Ohsawa: Space Invaders: Genesis

Beautiful mashups from outer space? According to the press release, Ohsawa is deeply interested in anime and manga. But we are equally intrigued with the way she draws on traditional Japanese painting and tells stories that draw on the imagery of Indian mythology.

Nancy Margolis Gallery
523 West 25th Street
(212) 242-3013
nancymargolisgallery.com

Ella Costan Toth: Recent Paintings

Toth’s portraits show iconic stars from the 1950s and 1960s adorned with borrowed finery: a vinyl veil for bride Ronnie Spector, a Cleopatra headdress for James Dean.

Chashama 303
303 10th Avenue
(212) 361-8151
www.chashama.org

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 09/01/12

Climbing out of the heat of August—the slowest month in the gallery world—Chelsea is gearing up for a big, art-filled fall. Below, some shows we’re excited for, all opening this week on September 6th. Go forth! Drink wine! See art!

Carolanna Parlato: Behind the Sun
Big, bright, color-streaked abstracts from American painter Carolanna Parlato. Runs from September 6th – October 6th

Image: Above and Below, 2012, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 52” x 55” (Courtesy of the artist and the Elizabeth Harris Gallery

Elizabeth Harris Gallery
529 West 20th St. (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-463-9666
www.eharrisgallery.com

Eva Zuckerman
Zuckerman explores wrestlers in her latest series – painting in aggressive, action-packed strokes. Runs from September 6th – October 20th.

Image: Slam! (2010) Enamel on Canvas 48h x 72w in (Courtesy of the artist and the Morgan Lehman Gallery)

Morgan Lehman
535 West 22nd St. (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-268-6699
morganlehmangallery.com

The Feverish Library
A star-studded group show celebrating and exploring “the book” in all forms, curated by Matthew Higgs. Runs from September 6th – October 20th.

Image: “Time Enough to Last” - The Twilight Zone (Courtesy of the Friedrich Petzel Gallery)

Friedrich Petzel
537 West 22nd St. (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-680-9467
www.petzel.com

Michelle Stuart: Palimpsests
Michelle Stuart uses the term “palimpsest” (“something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form”) as a jumping off point for her series of photographic works. Runs from September 6th – October 27th.

Image: Fuerte Quemada: A Short Story, 2011, Unique archival inkjet prints, 36 ½ x 67 ½ inches overall (Courtesy of the artist and the Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects)

Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects
535 West 22nd (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-255-8450
www.tonkonow.com

Heeseung Chung: Residency Artist 2012
Sharp and haunting portraits focusing on isolated limbs – arms, legs, hands, heads – from 2012 Doosan Gallery resident Heeseung Chung. Runs from September 6th – October 6th.

Image: Untitled 2009, Archival Pigment Print, 119 x 148 cm / 58.3 x 46.8 in (Courtesy of the artist and the Doosan Gallery New York)

Doosan Gallery New York
533 West 25th St. (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-242-6343
www.doosangallery.com/newyork

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 08/15/12

Being the dead of August, we decided to take a break from galleries (many of which are on holiday) and instead investigate three world-class summer shows definitely worth your while.

The Whitney Museum: Yayoi Kusama
Born in Japan in 1929, Yayoi Kusama has been creating mesmerizing art for over 60 years. Best known for her bold, obsessively rendered dot paintings and her engulfing installations, her Whitney retrospective doesn’t disappoint. Whether you’ve been following her for years, know her from her recent Louis Vuitton collab, or have just been transfixed by her red-wigged face flying around NYC busses, Kusama’s show is a treat. Closes September 30, 2012

Image: Yayoi Kusama in Yellow Tree furniture room at Aich triennale, Nagoya, Japan, 2010. (Photo courtesy of Yayoi Kusama Studio, Inc.; Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Gagosian Gallery, New York)

The Whitney Museum
945 Madison Ave. (at 75th st.)
212-570-3600
whitney.org

Guggenheim: Rineke Dijkstra
Famous for her Renaissance-esque painterly portraits of teenagers on beaches around the world, Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra’s retrospective at the Guggenheim explores 20 years of her portrait work – in both photography and video. Teenagers are only one species representing her pivotal fascination: people in transition. Her large stills throb with emotion as she documents these transient faces: a soldier during his first two years of service, a young asylum seeker as she grows up in her adopted country, women in the hospital directly after giving birth. Be sure to watch all of her (slightly lesser well known) video work. It is stellar. Closes on October 8, 2012

Image: Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 26, 1992. Chromogenic print, 117 x 94 cm. (Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York and Paris. © Rineke Dijkstra)

The Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. (at 89th st.)
212-423-3587
www.guggenheim.org

The Met (on the roof): Tomas Saraceno, Cloud City
The roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is always a treat – an island floating among treetops in Central Park with a direct view of midtown’s skyline. But, Tomas Saraceno’s Cloud City makes the trip up even more worthwhile. Interested in the meeting of art, architecture, and science, Saraceno invites visitors to enter his reflective organic honeycomb of interconnected modules, and explore the view anew, in a completely innovative way. (Note: get a special timed ticket at the door when you enter the museum.) Closes November 4, 2012

Image: Installation view, Cloud City (Photo courtesy of the Tomas Saraceno studio)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Ave. (at 82nd St.)
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 08/01/12

Image: Wooster Enterprises 1976-78 installation view (Photo courtesy of Wooster Enterprises)

Churner and Churner
205 10th Ave. (at 22nd St.)
212-675-2750
churnerandchurner.com 

Claxons

A mash of works by different artists working in different mediums, Claxons (which means “loud horns”) is a little nutty and all over the place, but a few works manage to rise above the din. Two standouts in the first room: a strangely captivating painting of a burger, and a shelf filled with a kind a soothing nostalgic debris – pennies glued to corks, a mason jar exploding with foam, a wolfman action figure in a little wool sweater…Closes on August 17, 2012.

Image: Walter Robinson, Dallas BBQ, 2001, acrylic on canvas, 20x24in. (Photo courtesy of the artist and Haunch of Venison)

Haunch of Venison
550 W. 21st St. (between 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-259-0000
haunchofvenison.com

tête-à-tête

Image: Zanele Muholi, Zimaseka 'Zim' Salusalu, Gugulethu, Cape Town, 2011, Silver Gelatin Print, 30.75 x 19.88 Inches (Photo courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson)

Yancey Richardson
535 W. 22nd (between 10th and 11th Aves.)
646-230-9630
www.yanceyrichardson.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 07/15/12

Image: Gallery view, Young Curators, New Ideas IV (Photo courtesy of the Meulensteen Gallery)

Meulensteen Gallery
511 West 22nd St. (between 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-633-6999
www.meulensteen.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 07/01/12

Image: Gallery view of Good for You Son (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Mike Weiss Gallery)

Image: Untitled (Head), 2005/12, pencil and ballpoint pen on paper, 48.39 x 33.66 inches, 122.9 x 85.5 cm, AS 5678 (Photo courtesy of the artist and Marc Jancou Contemporary)

Image: Lucifer Falls Plate II, 2010 (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Hasted Kraeutler Gallery)

Hasted Kraeutler Gallery
537 West 24th St. (between 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-627-0006
www.hastedkraeutler.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 06/15/12

Richard Avedon: Murals and Portraits

Image: Allen Ginsberg's family, Paterson, New Jersey, May 3, 1970, 1993; Gelatin silver print 96 x 240 inches (243.8 x 609.6 cm) Ed. of 3, © The Richard Avedon Foundation (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Gagosian Gallery)

40 Owls: Distinct Ethnic Magical Tales

Image: Installation View, Nyugen Smith with his work. (Photo by Meagan Cignoli, courtesy of the artist and 40 Owls)

40 Owls
150 11th Ave. (btwn. 21st and 22nd Sts.)
[email protected]
http://40owls.com

Lisa Kereszi: The Party’s Over

Image: The Party's Over, Disco ball in box, Connecticut, 2008. Archival Pigment Print, Editions of 5. (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Yancey Richardson Gallery)

Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 W. 22nd St. (btwn. 10th and 11th Aves.)
646-230-9610
www.yanceyrichardson.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 06/01/12

Lawrence Schiller: Marilyn & Me

As part of the current Marilyn mania on the 50th anniversary of her death, Schiller’s exhibition presents a series of photographs from his upcoming book Marilyn & Me a memoir about the time he spent with the actress when he was a young photographer on the rise. The images, like Marilyn, feel both glamorous and fragile, but the strength of her vision can be seen in her red pencil edits and Schiller’s description of how she directed the shoots. Bonus: portraits in the back room include other sexy sirens – Clint Eastwood, Barbara Streisand, and Robert Redford.
Closes June 30, 2012

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 West 23rd St. (between 10th & 11th)
212-966-3978
www.stevenkasher.com

Brent Green: To Many Men Strange Fates are Given

Closes on June 23, 2012

The Andrew Edlin Gallery
134 10th Avenue
212-206-9723
www.edlingallery.com

Evelyn Hofer

Closes June 22, 2012

James Danziger Gallery
527 West 23rd St. (between 10th and 11th)
212-629-6778
www.danzigerprojects.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 05/15/12

Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace

Image: Installation View or An Economy of Grace (Photo courtesy of the Sean Kelly Gallery)

The Sean Kelly Gallery

528 West 29th St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-239-1181

www.skny.com

Shepard Fairey: Harmony & Discord

The graffiti artist most famously known for his 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama presents a series of screenprints using a variety of techniques including collage, spraypraint, embossing, and even a few prints on metal plates. The images are signature Fairey, many in red, black, and white, some with his “Obey” insignia, and most repeating a number of times throughout the gallery, echoing the feeling of his work on the street. With messages like “rise above” and “enjoy the fruits of our labors” Fairey’s posters are like relics of a future America, echoing the past.
Closes June 16, 2012.

Image: Installation view, Harmony & Discord (Photo courtesy of Pace Prints)

Pace Prints
521 West 26th St., 3rd Floor (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-629-6100
www.paceprints.com

Julia Fullerton-Batten: Persona

A series of highly-stylized and staged portraits and scenes, Julia Fullerton-Batten’s Persona is reminiscent of Gregory Crewdson with a fashion photography fairy tale vibe. The images are filled with frozen, tense encounters in living rooms, kitchens and driveways, often with generations of women together. Many are striking, but some of the most beautiful are the most sparse – like the Renaissance series of people superimposed over fading landscapes.
Closes June 30, 2012.

Image: Renaissance 3, 2012, c-print, 40 x 54 inches, edition of 7 (Photo courtesy of the artist and The Jenkins Johnson Gallery)

Jenkins Johnson Gallery
521 West 26th St., 5th Floor (btwn. 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-629-0707
www.jenkinsjohnsongallery.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 04/15/12

Marilyn Henrion: Complexity

In Marilyn Henrion’s Complexity, the artist ink jet prints photographs on quilted cotton, creating the illusion of large, landscape-soaked paper towels. The images appear to be continuously in the process of developing – as if you’re seeing the oceans, and rocks, and mountains bleeding through as you watch, to fully become what they are. Henrion’s various sewing patterns add yet another layer, a strange conjoining of natural and man-made textures that interlace, adding movement and depth. Closes on April 28, 2012.

Image: Green Sea (triptych), 50" x 63." Mixed media, 2011 (Photo courtesy of the artist and The Noho Gallery)

The Noho Gallery
530 West 25th St. (between 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-367-7063
www.nohogallery.net

William Bailey: New Paintings

A series of warm clay-colored large paintings of courtyards, still lives, and reclining figures on quiet, countryside hills. Bailey’s works are soft and enveloping, and expand into the space. The exhibition is a slow moving meditation, with themes and scenes repeating and slightly shifting. A small empty courtyard is placed next to a larger version of the same scene, this time with a silent figure in a doorway. The small shifts in scale and perspective change everything, creating a languid passing of time – a mountain changes, a tablecloth changes, years pass by unnoticed. Closes May 12, 2012.

Image: Rose Alba, 2012. Oil on canvas, 20x20 inches, 50.8 x 50.8 cm (Photo courtesy of the artist and The Betty Cunningham Gallery)

Betty Cunningham Gallery
541 West 25th St. (btwn. 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-242-2772
www.bettycuninghamgallery.com

Group Show: Joseph Adolphe, Beth Carter, Quentin Garel, Michael De Kok, Tony Soulie

A great, diverse show including paintings and large-scale sculpture by 5 different artists. Be sure to see Beth Carter’s charcoal drawings and mythic beasts in the back room, including her sad, looming minotaur (who you will want to talk with and hug). Michael De Kok’s paintings in the side left room are also lovely – soft grey flowing landscapes that pulse and recede. Closes May 2, 2012.

Image: Standing Minataur, 2011. Broze, 47 ¼ x 22 ½ x 22 ½ in. (Photo courtesy of the artist and The Bertrand Delacroix Gallery)

Bertrand Delacroix Gallery
535 West 25th St. (btwn. 10th and 11th Aves.)
212-627-4444
www.bdgny.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 04/01/12

Willard Boepple: New Sculpture

Image: Heath, 2012, Wood. 124” x 42” x 41” (Photo courtesy of the artist and Lori Bookstein Fine Art)

Lori Bookstein Fine Art
138 Tenth Avenue
212-750-0949
www.loribooksteinfineart.com

Alan Rath: Skinetics

Alan Rath’s digital sculptures are at once as cold, disjointed, and mechanical as they are searching and human. Futuristic aluminum trees with isolated digital flashing body parts (two large eyes, eight hands, an oversized nose brushing the floor) feel like something from the lobby of Gattaca – watchers pulsating with hidden messages. Be sure to check out the vibrating flying-breathing of the multi-armed feather contraption (Yes, Yes, Yes) in the foyer when it’s in motion. Closes April 7, 2012

Image: Watcher VIII, 2011. Aluminum, FR-4, polyethylene, custom electronics, LCDs (Photo courtesy of the artist and The Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery)

Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
505 West 24th (between 10th & 11th)
212-243-8830
www.brycewolkowitz.com

Printed Matter, Inc.

Not your standard gallery, Printed Matter is the “the world”s largest non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of publications made by artists.” The space is part gallery, part bookstore, part library, part performance space, and totally awesome. Whether you are a zine obsessive, or tend more toward more traditional large scale photography books, Printed Matter is a place you can get lost in for hours. There are always art and artifacts on display, with a rotating exhibition upfront (currently showcasing the publisher Hassla, soon to be focusing on an upcoming book from feminist art heroines The Guerrilla Girls). Rotating exhibits, ongoing

Image: Installation view, Hassla: 5 Years. (Photo Courtesy of Printed Matter)

Printed Matter

195 Tenth Avenue

212-925-0325

www.printedmatter.org

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 03/15/12

GIANNI AGNELLI. (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Danziger Gallery)

Danziger Gallery
527 West 23rd Street (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-629-6778
www.danzigerprojects.com

Paul Graham: The Present

Paul Graham’s The Present explores the streets of contemporary New York in a series of “sibling”  photographs – two (and sometimes three) images taken in quick succession and displayed side by side. The large photos are hung low (in some cases almost touching the floor), making you feel as if you’re on the street yourself, watching these strange time and perspective shifts take place. His photos glow from the inside, and characters enter and exit changing an entire landscape in an instant, and breaking the infinity of a single moment street photography often captures.  Closes April 21, 2012

Pigment print mounted on Dibond 56" x 74‑1/4" (142.2 cm x 188.6 cm), diptych (Photo courtesy of the artist and The Pace Gallery)

Pace Gallery
545 West 22nd Street (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-421-8987
www.thepacegallery.com

Olivo Barbieri: The Dolomites Project

Olivo Barbieri’s large scale photographs of dolomites are massive and disorienting. The Italian artist photographs his landscapes by hovering above them in a helicopter and using a tilt-shift lens, resulting in breathtaking, miniaturized views. Only when you stand up close do you see why the images radiate such a surreal quality – Barbieri has played with the images through “selective coloration” of various details, making them look almost painterly.  Closes March 31, 2012

The Dolomites Project (#8), 2010. 65 x 85 inch archival pigment print. (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Yancey Richardson Gallery)

Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 West 22nd Street (between 10th and 11th Aves.)
646-230-9610
www.yanceyrichardson.com

Art & Culture

GALLERY NOTES, 03/09/12 ERIKA HARRSCH: INVERTED SKY

Erika Harrsch’s solo show transforms ArtGate Gallery into a laboratory for thought on the joys and challenges that emerge from the intertwining of our lives in one global community. The thought-provoking installations, kites, entomological boxes, and paintings of Inverted Sky create a weave of intersecting perspectives: lives of individuals in nature, scientific calculation, commerce and trade, and questions of global ethics.

The exhibition invites the spectator to reflect, as the animated fluttering of paper butterflies in the installation Cashcube beckon viewers inside to witness species of currency butterflies. Some of these monetized butterflies are pinned etymologically as extinct specimens ready for inspection. Others migrate across paintings, sometimes freely and unpredictably, at other times suffering from the effects of economic choices on the natural environment. Harrsch invites us to consider how our lives are enmeshed in relations of interdependency.

click here to view article

ArtGate Gallery

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 03/01/12

Alec Soth: Broken Manual

Broken Manual is a collection of Alec Soth’s portraits, and full-length documentary “Somewhere to Disappear” that explore men who have removed themselves from society and live in remote corners of the US. Soth travelled all across the country for a four year period from 2006-2010 visiting these men, and even fully embodied his subjects’ desire to escape by taking on another persona “Lester B. Morrison,” who wrote a manual on the art of disappearing. Soth describes his work as “not really about running away, [but] about a desire to run away,” and even if his subjects all seem slightly crazy, holed up in caves and on cliffs and atop desert rocks, you’ll find it easy to connect with that desire. Closes on March 11, 2012

Photo courtesy of the artist and the Sean Kelly Gallery

Sean Kelly Gallery
528 West 29th Street (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-239-1181
www.skny.com

David LaChapelle: Earth Laughs in Flowers

Known mostly for his neon-colored over-the-top portraits of celebrities, David LaChapelle explores portraits of a different kind in a lush series of ten large-scale still lifes, Earth Laughs in Flowers. Chapelle explores death, love, vanity, and vice via his floral arrangements and strange surrounding objects. Beautiful and classic at first glance, a deeper look reveals various states of chaotic decay – full of cell phones, dismembered body parts, balloons, wig stands, feeding tubes, and cigarette butts.  The photographs feel both regal and tainted – a sort of “morning after” still lives. Added bonus: check out the back room for a permanent exhibition of 20+ small black and white Keith Haring paintings. Closes March 24, 2012

Early Fall, 2008-2011, Chromogenic Print (Photo courtesy of the artist and Fred Torres Collaborations)

Fred Torres Collaborations
527 West 29th Street (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-244-5074
www.fredtorres.com

Happenings: New York, 1958-1963

In what feels much more like a small museum exhibition than a gallery show, “Happenings” is the first show to document the origins of the “Happenings” movement of the late 50′s and early 60′s. Full of black and white photos and videos of these experimental performances and associated ephemera (strange sculptures, posters, sketches), the collection offers an interesting glimpse of the early art of artists you may now know well – like Jim Dine, Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, and Lucas Samaras. Added bonus: Check out the brilliant moving portrait by Corbin Walker in the back hallway. Closes March 17, 2012

Image: Claes Oldenburg, Scene from Nekropolis II © Robert R. McElroy/Licensed by VAGA, New York, New York; © Claes Oldenburg, photo courtesy Oldenburg van Bruggen Studio (Photo courtesy of the Friedrich Petzel Gallery)

The Pace Gallery
537 West 22nd Street (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-680-9467
www.thepacegallery.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 02/15/12

Taylor Mead: Fairy Tale Poems

Image: Fairy Tale Poem, sheet 9 (Castle for Rent), 2012, ink and acrylic on paper (Photo courtesy of the artist and Churner and Churner)

Churner and Churner

205 10th Avenue
212-675-2750

www.churnerandchurner.com

Joyce Pensato: Batman Returns

Joyce Pensato’s Batman Returns is like walking into some strange corner of the superhero’s mind, and being struck with the feeling that maybe he was a bad guy after all. Headshots, magazine pages, posters, masks, toys, and dirty stuffed animals explode from the wall and the floor, all slathered in paint drippings. Giant, bloated, catlike Batman portraits stare from the wall. A dirty yellow Big Bird lies on the floor with an absent, frozen look. There’s a frenzied collection to it all – piles of childhood memories decaying in time. Closes February 25, 2012

Image: Installation Batman Returns (Photo courtesy of the Friedrich Petzel Gallery)

Friedrich Petzel Gallery
537 West 22nd Street
212-680-9467
www.petzel.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 02/01/12

New Photographers

A group show presenting the work of five diverse photographers exhibiting in New York for the first time. From British Chris Levine’s futuristic lenticular portrait of Queen Elizabeth, to Dutch duo Scheltens and Abbenes depth defying floral cut outs, to Czech Tereza Vlckova’s riveting series “Two” portraying real and digitally manipulated twins, it’s a hodgepodge of the finest sort. Closes February 25th, 2012

Images: Scheltens and Abbenes. Bouquet IX. 2008. 48 X 40 inch enduraflex print. Tereza Vlckova. Two. 2010. 19 X 19 inch pigment print. (Photos courtesy of the artists and the Danziger Gallery)

Danziger Gallery
527 West 23rd Street (between 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-629-6778
www.danzigerprojects.com

Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986 – 2011

One installment of the the worldwide Gagosian blowout of over 300 of Hirst’s Spot Paintings. The iconic spots have taken over all eleven Gagosian locations simultaneously – from New York to Paris to London to Hong Kong – and rumor has it that jettsetting art lovers who visit all locations get a free, signed print. Hype and freebies aside, the show is actually quite impressive. If you’ve never seen the famous spots in person, now is definitely the time. Closes February 18th, 2012

Image: Myristyl Acetate, 2005. Household gloss on canvas. 180 x 180 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Gagosian Gallery)

Gagosian Gallery
522 W 21st St. (between 10th & 11th)
and 555 West 24th Street (between 10th & 11th)
212-741-1717
www.gagosian.com

 

Bertien van Manen: Let’s Sit Down Before We Go

Taken in and around Russia between 1990-2008, van Manen’s photographs are as intimate and familial as they are tense and striking. Framed by bright chunks of color, and slicing, bold lines, it’s hard to take your eyes off of her solitary figures and empty rooms. If you really can’t stop looking, there are beautiful signed books for sale at the front desk. Closes February 11th, 2012

 

Image: Ljalja, Odessa, Ukraina, from the series Let's sit down before we go, 1991. 12 x 16 inch Chromogenic Print. Edition of 10.(Photo courtesy of the artist and the Yancey Richardson Gallery)

 

 

Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 West 22nd Street, 3rd floor (nr. 10th Ave.)
646-230-9610
www.yanceyrichardson.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 01/15/12

Weegee: Naked City & Vivian Maier

 

Image: Weegee, Then She Cries. Frank Sinatra Concert, Paramount Theater, New York, November 5, 1944 , Vintage gelatin silver, printed ca. 1944, 14 x 11 1/8 inches; Vivian Maier, Untitled (Girl with Clown Costume), ca. 1967, Gelatin silver, printed 2011, edition 1/15, 20 x 16 inches (Photos courtesy of the artists and the Steven Kasher Gallery)

Steven Kasher Gallery
521 W. 23rd St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
(212) 966-3978
www.stevenkasher.com

Joel Sternfeld: First Pictures

Fast forward 20 years and Joel Sternfeld’s First Pictures could be a modern evolution of Weegee and Maier – brightly colored, 1970s beaches, and streets, and cars, and malls. While Sternfeld’s most famous works are suspended in earthy browns and yellows and faded greens, the colors in First Pictures are Eggleston-hued explosions, often emerging from deep black backgrounds. Sternfeld’s culturally critical eye is as strong as ever, most notably in New Jersey (#3) where a young girl lying on the grass in a Sears parking lot looks strikingly like Andrew Wyeth’s Christina. Closes February 4, 2012

 

Image: New York City, (#1), 1976, Pigment print, From an edition of 5 and 2 artist's proofs, Image size: 8 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches, Frame size: 13 x 17 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches

Luhring Augustine
531 W. 24th St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-206-9100
www.luhringaugustine.com

Peter Liversidge: Where We Begin

The first room of Where We Begin (after passing the massively oversized “store hours” and “help wanted” signs) is filled with small, framed, typewritten “proposals” addressed to the Sean Kelly Gallery from Peter Liversidge. The proposals range from the direct (“I propose the walls of the gallery be painted a dark grey”) to the abstract (“I propose to look for an answer”) to the uncontrollable (“I propose it is raining outside”). It is only as you continue through the show that you realize that every proposal has been fulfilled – a completion that gives a power to each piece and makes it feel as though you’ve instantaneously skipped across a great gulf of time. Be sure to read each proposal carefully – if you do, you could walk away with your own Liversidge original.
Closes January 28, 2012.

Image: Installation view of Peter Liversidge Where We Begin at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York December 9, 2011 - January 28, 2012 (Photo: Jason Wyche; Courtesy of the artist and the Sean Kelly Gallery)

Sean Kelly Gallery
528 W. 29th St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
(212) 239-1181
www.skny.com

 

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 12/15/11

Copywork

 

Robert Heinecken, Installation, 2011. (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Friedrich Petzel Gallery)

537 West 22nd St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
212-680-9467
www.petzel.com

George McNeil

A pioneer Abstract Expressionist of the New York School, McNeil’s paintings are massive and bright. Slathered in thick, vibrant strokes, the longer you stare, the more you see. A tumbling juggler? A bald man sleeping? A kissing couple? The exhibition continues in the back room with smaller (though no less expressive) works. Closes 01/21/12

 

George McNeil, Landscape Motif, 1968, Oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches, 33 x 41 cm, A/Y#17723 (Photo courtesy of the artist and Ameringer McEnery Yohe)

Ameringer McEnery Yohe
525 West 22nd St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
(212) 445-0051
www.amy-nyc.com

Fort at Lime Point

At first glance, John Chiara’s photographs look like scraps of metal ripped off car hoods – with the imperfect reflections of surrounding landscapes somehow forever affixed. Using super-sized, film-less custom cameras, Chiara’s works come out hazy and streaked and overexposed in all the right ways. From beautiful blues and greens fading into the sky, to red-orange explosions that frame white trees resembling atom bombs – Chiara’s scenes are both calm and violent at the same time. Closes 01/07/12 

John Chiara, Beacon: Corral: Starr King, 2011. Image on Ilfochrome paper, unique photograph, 34 x 28 ½ inches, and John Chiara, Laney at 5th, Federal Building, 2011, image on Endura transparency, unique photograph, 33 ½ x 28 ¼ inches (Photos courtesy of the artist and the Von Lintel Gallery).

Von Lintel Gallery
520 W. 23rd St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
(212) 242-0599
www.vonlintel.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 11/15/11

AJ Fosik.  Time Kills All Gods.

Eight eyes, four tongues, bared teeth — AJ Fosik’s brightly-colored sculptures explode from the wall in a flurry of wooden scales and horns. With a big online following, Portland-based Fosik’s work is all over the web, but seeing it in person is something else. Part Tlingit totem pole, part Hindu deity, Fosik’s creations are the neon rock stars of the talisman world. Final week! Closes Saturday, November 19th.

Jonathan LeVine Gallery
529 W. 20^th St., 9th Fl. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
(212) 243-3822
www.jonathanlevinegallery.com

Nan Goldin.  Scopophilia.

Known for her color-saturated portraits of young artists, punks, and drug addicts in 1970s and 80s New York, Nan Goldin’s latest show juxtaposes over 400 of her photographs against sculptures and paintings from the Louvre. Organized around themes of love and desire, the echoes of rosebud lips, lounging nudes, and longing expressions are at times uncanny. Through December 23rd.

Images: NAN GOLDIN, Amanda, NYC, 1996, Archival pigment print, 30 x 30 inches, and Jeune orpheline au cimetière, Delacroix, 2011, Archival pigment print, 20 x 15 inches. (Photo courtesy of the artist and the Matthew Marks Gallery.)

Matthew Marks Gallery
523 W. 24 St. (btwn. 10th & 11th Aves.)
(212) 243-0200
www.matthewmarks.com

Various.  Uncommon Threads: A Survey of Contemporary Quilts.

Quilting: not just for grandmas anymore. On view at Kathryn Markel are the blanket wonders of 10 ladies and 1 man, ranging from environmentally charged pieces (see below) to sheer aesthetic beauties, like this larger-than-life, snowflake-kissed piece from Paula Nadlestern. If you were planning to learn how to knit this holiday season, here’s some instant inspiration. November 17 – December 17.

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts
529 W. 20^th St., #6W (btwn. 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(212) 366-5368
www.markelfinearts.com

Art & Culture

Gallery Notes, 11/1/11

Sarah Braman. Yours.

Americanos, meet Americana, up close and personal. What could be more weirdly American than a big chunk of camper? Braman dissects a scavenged recreational vehicle, combining the results with other materials in a way that emphasizes the true camper-ness of the original object. Through December 3.

SARAH BRAMAN, 8pm, 2011, Camper chunk, steel, plexiglas and paint, 41 1/2 by 52 by 48 in. (Photo courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash)

Mitchell-Innes & Nash
534 W. 26^th St. (btwn. 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(212) 744-7400
www.miandn.com

May Stevens. One Plus Or Minus One.

We find May Stevens’ depictions of Rosa Luxembourg remarkably timely. Luxemburg was an anti-war Marxist who led dissent in early 20^th-century Germany. While the nature of Luxemburg’s causes have less resonance today, the form of her protest– occupying offices, calling for strikes–echoes throughout the globe. Through December 22.

Mary Ryan Gallery
527 W. 26^th St. (btwn. 10^th & 11^th Aves.)
(212) 397-0766
www.maryryangallery.com

Boo Ritson. All Aboard.

Vividly attired, latex-coated subjects.

Bravin Lee Programs
526 W. 26^th St., #211
(212) 462-4404
www.bravinlee.com

Art Event: Mika Rottenberg and Marilyn Minter

Stop by the New York Public Library’s Artist Dialogues Series and listen in on a conversation between video artist Mika Rottenberg and her friend and fellow teacher Marilyn Minter. Wednesday, November 9, 6–8pm.