cityArts September 15, 2009

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 Volume 1, Issue 6

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PREVIEW Kandinsky’s ‘Black Lines,’ included in the upcoming Guggenheim exhibit, Kandinsky.

www.bgfa.com

LetterFromtheEDITOR

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We returned last Tuesday from the Labor Day holiday to a shock: Summer had “endedâ€? and it was time for the fall season. Invites for openings and events were piling up, people were beginning to wonder where they should be each evening. And it was time for us to ďŹ nalize our Fall Preview of CityArts, the inaugural stand-alone issue of our review of culture. We began CityArts in March of this year as a supplement to several of Manhattan Media’s weekly papers. It was something of an experiment: Although the economy was still ailing and arts organizations were struggling—and simultaneously arts criticism was suffering due to newspaper and magazine cutbacks—we would dedicate our time and efforts once a month to covering gallery openings, concerts and opera, ballet and theater. The city deserves such a publication. Over the summer, we decided to re-launch as an independent paper, available in newsboxes around the city twice a month, as well as for home delivery and to subscribers. We plan to print a total of 20 issues a year. Culture continues to ourish. Last Thursday night—on the same evening Anna Wintour promoted her Fashion’s Night Out—over 70 galleries had openings and the streets of Chelsea were ďŹ lled with excited chatter as people ducked in one gallery after another. Museums are gearing up for an incredible season of major works. As you’ll read in this issue, William Blake is inspiring once again, according to our senior art critic, Lance Esplund. And as Mario Naves explains in a piece about the upcoming Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim (our cover displays one of the Russian painter’s works included in the show), we’ll be especially lucky to be able to compare his creative output to those who participated in the paradigm changing Bauhaus school, when the show opens at MoMA in November. Although they go fast, you can try to get a ticket to Fall for Dance at City Center, which kicks off the dance season. Joel Lobenthal, our senior dance critic, recommends spending your time experiencing Les Biches, a rare experience in the city, when Broadway West presents it at City Center as part of the festival. Probably one of the most exciting changes—if you like change—is taking place this month when Alan Gilbert takes over the reigns as the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Our senior music critic, Jay Nordlinger, analyzes what Gilbert means to the venerable group. He also takes a crack at the New York City Opera, which begins a new season after a troubled year away, and what to expect at Carnegie Hall. Although people say that jazz no longer excites the younger generation, Howard Mandel feels that not only are audiences ďŹ lled with 20- and 30-somethings, the musicians that same age are increasingly making their marks in the jazz world. He recommends checking out the two-weeks pianist Connie Crothers’ curated at The Stone to hear it (and believe it) for yourself. We’re also introducing two new features that we hope will educate and entertain. Brice Brown will cover the world of decorative arts (don’t call it antiques!) in a monthly column that will explain how to see and appreciate the misunderstood objects and oddities. And Amanda Gordon will begin to cover the galas and parties, openings and events for many of our beloved institutions. For this issue, she takes a look at what to expect in the coming weeks and months, and you may be surprised to learn that the parties must go on. So, it’s shaping up to be an exciting fall season. And we want to be there guiding, learning and enjoying right along with you. Thanks for all your support, JERRY PORTWOOD Editor in Chief

EDITOR Jerry Portwood jportwood@manhattanmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR Adam Rathe arathe@ manhattanmedia.com ART DIRECTOR Jessica Balaschak CONTRIBUTING ART DIRECTOR

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FallPREVIEW Dennis Hopper: Signs of the Times This is the culmination of an 18-year project by Hopper, who took over 10,000 photographs, and then selected over 400 images to survey his body of work. Coinciding with the exhibit is a book, Dennis Hopper Photographs 1961-1967, which includes photos of Tina Turner, Andy Warhol and more. Tony Shafrazi Gallery, opened Sept. 12 Monet’s Water Lilies You may think you’ve seen it all before on the semi-glossy pages of a calendar, but you’ve never really seen the Impressionist’s gaze until you’ve witnessed the brushstrokes for yourself. Museum of Modern Art, opened Sept. 13 Sally Mann: Proud Flesh The photographer may have achieved renown (and infamy) over the controversy surrounding the photographs of her naked children, but these series of photographs were taken over six years and study her husband, Larry Mann, and how a mature male body is viewed. Gagosian Gallery, opens Sept. 15 Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction Rather than the iconic (and eroticized) flower series, the museum displays the abstract shapes and colors that still offer up plenty of bodily interpretations. Swirls of exuberant color will surely be a crowd pleaser. But also accompanying the show’s paintings, drawings and sculptures will be Alfred Stieglitz’s photographic portrait series of O’Keeffe herself. Whitney Museum, opens Sept. 17 Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ Marking the 50th anniversary of the photographer’s influential book of photographs that documented the way the country was during the really difficult years. All that babble about hardship and recession will make you think again about how tough you really have it. And remember what it was like before irony and selfexposure took hold of the hipsterati. Metropolitan Museum of Art, opens Sept. 22

With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America Just when you thought the city had exhausted its chances for another museum, we get a new one. This time celebrated architect Maya Lin (best known for the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.) transforms a space on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan. The core exhibit will feature contemporary artists of Chinese descent living in New York as well as a history of the Chinese experience in the city. The Museum of Chinese in America, opens Sept. 22 Allan Kaprow Yard It’s 50 years later, and the inventor of Happenings is still influencing a generation of young artists. This show celebrates the opening of Hauser & Wirth’s first American gallery by having interventionist William Pope.L reinterpreting Kaprow’s “Yard,” a mountain of black rubber auto tires through which visitors crawled in 1961. While other galleries may be playing it safe with pretty paintings, we know some people aren’t afraid of getting their hands a little dirty. Hauser & Wirth New York, opens Sept. 24 Read My Pins Maybe it’s just us, but the former Secretary of State under President Clinton is like the grandma we always wished we had—even her fusty brooches were a way of wielding power. Including over 200 pins from Madeleine Albright’s personal collection, the exhibit explores how the jewelry was employed as a “diplomatic, social and political tool.” That means that the tough old bird was giving a big middle finger to the terrorists by wearing a bit of sparkly on her chest. Museum of Arts and Design, opens Sept. 30 Watteau to Degas: French Drawings from the Frits Lugt Collection More than 60 works on paper are included in this exhibition that includes well-known masters: Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, Delacrois, Ingres and Degas. Frick Collection, opens Oct. 6

Julieta Cervante

ART

Dancers from Wally Cardona’s Really Real at BAM. Urs Fischer He jackhammered through the concrete floor of a gallery back in 2007. We’ve been waiting for a show to remember at the New Museum since they opened on the Bowery. Now that they’re giving over three floors to the Swiss-born New Yorker, we may finally get it. New Museum, opens Oct. 28 Anish Kapoor: Memory There’s always a “Wow!” factor when it comes to Kapoor’s work. This time he uses Cor-Ten steel to create a sculpture that looks wedged into a tight gallery space. You’ll have to see it to believe it. Guggenheim Museum, opens Oct. 21 Performa 09 RoseLee Goldberg returns with her brain-

child, a biennial of performance art. We’re always a bit perplexed by whatever takes place during this bizarre three-week event. But we also never want to miss the creative ways in which artists use duct tape, cardboard and video cameras. Various locations, Nov. 1-22 Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future You know more about this influential architect than you might think. The man who brought us the sensuous curves of the TWA Terminal (now home to Jet Blue) as well as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis gets some much-deserved love. Watch out for all those black-clad architects and devotees that will be swarming around to get a chance to view plans and details from the master. Museum of the City of New York, opens Nov. 10

September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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FallPREVIEW annual appearance, and the dance community swoons. City Center, Oct. 29 Tere O’Connor Dance The edgy choreographer returns with a new work that will explore the “tension between fixed states and constant change.” If that helps at all. Dance Theater Workshop, Nov. 10-14 Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company Billy T. Jones has brought his distinctive choreography/storytelling ability to various stages throughout the city, but he hasn’t been at the Joyce since 1996. He marks the occasion by premiering Serenade/The Proposition, one of a suite of works created in honor of the 2009 Abraham Lincoln bicentennial. Joyce Theater, Nov. 10-15 New York City Ballet It’s the beginning of the winter season, so get ready for the Nutcracker. David H. Koch Theater (Lincoln Center), begins Nov. 27

THEATER A Steady Rain Starring cinema heartthrobs Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman, the play is about two police officers recalling a few days that changed their lives. But that’s hardly the point. The show hasn’t already sold $3 million worth of tickets on the basis of playwright Keith Huff. Rather it’s all about the chance to see two buff action-movie stars in the flesh (and in police uniforms). Opens Sept. 27

A retrospective of Tim Burton’s artistic output will be exhibited at MoMA beginning Nov. 22. Alias Man Ray Few people know that the popular artist was actually born Emmanuel Radnitzky to Russian Jewish immigrants. This reconsideration of the Dadaist, Parisian Surrealist, international portrait and fashion photographer’s career. Including 200 works—photographs, paintings, sculptures and objects, drawings, films and a selection of his writings—this is the first major multimedia Man Ray show at a New York City museum since 1974. Jewish Museum, opens Nov. 15 Tim Burton MoMA’s massive look into the baroque-stylized and darkly-funny world of Tim Burton will encompass not only his impressive filmography, but also showcases his wide array of work in such diverse visual media as painting, puppets and maquettes, and digital and moving-image formats. Burton fans will also delight in viewing the director’s little-seen nonprofessional films and student artwork. Museum of Modern Art, opens Nov. 22

DANCE In-I Think you’ve seen Juliette Binoche do every-

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thing she’s capable of? Well think again. Here she pairs up with Akram Khan for an intense dancetheater event. And if that weren’t enough, they employed sculptor Anish Kapoor to create a luminous backdrop. Harvey Theater (BAM), Sept. 15-26 Neal Medlyn/Dance Gang We were surprised too when we saw that the oddball performer (best known for putting on bizarre recreations of the works of Lionel Richie and Prince) was going to be taking the usually stuffy contemporary dance stage with his fifth pop-star opus, Her’s a Queen. That’s right, get ready for a two-parter celebrating the life and work of Britney Spears and Hannah Montana. Dance Theater Workshop, Oct. 22-24 Visible/invisible: Naked City Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Nora Chipaumire join forces in a new commissioned work for the stage of the Gatehouse, the converted Romanesque Revival-style pumping station, located in Harlem. Harlem Stage, Oct. 29 Morphoses/the Wheeldon Company Christopher Wheeldon’s troupe make their

Superior Donuts Tracy Letts’ followup to the phenomenally successful (and Pulitzer Prize-winning) August: Osage County is about a Chicago doughnutshop owner. Maybe it doesn’t have the same epic scale, but these Steppenwolf transfers are usually the best theater the city can hope to see. Opens Oct. 1 Hamlet Thought you could never watch another production with the brooding Danish prince? Well, now at least you have Jude Law to keep your attention during the hours and hours of stylish stagecraft. Opens Oct. 6 Othello The Public presents John Ortiz as Othello and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Iago at the NYU Skirball Center. This Shakespeare may be even more hotly anticipated than the Jude Law spectacle. Opens Oct. 4 Oleanna A Mamet play seems increasingly de rigeur in order for a season to feel complete. The acidpenned script about a confrontation between a young female student and her pompous male professor stars Julia Stiles and Bill Pullman. It earned raves when it originated in L.A. Opens Oct. 11

Bye Bye Birdie Broadway The Roundabout has seen fit to bring back a musical about the hysteria surrounding an Elvis Presley-like singer (and the outrage of parents over this wild new rock ‘n’ roll music). The production boasts a cast comprised equally of theater pros (Bill Irwin, Dee Hoty) and names (John Stamos, Gina Gershon). Whether or not this production can supplant memories of the ever-popular film version remains to be seen. If anything, just treat the show as an opportunity to investigate the newly rebuilt Henry Miller Theater. Opens Oct. 15 In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) After scoring progressively less and less complimentary reviews for A Clean House, Eurydice and Dead Man’s Cell Phone, playwright Sarah Ruhl makes her Broadway debut. Billed as a comedy about “marriage, intimacy and electricity,” In the Next Room at least promises to be a welcome respite from the endless revivals of long-familiar works that clog this season. Quartett Robert Wilson directs the inimitable Isabelle Huppert in German playwright Heiner Müller’s condensed version of Dangerous Liaisons. Expect Wilson’s stylized choreography and everything in French (with English subtitles). Gotta hand it to BAM for staging something this daring. Opens Nov. 4 The Understudy We loved Julie White in The Little Dog Laughed. So we can only pray that she’ll also do wonders for Theresa Rebeck’s latest, a backstage comedy about an actor and his understudy (you guessed it) rehearsing a Kafka play. White plays a Nov. 5 Fela! The Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti has inspired generations of musicians, but the musical/dance version of his life wasn’t all that great when it started Off-Broadway. Much of the excitement can be credited to the energetic Sahr Ngaujah. No matter what you think of choreographer Bill T. Jones, it’s worth giving this revamped version a second chance to wow. Opens Nov. 23 A Streetcar Named Desire As much as theater aficionados love to grouse on about the movie stars’ corruption of on-stage magic, we can’t help but look forward to a chance to witness Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois. Plus Liv Ullmann directs. Opens Nov. 27

FILM Latinbeat 2009 Celebrating its 12th year, this festival features 21 films from throughout Latin America, including several New York premieres. Special events include panel discussions with rising stars of the New York-based Latino and Latin American

Vermeer’s Masterpiece The Milkmaid This once-in-a-lifetime loan from Amsterdam joins the Met’s Vermeers in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage.

Only through November 29

Complete fall schedule at metmuseum.org Broadcast Sponsor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The exhibition is made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Daphne Recanati Kaplan and Thomas S. Kaplan, and Bernard and Louise Palitz.

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid (detail), ca. 1658, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

FallPREVIEW “Always a hub for vibrant chamber-music performances.” – The New Yorker

92nd Street Y Great Artists. Great Hall. Great Prices. ORDER TODAY for our 74th season of star soloists, chamber masterworks, virtuosic guitar and family concerts— with most tickets under $50! www.92Y.org/ConcertsFall

Schiff, Feb 25, Mar 1

Los Romero, Dec 31

Tetzlaff, Oct 25

SUN, NOV 15, 3 PM

Zukerman ChamberPlayers Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano

BRAHMS / DVORˇÁK

SAT, DEC 12, 8 PM

THU, FEB 25, 8 PM András Schiff, piano

Marc-André Hamelin, piano

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SAT, OCT 17, 8 PM Dénes Várjon, piano

with Izabella Simon, piano ˇ EK / DVOR ˇ ÁK SCHUBERT / JANÁC BACH / VERESS / KURTÁG / BARTÓK LISZT

SAT, OCT 24, 8 PM

Tokyo String Quartet Inon Barnatan, piano BEETHOVEN

SUN, OCT 25, 12 PM Christian Tetzlaff, violin Bach’s complete Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin

SUN, NOV 8, 3 PM

Keller Quartet BEETHOVEN / LIGETI / BARTÓK

WED, NOV 11, 8 PM

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Phil Proctor, actor

Maurice Bourgue, oboe Jaime Laredo, violin & viola & Friends

Readings from Celestial Harmonies Music of Haydn and others

COUPERIN / DUTILLEUX (world premiere) / DEBUSSY / RAVEL

TUE, MAR 2, 2 PM WED, MAR 3, 8 PM Leon Fleisher, piano Jaime Laredo, violin

THU, DEC 31, 8 PM

A CHAMPAGNE NEW YEAR’S EVE Los Romero, guitar quartet

& Friends BRAHMS

SUN, JAN 31, 2 & 7 PM

GUITAR MARATHON: BACH Paul O’Dette, co-curator & lute David Spelman, co-curator John Schaefer, host Artists include: Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Eliot Fisk, Paul Galbraith, Ana Vidovic, Jason Vieaux

SUN, APR 18, 3 PM Peter Serkin, piano

Orion String Quartet BACH / KIRCHNER BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS

THU, APR 29, 8 PM

Hagen Quartet BEETHOVEN / WEBERN GRIEG

WED, FEB 10, 8 PM Richard Goode, piano Jonathan Biss, piano SCHUBERT / SCHUMANN BEETHOVEN / STRAVINSKY DEBUSSY

Dramatic retelling of Don Quixote with Renaissance & Baroque music of Spain

Season Broadcast Partner

MON, MAR 1, 8 PM

Péter Esterházy, author András Schiff, piano

TUE, DEC 15, 2 PM WED, DEC 16, 8 PM

2009/10 HIGHLIGHTS

Benjamin Hochman, piano BACH / KODÁLY / LIGETI BRAHMS

& Friends

DeYoung, Nov 15

TUE, FEB 23, 8 PM Miklós Perényi, cello

Fleisher, Mar 2 & 3

Hamelin, Dec 12

Tokyo String Quartet, Zukerman ChamberPlayers, Nov 15 Oct 24

Click www.92Y.org/ConcertsFall or call 212.415.5500 Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street An agency of UJA-Federation

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filmmaking scene and Latin American female filmmakers, and a tribute to renowned Latin American writer Julio Cortázar. Walter Reade Theater, through Sept. 24

Jonze will personally present (Oct. 8) three short films about Wild Things author Maurice Sendak made during the film’s production, as well as clips from the movie itself. MoMA, Oct. 8-18

ContemporAsian Series Monthly screenings of new works from emerging Asian filmmakers. This year’s series begins with Blind Pig Who Want to Fly, which follows a series of disparate Chinese-Indonesians whose loosely-connected stories find an unlikely common link in Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You.” MoMA, continues on various dates throughout the fall

Elia Kazan Festival As revered for his emotionally-intense, brilliantly-acted films as he was controversial for his decision to name names before Joe McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee, Elia Kazan would have turned 100 this year. Film Forum, Oct. 9-22

Russian Documentary Film Festival Now in its second year, this festival of 16 films by Russian documentarians seeks to promote cross-cultural dialogue between Russia and the U.S. through film screenings and roundtable discussions. Notable works include a portrait of Michael Chekhov, the famed Russian actor/director whose acting techniques have been utilized by performers as disparate as Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe. Tribeca Cinemas, Sept 18-20 Paradise Michael Almereyda’s latest is a kaleidoscopic collection of fleeting images and off-hand moments recorded by the director while traveling through roughly two dozen cities in nine different countries. Almereyda, who made the film over the course of 10 years, will introduce the first screening. MoMA, Sept. 24-Sept. 30 Stranger than Fiction: Fall 2009 The 11th season of the documentary series, which screens a combination of newer works, classics, and little-known gems. The role and relevancy of the documented image will play a particularly central role on Nov. 17, when Iranian filmmaker Hamid Rahmanian and others will screen and discuss footage of Iran in light of the recent postelection turmoil. The IFC Center, Sept. 29-Dec. 1 Hungary A look at the substantial contributions of Hungarian filmmakers, producers, writers, actors and others to the “Golden Age of Hollywood Filmmaking,” this festival will include films by Michael Curtiz and George Cukor and featuring such actors as Bela Lugosi and Johnny Weissmuller. Flashing-forward in history, the festival will also feature a 25th anniversary screening of Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger than Paradise, featuring Hungarian actress Eszter Balint. BAMcinématek, Oct. 7-15 Spike Jonze: The First 80 Years Coinciding with his much buzzed-about adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, this cheekily titled retrospective encompasses both Jonze’s head-spinning features (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) and his wealth of innovative music videos and short films. Plus,

To Save and Project: The Seventh MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation The annual showcase of restored and rediscovered films will open with a week-long run of John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence, with star Gena Rowlands introducing the October 24 screening. Among the other restorations—many of them making their New York debuts—include two 1950s Italian melodramas from Luchino Visconti (Senso) and Michelangelo Antonioni (Le Amiche) and MoMA’s own restored print of Nanook of the North. MoMA, Oct. 24-Nov. 15 Roger Corman Retrospective Known for his energetic style, super-slim budgets, and cheeky takes on B-level genre material, the prolific Roger Corman will receive the full retrospective treatment from Anthology. Week one will be devoted to his eerie Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, while the second week will focus on such little-screened works as The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and The Wild Angels. Anthology Film Archives, October 28-Nov. 8 The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival Moviegoers and studio heads alike may watching this celebration of new works by Indo-American filmmakers a little closer this year: among the films making their New York premiere at last years MIAAC festival was a little movie called Slumdog Millionaire. Tribeca Cinemas, Nov. 11-15 African Diaspora Film Festival This festival gathers and spotlights the work of black filmmakers from around the world. Highlights include Gospel Hill and the New York premiere of The Black List, a collection of filmed interviews with prominent black artists, politicians and others conducted by former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell. Anthology Film Archives, Nov. 27-Dec. 9 Romanian Film Festival in NYC At a time when directors like Cristi Puiu and Corneliu Porumboui have inspired some critics to proclaim a “Romanian New Wave,” check out this festival to see what exciting voices will next emerge from this most-intriguing of burgeoning cinematic movements. Tribeca Cinemas, Dec. 4-6

DANCE

Falling For It BY JOEL LOBENTHAL I love the one-from-Column A tack taken by City Center’s Fall for Dance festival, which has kicked off the New York dance season since 2004. The programmers aim to please: Virtually no genre of dance is excluded, and companies from all over the world are invited. And I love the ticket prices—every seat is $10—which is about as much bang for the buck possible to find in New York entertainment. This year, Fall for Dance runs Sept. 22-Oct. 3, and its five different programs include more ballet than usual. As inclusive as the programming has been, ballet has been a tad less prominent in this fest than popular, modern or indigenous dance. But it’s difficult for any performing arts institution to ignore the fact that 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the debut season in Paris of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which set the clock for Western ballet during its two-decade existence. Here’s a chance see some of the handful of ballets that survive from the long list of Diaghilevcommissioned creations. And that’s in addition to appearances by heavyweight modern dance outfits like Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham and Mark Morris as well as visits by ballet superstar Diana Vishneva, tap dance’s free-spirit Savion Glover and many other must-sees. In its Diaghilev programming, Fall for Dance looks at two sides of the coin: the work, and the response to the work’s enduring presence in the canon. We’re going to see Vaslav Nijinsky’s 1912 Afternoon of a Faun—Nijinsky was Diaghilev’s lover, star dancer and then renegade choreographer—performed by the Boston Ballet. Faun was a radical exercise in aestheticism: three-dimensional movement now flattened to recall profile figures on a Greek frieze. And also going to see Mark Dendy’s Afternoon of the Faunes, which ruminates on the ballet and on Nijinsky’s own descent into insanity. We don’t get Mikhail Fokine’s great Petruchka, in which it dancers impersonate moving puppets who enact a parody of human destinies, but we do get Basil Twist’s Petrushka Suite, where actual puppets enact the same story. Of all the opportunities Fall for Dance will give to review the Diaghilev repertory, most exciting because most rare is the chance to see 1924’s Les Biches, choreographed by Nijinsky’s sister Bronislava Nijinska, and performed at the festival by Ballet West of Salt Lake City. As was Nijinsky, Nijinska was quite unlike the careerist choreographers who dominate the landscape today: both wanted to probe and to expose mystic, psychological, emotional truths. “Had she understood more of theatrical politics, her work to-day would be more universally known,” British critic Arnold Haskell wrote in 1938, when she was still very active on the scene. And yet it’s interpersonal politicking, jockeying, the kinks

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Ballet West’s production of Les Biches is part of the Fall for Dance Festival. and quirks of emotional and sexual transaction that is Nijinska’s subject in Les Biches. One of Diaghilev’s greatest achievements was his introduction of new possibilities for male expression. In Mikhail Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose, danced at its premiere in 1911 by Nijinsky, he was the spirit of the rose brought home from a ball by a debutante. The Australian Ballet will dance Spectre at the Festival. Les Biches gives us the other end of the telescope; here men are largely objectified as muscle-bound playthings. Trained in the old Imperial ballet traditions in St. Petersburg, Nijinska perpetuated in her modernist ballets the thematically related but episodic nature of court entertainments in her modernist ballets. Here in Les Biches she tethers them to an ostensibly contemporary and recognizably real landscape—a chic drawing room. That however, became in her enacting its own new fantasy realm. The mood and the texture are caustic but frolicsome, in tune with Francis Poulenc’s music box/music hall score. The two leading women’s roles in Les Biches conform to, without being totally contained within, the contrasting schools of women’s ballet technique. The Girl in Blue, designed in 1924 to show off Vera Nemtchinova’s startling legs in a brief tunic, poses and bourrées and has a rather tender encounter with one of the male visitors to this salon sisterhood. While the Hostess, originally danced by Nijinska—anything but the fainting violet onstage—lets it rip in cascades of beats so stinging you almost feel your calves ache. She’s indefatigable and expects her men to pass their own endurance tests. Speaking of tenderness amid the cynical and commodified, what is actually one of the most affectionate encounters in the ballet is its duet for two sweet jeune filles. Amazingly, given the amount of mediocre choreography that our ballet companies make us sit through, Les Biches hasn’t been seen in New York since 1983, when Dance Theatre of Harlem performed it here at City Center. Thank you Ballet West and Fall for Dance for alleviating some provincialism and lethargy in the New York ballet world.

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Akram

Binoche Khan “Khan and Binoche are fascinating together as they venture into new terrain” (The Guardian) in this intensely visceral dance-theater work. DANCE

IN-I DIRECTED AND PERFORMED BY JULIETTE BINOCHE AND AKRAM KHAN SEP 15—26 ONLY! TICKETS START AT $25 ALSO, JULIETTE BINOCHE FILM SERIES AT BAMCINÉMATEK (THROUGH SEP 30) VIDEO PREVIEWS AT BAM.ORG

BAM 2009 Next Wave Festival / Brooklyn, NY

TICKETS: BAM.ORG / 718.636.4100 Leadership support for the Next Wave Festival is provided by The Ford Foundation.

BAM 2009 Next Wave Festival is part of New Works and Diverse Voices at BAM sponsored by:

September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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MUSEUMS

Artist as Oracle The Morgan’s exhibition of the work of William Blake reminds us of the artist’s many gifts BY LANCE ESPLUND as the flat, woven space of abstraction. he term “visionary” is bandied about so Blake is a perfect subject for the loosely these days that you might not Morgan, which houses drawings, know what to do when one actually prints, illuminated books, letters shows up. Perhaps it was always that and autograph manuscripts, the way. Saints and prophets and oracles disrupt collective fruit of Blake’s labor. And the status quo. They punch holes in our reality; the Morgan’s exhibit, organized by remove the floor from beneath our feet; open former director Charles Ryskamp and windows in the sky. They bring gods and curators Anna Lou Ashby and Cara demons into our midst, which is another way Denison, is a well-rounded, wellto say that they bring us closer to ourselves and paced gem of a show that reminds us set our lives on fire. But despite everything we of the artist’s far-reaching gifts. Culled tell ourselves to the contrary, who is ever really entirely from the Morgan’s holdings, ready for that? What do you do then with a it touches upon all aspects of the artvisionary, especially one whose visions are ist without feeling heavy-handed or coming at you with a vengeance? You may recpiecemeal. ognize the truth of his wares, but you shut the At the heart of the exhibition is a door in his face and you dismiss him as mad. series of 21 watercolors for “The Book This seems to have been the reception of Job” (1805-10; 1821) and 12 designs awarded the British poet, painter and printillustrating Milton’s “L’ Allegro” and “Il maker William Blake (1757-1827), who is Penseroso.” The illustrations for “The again at our door full-force, in William Blake’s Book of Job” exude an admonishing air World: “A New Heaven Is Begun,” a compact toward Job’s long-suffering piety, his lack yet stellar exhibition of more than 100 works at of individualism and his literal take on the Morgan Library & Museum. God’s word. But Blake is never irreverBlake claimed to have seen the face of ent. The watercolors are silvery, milky and God in a window, as well as angels in a tree, lithe—almost moonlit—with a classical the prophet Ezekiel in a field and his dead stateliness. Their bodies feel carved out of brother, Robert, whose joyful soul visited him liquid ivory. Sporting big hands and feet, in a dream and rose through the ceiling. It was the figures are as monumental as Egyptian during a conversation with his dead brother statuary, yet they move like flame and Robert in 1787, that William discovered how cloud. As with most of Blake’s works, the to invent a form of illuminated relief etching illustrations are theatrical, blunt and beautithat would allow the artist to print his illusful, as direct as children’s drawings. Blake trated poems without the use of typography. treats the rectangle as a proscenium stage; the This got rid of the middlemen (the thencharacters as actors who face the viewer and traditional printers, illustrators and typogramake clear their actions and intentions. Blake phers who had dominated the field of printwas inspired by prints made after Michelangemaking for more than 300 years), and led to Blake’s Blake’s work suffers seemingly masterpieces such as “The Marriage of Heaven and from being innovative on too many Hell,” “Songs of Innocence fronts. Each of his extraordinary and of Experience,” gifts appears not to have outshone “Visions of the Daughters but, rather, to have competitively of Albion,” “America,” eclipsed all the others. “The Book of Job” and the illustrations of Dante. This innovation allowed Blake to be the lo and Raphael, and although he stirs together sole conduit between his works and his muse. Mannerism and Classicism into a churning In Blake’s rapturous hands, this invention tumult, he manages never to loose the truth produced weird, ecstatic books that married and directness, the purpose and center, of his word and image, poetry and painting. Blake’s narrative. illuminated printed books harked back to Blake can be erotic, lyrical and dark; Medieval manuscripts. They set the stage in Romantic and Neoclassical, but I was the West for the acceptance of Japanese prints, unaware until this show of his ability to be and they were harbingers of the swirling forms French. Also included at the Morgan, along of the Arts & Crafts Movement and Art Nouwith poetry in the artist’s hand and molten, veau; the expressive mysticism of Romantihand-colored images that resemble monocism, Symbolism and Expressionism; as well prints—as well as worthwhile works by

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Blake’s contemporaries John Linnell, Edward Calvert, Samuel Palmer and Henry Fuseli—are two early prints after Watteau, surprising works that retain the Frenchman’s lightness. It has been said of Blake, and rightly so, that he is much greater than the sum of his works; and that any attempt to isolate aspects of his art or thought is futile. Blake was a bundle of contradictions, misfires and overzealousness, all of which he believed make us human. Sometimes it is as if he is stirring a cauldron and howling at the moon. Blake did not take himself or his visions lightly (the show’s subtitle “A New Heaven Is Begun” is a quote from Blake referring to the significance of his date of birth). Both a devout Christian and a resolute individualist, Blake fought against dogma and oppression, religious or otherwise. He believed that each man had to find his own way; and what better path toward self-awareness than that of the artist. For Blake, imagination and reason, sexual passion and religious fervor, intellectual curiosity and spiritual unrest—the visual and the verbal—all fueled the same fire. Still, Blake’s work suffers seemingly from

being innovative on too many fronts. Each of his extraordinary gifts appears not to have outshone but, rather, to have competitively eclipsed all the others. Like equally ascendant forces racing up separate faces of a pyramid, Blake’s respective accomplishments seem to have collided at the pinnacle—scattering the artist into so many rays of light. And a peculiar muddling continues to occur. It’s as if Blake’s fire was too much to bear and, therefore, had to be doled out among numerous furnaces: Poets appreciate Blake for his poetry; historians see him for his Romantic, though uniquely enlightened, anti-Enlightenment attitudes; painters and illustrators appreciate his gifts as a storyteller, colorist and draftsman; and printmakers understand his advancement of the medium. As recently as the 1960s Blake was embraced for his views on feminism, racial and sexual equality and free love. Ironically, Blake’s great gift as a Modern artist and poet was his ability to unify—not only image and word but art and man—god and man. He flirted back and forth between reality and myth. He was able to give back to ornamentation and to the searching line— as in Asian art—a front-and-center purposefulness and sense of discovery. In life as well as art he brought traditional marginalia inward and allowed the main event to seep into the margins. He treated line and geometry—whether letterform or limb—as living forces: text and image read interchangeably as intestine, root, figure, fish, air, stream, wing and vine. Blake did not just tell stories he gave movement and life to the page. More important, he gave back to the artist the ancient role of oracle. His works illustrated a world somewhere between heaven and earth—a world that audiences then, and perhaps even now, was not quite ready for. Ready or not, at the Morgan Blake’s fire is rekindled and his visions are brought into full light. William Blake’s World: “A New Heaven Is Begun” through Jan. 3, The Morgan Library & Museum; 225 Madison Ave. (betw. 36th & 37th Sts.), 212-685-0008.

Chaos, Control Time to ponder Kandinsky and the Bauhaus with two historic museum shows in the coming months crowd-pleaser. Get ready to elbow through the crowds on Frank Lloyd Wright’s ramp.

varian Hinterglasbilder, a form of folk painting done on glass collected by Kandinsky. Kandinsky returned to Germany in 1929, only to have the Nazis eventually lump his iconographic abstractions under the “degenerate” rubric and to close down the Bauhaus because of its incompatibility with the regime’s cultural program. Kandinsky considered moving to California, of all places, but financial considerations led him to settle in a Parisian suburb, where he would live and work the rest of his days.

ost famously, Kandinsky was a pioneer of abstract painting. Maybe he didn’t invent the stuff (as is often claimed), but he did pursue it with almost evangelical single-mindedness and, later in life, with surprising whimsy. Kandinsky’s signature abstractions—with their scrabbled lines, roaming compositions and jewel-like tonalities—are keystones of High Modernism. If their pictorial innovations have been f the Guggenheim is Kandinsky’s spiritual blunted by the passage of time, Kandinsky’s homebase, the Bauhaus serves a similar fervor is no less felt because of it. function for MoMA. Founding director Among his colleagues and confidantes Alfred H. Barr wrote that the “three days were composer Arnold Schoenburg, architect Walter Gropius, poet Andre Breton and paint- which I spent at the Bauhaus in 1928 [was] one of the most important incidents in my own ers Paul Klee, Joan Miro and Kazimir Malevich. Kandinsky helped found Der Blaue Reiter education.” Workshops for Modernity is the (The Blue Rider), an artist’s collective that had first comprehensive overview of the Bauhaus the museum has mounted since 1938. That a decisive impact on German Expressionism, show was an insiders’ project, having been and he taught at the Bauhaus, the school of organized and overseen by Bauhaus founders art, architecture and design. Kandinsky also and acolytes. This time around, Barry Bergembraced the woozy mysticism of the muchin-vogue Madame Blavatsky and wrote On the doll, the museum’s chief architecture curator, will concentrate on the Bauhaus, not as an Spiritual in Art, a seminal treatise exploring artistic movement per se, but as an institution the connections between visual art and music. in a specific political context: “the tumultuous Kandinsky came late to art. After tenure of the Weimar Republic.” studying law, economics and statistics at Art is never completely divorced from the University of Moscow, he was ofhistory, of course, but will MoMA’s emphafered a professorship in Roman Law at the sis on the school as a “cultural think tank for University of Dorpat, Russia (now Tartu, trying times” illuminate or cloud its rigorous Estonia). But that was the same year he aesthetic? Still, Workshops for Modernity is saw Claude Monet’s “Haystack” paintings bound to contain riches, not least designer and attended a performance of Wagner’s Lohengrin—transforming experiences, both. Already seen in Paris and And then there was that revelatory sunset: “The Munich, Kandinsky proved a sun dissolves the whole crowd-pleaser. Get ready to of Moscow into a single elbow through the crowds on spot, which, like a wild tuba, sets all one’s soul Frank Lloyd Wright’s ramp. vibrating.” Equating Marcel Breur’s and weaver Gunta Stolzl’s painting with ecstasy, Kandinsky left for “African” chair (1921), a work presumed lost Germany to study art. He was 30 years old. until its re-discovery five years ago. How The Guggenheim show isn’t a full-scale well Kandinsky’s and the Bauhaus’ deeply retrospective: It skips over Kandinsky’s romantic optimism will translate to our formative years and moves directly to Paris 1907, where we see, within arcane dioramas of young, been-there-done-that century will be only one thing to mull over in the coming peasantry, princes and decorative excess, the months. initial steps toward abstraction. The figurative components and overripe nostalgia would Kandinsky, Sept. 18 through Jan. 13, Guggensoon be submerged within flurries of brushstrokes, galumphing rhythms and hieroglyphic heim Museum abbreviations of form. (Anthropology was one Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for of Kandinsky’s fascinations.) What remained Modernity, Nov. 8 through Jan. 25, Museum of were Byzantine compositions and a saturated Modern Art. palette gleaned from Matisse, Derain and Ba-

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‘Moscow I’ is part of the Guggenheim’s Kandinsky exhibit. BY MARIO NAVES asily Kandinsky (1866-1944) is an inescapable figure in the history of 20th-century art. The Russian painter’s career encompasses Modernist hotspots like Moscow, Munich and Paris and turbulent events like both World Wars and the Russian Revolution. As an artist, Kandinsky synthesized a seemingly incompatible range of styles: Art Nouveau, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cubism, Surrealism and Suprematism. To get an idea of how provocative Kandinsky’s art was at the time, however, consider its detractors. Though he achieved positions of distinction in the cultural bureaucracies of Communist Russia, Kandinsky was no fan of the October Revolution: The Bolsheviks expropriated his family’s considerable landholdings and assets, leaving him virtually penniless. Kandinsky nevertheless bent over backward to accommodate the state, to be ultimately pegged as “bourgeois” and expelled from his job on the charge of being “an emigrant.” This fall, New Yorkers will have ample opportunity to consider for themselves

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Kandinsky’s achievements as painter, theorist and academic. The Guggenheim Museum is presenting Kandinsky, the most comprehensive U.S. overview of the artist’s oeuvre in close to three decades. Later in November, the Museum of Modern Art will mount Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity, a major exhibition focusing on the school’s hugely influential cross-disciplinary curriculum. Kandinsky—along with fellow faculty like Josef Albers, Marcel Breur, Laszlo Moholy Nagy and Oskar Schlemmer—is likely to play a prominent role. Comprising close to 100 paintings and more than 60 works-on-paper, many of which haven’t been exhibited in America, the Guggenheim show promises to be the definitive sampler of Kandinsky’s art for at least a generation or two. Past generations will recognize the apt venue: Originally known as The Museum of Non-Objective Painting, the Guggenheim was founded on Kandinsky’s otherworldly approach to abstraction. (Solomon R. Guggenheim would eventually acquire over 150 Kandinsky paintings.) Already seen in Paris and Munich, Kandinsky proved a

September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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PARTIES

NEW AUCTION SEASON Sept 17 Printed & Manuscript Americana Sept 24 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings Oct 1 19th & 20th Century Literature Oct 8 African-American Fine Art Oct 20 Medical & Scientific Books;

Bibles & Early Printed Books Oct 22 Photographs & Photographic Literature Oct 29 Autographs

Pablo Picasso, Le Repas Frugal, drypoint, 1904. Estimate $80,000 to $120,000. At auction Sept 24.

Nov 5 Old Master through Modern Prints Konrad Fielder

Nov 9 The James B. Parks Collection of Fine Prints Nov 10 Art, Press & Illustrated Books Nov 18 Rare & Important Travel Posters Nov 20 American Art / Contemporary Art Dec 3 Maps & Atlases, Natural History &

Historical Prints, and Travel Books Dec 8 Photographic Literature & Fine Photographs Dec 16 Rare & Important Art Nouveau Posters

Albrecht Dürer, The Apocalypse, complete set of woodcuts, 1498. Estimate $50,000 to $80,000. At auction Nov 5.

Catalogue Orders and General Inquiries: 212 254 4710, ext 0.

104 East 25th Street • New York, NY 10010 View catalogues and bid online at www.swanngalleries.com

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The New York Botanical Garden’s Kiku show.

A Season for Getting Close to Art BY AMANDA GORDON Like an exclamation point to the more than 70 gallery openings last Thursday, the new American Eagle billboard on Houston Street conveys the spirit of cultural entertaining this fall season: “LOVE the artist.” This has always been true, of course, but in recent years there was a distracting scene of glitz, spectacle and power. The economic meltdown of the past year has brought us back to basics. “After all, without the artists, the museum wouldn’t have a reason to exist,” David Rockefeller, chairman emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, said in an interview at the museum’s Party in the Garden in May, the event that marked the recalibration by honoring more than a few dozen artists instead of businessmen and celebrities. “It’s because they’re so good and people enjoy their work and we’re able to show it, that people are happy to come here,” Mr. Rockefeller added. Arts organizations of all types and sizes are preparing events that help New Yorkers feel close to artists and the creative endeavor. At New York City Opera’s opening night gala on November 5, guests will encounter several art forms: An “American Voices” concert featuring, among others, Amy Burton, Lauren Flanigan and Samuel Ramey; a performance by the New York City Ballet and a dinner taking place underneath a large-scale installation by artist E.V. Day (on view for both City Opera’s fall and spring seasons). At the Metropolitan Opera gala on September 21, after the debut of “Tosca,” guests will head to a tent decorated to transport them into the Italian setting of the opera. “We’re

using materials that reference the stage set,” event designer David Stark said. This version of an Italian countryside will include cement blocks and rosemary and juniper plants. And how’s this for getting intimate with artists: Creative Time is planning a slumberthemed party at a downtown hotel to launch a limited edition nightshirt designed with artist Will Cotton. “Think Hugh Hefner meets Federico Fellini,” Creative Time spokesman Nicholas Weist said. The event will take place in early November. Guests will get to make art at the Friends of Materials for the Arts Halloween Harvest Festival on October 27. At workstations in the warehouses where the organization collects and distributes donated materials, guests will fashion hats and headdresses using buttons, sequins, feathers, fabrics, ribbons, buckles—“whatever we have around,” said the executive director of Materials for the Arts, Harriet Taub. More than 2,000 people attended last year. Immersing oneself in the cultural offerings of New York — from Broadway to the Knitting Factory to the Apollo — can get overwhelming. When those times hit, an ideal place to refresh oneself is The New York Botanical Garden. The displays of chrysanthemums in the Kiku show (October 17 through November 15) usually provoke simultaneous gasps from viewers, so astonishing is the artistry of the horticulturists, who have spent almost a year training the flowers. As much as a round of applause, that gasp is the sound of New Yorkers loving artists. Look for Amanda Gordon’s party coverage in CityArts beginning Oct. 6.

JAZZ

The Shape of Jazz to Come Look for the next generation of jazz greats to appear this season BY HOWARD MANDEL Ornette Coleman’s ďŹ rst gig ever at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Sept. 26 is a hard-won triumph for the revolution he wrought on American music, launched in New York City 40 years ago. What Coleman, then an unknown from the West, now 79 and a Pulitzer Prize winner, has proved to be is just what he called it: The shape of jazz to come. Best evidence of the truth of his premise that music should be free of individuality-constraining conventions is heard in the works of the dozens of musicians rip-roaring here as fall begins. Incidentally, they demonstrate that the local jazz-and-beyond scene has arrived at an unanticipated peak. Extraordinary opportunities to encounter what you never have before are never-endingly plentiful in this city, of course, but “the seasonâ€? can be pretended to ofďŹ cially begin Sept. 17, with simultaneous openings of pianist Connie Crothers’ two-weeks curation at The Stone, the two-weekend New Languages Festival at McCarren Hall and three debuts by percussionist Adam Rudolph at Roulette, one a concerto with chamber orchestra by Yusef Lateef. These events are quickly followed by Joe Lovano’s Coltrane birthday salute (Sept. 23-26 at Birdland), the ďŹ rst of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians autumn concerts (drummer Thurman Barker’s Strike Force, solo saxophonist Matana Roberts, Sept. 25 at Community Church of New York), and as rich an October. Andy Fite, a guitarist and vocalist who’s lived in Sweden since 1994 and cites as his main concern “to do just whatever he wants and‌spark a little joyâ€? is incongruously ďŹ rst at The Stone—East Village genius John Zorn’s establishment on a corner of Avenue C—since it’s a rather severe recital room. Crowded by 50 attendees, dimly lit, with nil ventilation or creature comforts besides folding chairs, the place is nonetheless perfect for close listening. It might well serve the coterie of musicians, little known even to fervent devotees of the avant-garde, who Crothers has convened for a unique string of performances through Sept. 30. Crothers is an acolyte of the late pianist Lennie Tristano, whose heady, disciplined, ultra-cool aesthetic might be described as obliquely parallel to Ornette Coleman’s earthy iconoclasm—the road less taken, though it reaches similar conclusions. Tristano emphasized harmonic extensions of classic jazz chord progressions when Coleman intuitively disregarded them; Tristano muted the role of drums, while Coleman delights in bouncing off hyperactive percussion. Both their paths encourage personal statement, acknowledge abstraction and penetrate the unexplored. Crothers, by evidence of her recordings, is not

beholden to doctrine. Her music is formally complex, yet often bursts with surprises. See The Stone’s website for the complete schedule, but my curiosities include: alto saxophonist Richard Tabnik’s debut of his “Symphony for Jazz Trio: A Prayer for Peaceâ€?; Bud Tristano (Lennie’s son), an “improvising rock guitaristâ€? who performs with Russian concert pianist Valentina Nazarenko; solo shows by pianist Kazzrie Jaxen (AKA, Liz Gorrill), vibist Kevin Norton and Italian violinist Stefano Pastor. Crothers herself appears in various combos—unfortunately leading her own quartet and quintet Sept. 26, the very date Coleman plays Lincoln Center and Barbra Streisand (!) does her one-nighter at the Village Vanguard. Several musicians Crothers has booked are in the “blank generationâ€? that’s been accused of abandoning jazz by the National Endowment for the Arts’ recently released data, though observers cite many 20- and 30-year-olds in jazz audiences, and musicians that age are increasingly making their marks. Hear two of the most prominent: Darcy James Argue (34), a Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based composer whose Secret Society big band is stocked with young players, will be at the ďŹ fth New Languages

Festival on Sept. 17; cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum (34) with his SpiderMonkey Strings octet of brass, voice, violin, viola, cello, guitar, tuba and drums at Manhattan’s Jazz Gallery on Sept. 19. Bynum co-leads the 10-piece Positive Catastrophe ensemble with Peruvian percussionist Abraham Gomez-Delgado (31) at New Languages Sept. 25. New Language’s intent is to “provide a panoramic view of 21stcentury jazz in NYCâ€? and among its other signiďŹ cant participants are New York-associated trumpeters Amir ElSafďŹ r (32) and Nate Wooley (35); drummer Tyshawn Sorey (29), percussionist John Ornette Coleman Hollenbeck (OK, he’s 41), vocalist Theo Bleckmann (a mature 44) and alto comes east. Other brassmen prime the ďŹ rst saxophonist Tim Berne, guitarists Brandon nights—Bradford plays with tenor saxophonist Ross and Joe Morris, by now veterans of the David Murray, currently of Paris, Oct. 3 & 4. avant-garde who have lost not a whit of edge. And starting Oct. 1 at The Stone, incomparaStaying sharp is, after all, fundamental ble Brit saxophonist Evan Parker (64) begins to jazz, and so the Festival of New Trumpet two weeks of intense collaborations. Music at the Jazz Standard; Oct. 1-4 rightly All of the above uphold Ornette Coleman’s dedicates itself to trumpeter Bobby Bradford, conviction that originality, expressivity, imme75, an associate of Ornette Coleman’s who diacy and virtuosity make jazz worth hearing. carries the free ag in Los Angeles and seldom Those attributes make this season’s music new.

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music.yale.edu

Copland: Clarinet Concerto and Chamber works by Bartók, Poulenc, Shulman, and Gould commissioned or premiered by the legendary clarinetist Tickets $15-25 ¡ Students $10-20 CarnegieCharge ¡ 212 247-7800 ¡ www.carnegiehall.org

September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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FILM

Why New York Needs Its Festival The glamour of the fest can add to a film’s potency BY ERIC KOHN he New York Film Festival has always inspired debate about the state of world cinema. On the eve of the first Lincoln Center gathering in 1963, the New York Times confronted this matter with a fleeting item under the headline, “The Film As Art.” Good movies, the paper argued, often get buried by insipid Hollywood product. With Transformers 2 outweighing all rivals at the 2009 summer box office, can anyone argue that the situation has changed? According to that Times piece, the festival “serves to point up the difference in quality between film as product and film as art, moviegoers will be well served.”And so it continues, nearly 50 years later and more valuable than ever before. Unlike the bloated film festival proceedings at Sundance, Cannes or Toronto, New York’s annual gathering has little need for a dense program guided by star power or potential for media attention. Instead, NYFF simply showcases movies on the basis of whether or not they’re any good. With 29 features from 17 countries, the festival mainly reflects the interests of a small selection committee comprised of local critics familiar with the strongest works at the year’s earlier festivals and subject to their own personal whims. “I’ve always understood it as a very curated festival,” says new committee member Dennis Lim, the editorial director for the Museum of the Moving Image as well as a frequent Times contributor. “It’s a festival with a finite number of films, and that’s the point. It’s a statement about what the committee members find most important and exciting Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces closes out this year’s New York Film Festival. about world cinema at the present moment.” For audiences, much of that excitement is Based on the Novel by Sapphire, takes the chance to go to Cannes,” explains Melissa justified by the accompanying buzz. French centerpiece slot. Anderson, the former film editor of Time Out New Wave legends Jacques New York and another addition to the Rivette and Alain Resnais selection committee this year. “One of the carry the sort of brand really important functions of the festival is The Festival’s so-called ‘obvious’ names that have made New exposure.” choices are essential ones for York moviegoers hearts With influential indie distributors such audiences interested in getting a flutter since before NYFF as New Yorker Films closing up shop in bigger piece of the pie than existed. This year, Rivette the past year, fewer companies are around the usual big-screen offerings comes to the festival with to bring foreign movies to the U.S. (most 36 Views of Saint-Loup of the movies with distribution in this available throughout the city. Peak, while Resnais’ cosmiyear’s lineup are owned by IFC Films or cally hilarious romance Wild Grass opens the That those last four movies were unveiled Sony Pictures Classics). This turns NYFF’s festival Sept. 25. For audiences with contemat the Cannes Film Festival in May leads to so-called “obvious” choices into essential ones porary preferences, there’s Lars Von Trier’s a common movie snob complaint: Unwilling for audiences interested in getting a bigger wickedly strange and playfully explicit to bother with the underdogs, NYFF goes piece of the pie than the usual big-screen ofAntichrist and Michael Haneke’s dreary period for obvious choices. Those rants, however, ferings available throughout the city. mystery, The White Ribbon. Spanish favorite ignore the essential publicity boost that major “Often, the very same people who criticize Pedro Almodóvar closes out the festival with art house titles receive from a Lincoln Center [NYFF] for having too much of the Cannes Broken Embraces, and Lee Daniels’ frenetic screening. lineup will be annoyed that a certain Cannes Harlem coming-of-age portrait, Precious: “Not many avid cinephiles have the film isn’t there,” explains Lim. He’s also quick The Film Society of Lincoln Center/Sony Pictures Classics

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to point out, however, that “the festival has always been faithful to auteur cinema,” which includes both veterans of the craft and emerging voices. He expresses particular excitement over the inclusion of Filipino director Raya Martin’s Independencia and Jao Pedro Rodrigues’ Portuguese feature, To Die Like a Man, since both filmmakers have been gaining steady reputations despite virtual anonymity in the United States. Rather than crafting a single thesis about contemporary world cinema, NYFF champions experience over ideology. Anderson fondly recalls her memorable encounter with Von Trier’s viscerally intense drama Dancer in the Dark when it opened the festival in 2000. “Seeing the film as part of this storied and important festival added to its luster,” she admits. “I saw it again a few times during its theatrical run. I still loved it, but it didn’t match the awe of seeing it the first time at Alice Tully Hall.”

THEATER

Misalliance By Bernard Shaw December 4, 2009 – January 24, 2010

Gary Gregg and Michael Mellamphy in When I Was God at Irish Rep.

Hard Times By Charles Dickens Adapted By Stephen Jeffreys February 5 – March 28, 2010

Celtic Kitty

The Subject Was Roses

Conal Creedon’s lyrical, comic, phrase-repeating plays resound no matter what the Irish experience BY GWEN OREL Conal Creedon’s characters interact, then give monologues. Phrases are often repeated. At times it feels Beckett-like, but the situations take place in a firmly grounded Cork City, Creedon’s home—nobody’s stuck in a mountain of sand or pops out of a trashcan. In his plays After Luke and When I Was God (which run through Sept. 27 at the Irish Repertory Theatre as part of 1st Irish 2009), you might think the places and people are too unusual to exist, but they actually do. Cork is “a funny little town,” Creedon explains over a cup of tea near Irish Rep. He speaks fast, self-deprecatingly, swallowing words, with the broad vowels that typify a Cork accent. Cork, he explains, is a regional capital that was the mooring for the British fleet, and an export center. “It has its own feel about it. Locally we know it as the People’s Republic of Cork.” It’s a Republic Creedon knows well. “I’m here forever,” says the writer. “I’m on the same street my grandfather was from, my father was from, my mother married in the hotel across the road… That’s what roots me to it.” The playwright’s essay in the program describes his local barbershop. It’s not a non sequitur—for Creedon, history and place inform character. They are the story. Still, Creedon says he is not nostalgic at all—he notices change, at times embracing it, understanding the hardship people went through in older days. That said, he doesn’t have a cell phone, rarely picks up the telephone and does not much like email. Asked how people get hold of him, he says, “They have to shout.” Creedon’s rootedness in Cork qualifies him to chronicle the transformations that not just Cork City, but all of Ireland, caused by the economic boom of the 1990s—called the Celtic Tiger—and the aftermath some call the

Celtic Garfield. After Luke is a period piece (though it was written in 2004). A writer probably wouldn’t write a story about a son returning from London to push through a sale of the family house now. “The play was produced in Cork in the height of the boom, before it came crashing down, in 2007—when the rug was pulled out from under. In 2005, there was no sense that it was going to end. But the change has been profound, really,” explains Creedon. “If you hadn’t been home in maybe 10 years, and you happened to arrive in, you’d be a bit bowled over because suddenly sites that hadn’t been used were totally built on; and café society was more prevalent.” Looked at another way, After Luke is timeless: It’s less about “will they sell the house” than it is “which son does Dad love best?” The title alludes to the parable of the prodigal son. In After Luke, Maneen, the returning son, is the antagonist, but, according to Creedon, “There’s a huge injustice on him too right, cause he had to leave… the oldest one gets the farm and the youngest one goes.” When I Was God is also about fathers and sons. In that play, an adult son is so dominated by his father’s desires for his athletic prowess that he’s literally haunted by his father’s voice all his life, even when he plays “god,” aka a soccer referee. But, according to Creedon, the plays are “not a big therapy session for me; my own father was an incredibly sweet guy, a really good storyteller. He’d sing at the drop of a hat.” He intends to write about mothers and daughters next. “I’ve observed eight sisters with my mother,” he laughs, one of 12 children. “There’s going to be some fun there!”

By Frank D. Gilroy April 9 – May 9, 2010

AT NEW YORK CITY CENTER STAGE II www.pearltheatre.org

PRESENTS

Oct 29–Nov 1 Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 3pm

Two unique programs Two U.S. premieres Live music

Tickets start at $15

Extended through Sept. 27. After Luke & When I Was God at Irish Rep, 132 W. 22nd St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.), 212-727-2737, $55-$65. September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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ClassicalMUSIC

MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC Robert Sirota, President

2009–2010 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS MSM PHILHARMONIA Mei-Ann Chen, Conductor Jin Woo Lee, Violin OFFENBACH Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld BARTÓK Violin Concerto No. 2 ˇ DVORà K Symphony No. 8 in G Major, op. 88 7:30 PM Borden Auditorium $10 adults; $5 seniors and students

SEP 27 / SUN

AMERICAN STRING QUARTET Peter Winograd, Laurie Carney, Violins Daniel Avshalomov, Viola Wolfram Koessel, Cello BEETHOVEN String Quartet in G Major, op. 18, no. 2 PROKOFIEV String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, op. 92 (On Kabardinian Themes) SCHUBERT Quartet in D Minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden�) 3:00 PM Borden Auditorium $15 adults; $10 seniors and students

OCT 2 / FRI

MSM CHAMBER SINFONIA Kenneth Kiesler, Conductor Peter Fancovic, Piano MOZART Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K. 297 (“Paris�) MENDELSSOHN Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25 STRAVINSKY Pulcinella 7:30 PM Borden Auditorium $10 adults; $5 seniors and students

OCT 9 / FRI

MSM JAZZ PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA WITH JOE LOVANO Justin DiCioccio, Conductor Joe Lovano, Saxophone ABENE Odyssey for Brass FISCHER Pensative GRAETTINGER (for Stan Kenton) City of Glass SAUTER Focus 7:30 PM Borden Auditorium $10 adults; $5 seniors and students

NOV 13 / FRI

MSM SYMPHONIC AND CHAMBER CHORUSES WITH MSM CHAMBER SINFONIA Kent Tritle, Music Director MOZART Requiem, K. 626 SCHUBERT Mass in G, D. 167 7:30 PM Borden Auditorium $10 adults; $5 seniors and students

JAN 18 / MON

BEAUTIFUL GIRLS STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S SONGS FOR WOMEN WITH L EAD I N G LAD IES OF BROADWAY

MSM Chamber Sinfonia Paul Gemignani, Conductor Lonny Price, Director With Zoe Caldwell, Jenn Colella, Marin Mazzie, and Donna McKechnie 7:30 PM Borden Auditorium $20 adults; $12 seniors and students $1,000 tickets for Manhattan Nights include VIP Performance seating and private reception with artists.

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City Arts | www.cityarts.info

JAN 28 / THU

LA MUSIQUE WITH PHILIPPE ENTREMONT MSM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHAMBER CHORUS

Philippe Entremont, Conductor Heather Johnson, Mezzo-Soprano BERLIOZ Overture to Le Corsaire and Les Nuits d’ÊtÊ RAVEL Suites No. 1 and No. 2 from Daphnis et ChloÊ 7:30 PM Borden Auditorium $10 adults; $5 seniors and students ALSO F E ATURIN G PHILIPPE ENTREMONT: JAN 21 Philippe Entremont Piano Master Class JAN 24 & 29 Readings of Mozart Piano Concerti

MSM OPERA THEATER Dona D. Vaughn, Artistic Director

DEC 9, 11, 12 / WED, FRI & SAT

GABRIEL FAURÉ’S PÉNÉLOPE Libretto by RenĂŠ Fauchois Laurent Pillot, Conductor Lawrence Edelson, Director DEC 9 / WED OPERA PREVIEW 6:00 PM GreenďŹ eld Hall Gordon Ostrowski, Coordinator DEC 9 & 11 / WED & FRI 7:30 PM DEC 12 / SAT 2:30 PM Borden Auditorium $20 adults; $12 seniors & students

APR 1–4 / THU–SUN SENIOR OPERA THEATER

HANDEL’S IL PASTOR FIDO Visit www.msmnyc.edu for more information All seats $5

APR 28, 30 & MAY 2 / WED, FRI & SUN

MOZART’S LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte Giovanni Reggioli, Conductor Dona D. Vaughn, Director APR 28 / WED OPERA PREVIEW 6:00 PM GreenďŹ eld Hall Gordon Ostrowski, Coordinator APR 28 & 30 / WED & FRI 7:30 PM MAY 2 / SUN 2:30 PM Borden Auditorium $20 adults; $12 seniors & students

;O\VObbO\ AQV]]Z ]T ;caWQ For complete concert listings and information:

122ND & BROADWAY WWW.MSMNYC.EDU TO 116TH OR 125TH STREET

917 493 4428 JOIN US UPTOWN & ONLINE! BECOME A FAN OF MSM ON FACEBOOK.

THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS 2009 – 2010 SEASON SPONSORS: Ilene and Edward Lowenthal / NoĂŠmi and Michael Neidorff and The Centene Charitable Foundation / Jody and Peter Robbins Š2009 MSM. Program and artists subject to change.

Chris Lee

SEP 25 / FRI

New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert during this year’s Mostly Mozart festival.

Maestro Gilbert, Et Al. Thoughts on a new classical music season in the city BY JAY NORDLINGER he new season is upon us, and the big news in classical music, I suppose, is the New York Philharmonic: They are changing conductors. Gone is Lorin Maazel and arrived is Alan Gilbert. Who? A fair question. He is the former conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also, as they say, “a good Philharmonic story.â€? His father was a violinist in the orchestra, and his mother still is. Plus, he’s a native New Yorker—that somehow counts too. And he is young, or youngish, at 42—which also counts, for some. Age and experience used to be prized on the podium; now people—at least critics and administrators—are mad for youth. Strange. Finally, Gilbert is said to be an enthusiastic advocate for new music, an enthusiasm that pleases critics a lot. No fair asking about the quality of the new music being advocated. That’s impolite. When Gilbert was named music director, some people said, “Has the Philharmonic decided not to be a serious orchestra? Is this fellow—‘Philharmonic story’ or notâ€”ďŹ t to assume the post of Mahler, Toscanini and Barbirolli, or even of the three M’s: Mehta, Masur and Maazel?â€? Others were delighted, mainly for the reasons cited above. In any case, Gilbert will have a chance to prove himself, and a big test will come early: during concerts starting Sept. 17, when Gilbert conducts a monumental and great work, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Those who care about music in New York can only wish him,

T

and us, the best. Other news is City Opera: After a season off and a brush with bankruptcy, they are back, not with many shows, but with some. They begin Nov. 5, when they put on a gala of American music and American singers. Among them will be Lauren Flanigan, pretty much the house diva, and Joyce DiDonato, that sparkler of a mezzo-soprano. On Nov. 7, the company will begin a run of Esther, the last opera (1993) by the late American composer Hugo Weisgall. Flanigan will appear in the title role. Many say that City Opera must ďŹ nd or stay nestled in a “nicheâ€? here in New York: young singers, offbeat operas, offbeat productions, an emphasis on Americanness. I say, hire good singers, conductors, players, directors, etc.—and they will come. Build quality, and audiences will come. New Yorkers love their opera, and not just at the Met. Carnegie Hall does not take a season off. This year, they begin on Oct. 1, when James Levine conducts his Boston Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Evgeny Kissin as guest. You may wish to hear a recital on Oct. 14. It is by Christine Brewer, the soprano, who is top-notch and really underrated. On Oct. 27, Lang Lang, the piano sensation, will appear in a chamber concert with some friends of his, all from China. Many have commented on the “SinoďŹ cationâ€? of the music world. Such a development is welcome, particularly if others are tired. The Berlin Philharmonic is not tired— not yet—and they will be in Carnegie from Nov. 11 through 13, performing Brahms and Schoenberg under their English music direc-

Juilliard

tor, Simon Rattle. and she is an extraordinary singing actress. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Very intense. Let’s hope she avoids the temptaCenter likes thematic programs, and here is an tion to overact: Puccini has included it all in example: On Oct. 18, they will present a concert the score. Aida will begin on Oct. 2, with a called “Magyar Madness,” giving us, of course, promising cast: Violeta Urmana, Dolora Zajick Hungarian music. But not all the music is by and Johan Botha, among others. Lot of power Hungarians. We will hear a new work by David on that stage; lot of power in that score, too. Del Tredici called, in fact, Magyar Madness. The aforementioned Joyce DiDonato will Great Performers at Lincoln Center will sing in The Barber of Seville, starting Oct. 3. If host a skilled and elegant orchestra from London, the LSO, under the baton Gilbert is said to be an of Bernard Haitink, the enthusiastic advocate for new veteran Dutchman. They music, an enthusiasm that will give three concerts, between Oct. 21 and Oct. pleases critics a lot. No fair 25. The composers will be asking about the quality of the Schubert and Mahler (only). On Nov. 13 and 14, pianist new music being advocated. Leif Ove Andsnes performs, That’s impolite. with images. Movies or something. This is a trend in music now, with the visual all the rage. Apshe’s not a joy, I’ll eat my hat—and yours. She parently, mere music is not enough anymore. will be in the company of a superb and strangely The MTV generation and others have to have underrated tenor, Barry Banks. On Oct. 13, Der pictures, preferably moving pictures. Rosenkavalier will begin, with the Marschallin At the Salzburg Festival this summer, of our time onstage: Renée Fleming. It will not there was actually a staged song recital (by hurt to have James Levine in the pit, either. the French soprano Patricia Petibon). This is The Damnation of Faust—which begins a trend that ought to give true music-lovers a on Nov. 5—will feature Olga Borodina, the little pause, if not outright heebie-jeebies. great (yes, great) Russian mezzo. It will also On Oct. 25, the 92nd Street Y will presfeature Ildar Abdrazakov, who does devil very ent Christian Tetzlaff, the German violinist, well. And Nov. 12 will see the Met premiere of who will play Bach sonatas and partitas. No a 1930 opera: From the House of the Dead, by word yet on whether there will be visual acJanacek (his last opera). companiment. On Nov. 15, the Y will give us Finally, mark your calendar for Nov. 17, Michelle DeYoung, that warm and outstanding because on that evening Aprile Millo is schedmezzo-soprano, who will be surrounded by uled to sing a recital in Rose Hall. In fact, this some instrumentalists. One of them will be the is to be her New York recital debut, amazingly. pianist Kevin Murphy. But mark your calendar lightly—maybe in Want to talk Met? The mighty opera house pencil—because this near-legendary diva is a will open on Sept. 21, with a new production pretty good canceler. Let’s hope she shows, and of Tosca. Karita Mattila will be in the title role, let’s hope she’s good.

Joseph W. Polisi, President

THE SEASON BEGINS Nearly 700 dance, drama, and music performances – Almost all are FREE

Tues, Sept 15 at 8 • Paul Hall at Juilliard

Paul Jacobs

Organ A rare performance of JS Bach’s most difficult Six Trio Sonatas for Organ, BWV 525-530 Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital FREE, Standby line forms at 7

Sat, Sept 26 at 8 • Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard

Starting its 17th season of very new and commissioned works Joel Sachs, Founding Director and Conductor Du Yun, Speaker Nathan Miller, Narrator ELLIOT SHARP (US) Points and Fields (2009) J ** CHRIS GENDALL (New Zealand) Rudiments (2009) J * DU YUN (China/US) Vicissitudes No. 3 (2003) ERROLYN WALLEN (Belize/UK) Horseplay (1998) ** DMITRI YANOV-YANOVSKY (Uzbekistan) Paths of Parables II (2008-09) C* Text by WOODY ALLEN: from Hassidic Tales, with a Guide to Their Interpretation by the Noted Scholar

Photo: Richard Termine

New Juilliard Ensemble

J Composed for the NJE C Juilliard Commission * World Premiere ** Western Hemisphere Premiere

FREE tickets available at the Juilliard Box Office

STARTING SOON

JUILLIARD ORCHESTRAL, JAZZ, CHAMBER CONCERTS, AND RECITALS

Juilliard 155 W. 65th St. Box Office open M-F, 11AM-6PM • (212) 769-7406 • www.juilliard.edu Carol Rosegg

Weisgall’s Esther will have its first revival since the 1993 world premiere at New York City Opera.

9 out of 10 Juilliard students need financial aid to attend. If you can help provide scholarship support for the young artists who make these free concerts possible, please contact Juilliard at (212) 799-5000 ext. 278 or see www.juilliard.edu/giving

September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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CURATED BY: JOANNE FREEMAN & KIM UCHIYAMA LOHIN • GEDULD • GALLERY 531 West 25th St • New York, NY 10001 212.675.2656 • LohinGeduld.com Hours: Tue - Sat 10:30 am - 6 pm through October 10th, 2009 JANET KURNATOWSKI 205 Norman Ave • Brooklyn, NY 11222 718.383.9380 • JanetKurnatowskiGallery.com Hours: Fri - Sat 1 - 7 pm & Sun 12 - 6 pm through October 11th, 2009

Realism and Almost Realism PART 2 Thru September 29th, 2009

American Abstractions PART 2 1950’s - Present October 1 - 29, 2009

KATHARINA RICH PERLOW GALLERY The Fuller Bldg., 41 E 57th St, 13th Fl, New York, NY 10022 Ph 212/644-7171 / Fx 212/644-2519 / perlowgallery@aol.com

WATER AND SKY Ralph Carpentier, Anne Seelbach, and Susan Sugar Through October 17

NABI GALLERY Anne Seelbach, Horseshoe Crabs, 2007

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City Arts | www.cityarts.info

137 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001 212 929 6063 | www.nabigallery.com

GalleryBEAT

Milton Avery, ‘Three Figures on a Rock,’ 1944. Oil on canvas board. 23 x 18 inches

Milton Avery Like Monet and many other individualists, Milton Avery (1885-1965) began his career in the vanguard, and finished closer to the rearguard—not so much because his own work changed, but because the world around him did. While his Matissean color startled his colleagues in the 1930s, today’s gallery-goer may respond more to his steadfastness and gentle humor. And yet, as DC Moore’s overview of his last four decades demonstrates, his lifework is sparked by continuous vigor and variety. The earliest of these nearly two dozen paintings, drawings and watercolors show the artist in rigorous pursuit of a range of styles. A painting of a mother and child (ca. 1935) reflects, in more restful form, the colors and motifs of Picasso’s Rose Period. An expressionistic portrait of Abraham Walkowitz (1941) carves a likeness out of splashes of off-whites, pinks and blues. But it’s a landscape from ca. 1935—reminiscent of Matisse in its undulating textures and simplified colors—that points to the future. The artist had largely settled into his mature phase by the time he produced “Orange Nude” (1944), a striking canvas in which acid skin tones, enormous thighs and tiny, blank face banish every conventional notion of the beautiful. Looping contours, however, locate all these elements with utter conviction. The image is genuinely affectionate, if unflattering. For me, the stylizations of Avery’s later work sometimes seem mannered: a quirk that gradually became a habit. But even the latest works at DC Moore show some wondrously deft observations. In the pencil drawing “Sally on the Jetty” (1957), for instance, tones shift tellingly from the figure’s broad, deeply shadowed back to the sunlit rock beneath—a rock rendered as bare paper, yet somehow maintaining its massive weight. In a moment the viewer discovers a bare foot (improbably close to an elbow), a distant, angling boat and a buoy on the horizon—each a precise note beneath a sky captured with a few mere wisps of clouds. One senses an extraordinary wholeness and the artist meandering, happily but incisively, towards it. Milton Avery, at DC Moore Gallery, through Oct. 3. 724 5th Ave. (betw. W. 56th & W. 57th Sts.), 212247-2111.

Elmer Bischoff: Figurative Drawings from the 1960s Though one of the leading Bay Area Figurative Painters, Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991) has sometimes

been overshadowed by his colleagues David Park and Richard Diebenkorn. Currently hanging in George Adams’ drawing gallery, a small but choice selection of his works on paper reminds us he was second to none as a draftsman. Four drawings executed in charcoal (sometimes in combination with ink) all date from 1960-65, a period during which Bischoff, Park and Diebenkorn regularly met to draw from the figure. Bischoff’s technique isn’t particularly facile—his utilitarian attack is less graceful than Diebenkorn’s—but what he builds from ink and charcoal is often remarkable. Ranging from dense contrasts to delicate shadings, his tones impart weight to the illumination of the events before him: to a model settling into a chair, or propped on her elbows or standing, pillar-like, next to a mirror. In one drawing from 1964, the model palpably absorbs light as she sinks against the opposing diagonal of a couch. A harsh shadow empathetically fixes the attitude of the head, while close by her hand emerges into the light, a knot of brightness among shadows. Not often is such acumen brought to the unadorned. The process is all the more poignant for its lack of decorum—for Bischoff’s business-like technique, and the model’s squinting boredom amidst so many studio props. The installation also includes a work in watercolor and gouache (ca. 1960) that brings the warmth of color to the rendering of light. Here, the pale pinks and yellows of skin tones contrast seductively with background blues. I found myself returning, however, to the drawings, which, confined to leaner means, felt more urgent in their descriptions. Sometimes limitations can be liberating. (JG) Elmer Bischoff, at George Adams Gallery, through Oct. 31. 525 W. 26th St (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-564-8480.

Courtesy of George Adams Gallery, NYC. Photo by Adam Reich.

COLOR - TIME - SPACE

James Biderman Laurie Fendrich Julie Gross Ben La Rocco Gary Petersen Kazimira Rachfal Jennifer Riley Yvonne Thomas Kim Uchiyama Stephen Westfall Thornton Willis Kevin Wixted

Courtesy DC Moore Gallery

Lohin Geduld in conjunction with Janet Kurnatowski present:

Elmer Bischoff’s ‘Nude in Chair’

Gabriel Phipps: Tectonics Painters as varied as Mondrian, Klee and Sean Scully have probed the possibilities of a particular idiom: grids of colored rectangles. In his first, promising exhibition at Howard Scott, the 39-year-old Gabriel Phipps proves that it still has much to offer. At a glance, his 11 canvases emit an amiable funkiness, their slightly rounded rectangles suggesting irregularly stacked blocks. Their somewhat scruffy pinks, blues and grays recall the faux-clumsiness of late Guston, though Phipp’s surfaces are more self-conscious, with strategic streakings and scrapings of paint. Indeed, the funky style belies a certain savviness, because the rectangles hum with implications of volume, depth and figure/ground relationships. Their rhythms can be quite compelling, with sequences persuasively filling the larger, six-foot-wide canvases, and imparting density to smaller ones. The artist’s curiosity manifests itself in constant, subtle aberrations. In “Landscape Blue III” (2009), hints of perspective lines and a ground plane stir up physical sensations of depth. The circulation in “Red, White, Black and Blue” (2007) pauses at one point for a strange,

Courtesy Howard Scott Gallery

Gabriel Phipps, ‘Landscape Blue II’

H-shaped congealing of rectangles. In the blue depths of “Gun Slinger” (2009), the rectangles become a kind of cheery shrapnel, enclosing the viewer like a giant snow globe. The blending mauve-gray planes of “Atlas” (2005), on the other hand, present an impenetrably thick space. Particularly effective are a pair of paintings suggesting frontal views of C-clamps. Cartoonish in aspect, they nevertheless unfold with the gravity of portraits; “Cutback II” (2009) resolves in the final, single block of red that could be either a head or a cap. Phipp’s goofy subject matter brings nothing new to Chelsea, but his intentions refresh. To a gratifying extent, he manipulates formal elements instead of the audience. It turns out that when his paintings speak, we’re intrigued to listen. Gabriel Phipps: Tectonics at Howard Scott Gallery, through Oct. 3. 529 W. 20th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 646-486-7004.

Yigal Ozeri: Desire for Anima Something about redheads is uncomfortably vulgar. They seem somehow exposed even before getting naked. Yigal Ozeri takes his fascination with young, nubile women with red locks to the

extreme in his photo-realistic oil paintings that harken back to Pre-Raphaelite eroticism. His tiny brushstrokes are all but invisible, but the extreme dedication and attention paid by Ozeri to their most intimate areas as the young, ostensibly innocent women frolic and prance, childlike through weeds and meadows mutates into a disturbing message about male desire. The fact that he has turned his own gaze back at the viewer—many of the women seem to challenge or mock while otherwise unhindered by worldly wants—seems to be a sort of apology for such obvious lust for these ladies. Ozeri’s process is so painstaking (he says he uses a photo crew to record his subjects before using that documentation while painting) that it verges on the exploitative. Why redheads—skin translucent, hair ablaze—have such a power on the Israeli artist, why he sees them as the essential woman, is probably more complicated than even his shrink could suss out. The fact that a middle-aged man would steeped in a photo-realistic style should lavish such attention on young women, however, may be a lesson in male eroticism that almost seems redundant in our hi-def TV times. (Jackie Benjamin) Yigal Ozeri, Despire for Anima at Mike Weiss Gallery, through Oct. 24. 520 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-691-6899.

Elliott Green: Personified Abstraction The colorful blobs and shapes in New York artist Elliott Green’s current crop of paintings are reassuring in the almost retro feel: biomorphic shapes in bright, happy greens, pinks and blues make us think of lava lamps and a bath of innocuous alien fluids. Imagine if Francis Bacon’s nightmarish figures never occurred, instead they got really trippy and decided to chill out and let go of all metaphoric possibilities. Perhaps, it’s the natural progression; Green grew tired of viewers telling him what his paintings reminded them of, so he took out the possibility of any sort of facial resemblances or potential references. With titles like “When Flesh Meets Mist” and “Lemmonny Soap,” it may be a surrealistic jab at the psyche meant to leave us a little unbalanced. The tacit implication that he is trying to squirm away from responsibility in playful bursts of creativity is too bad: Green remains a talented painter, he simply needs to find a subject that truly inspires. (JB) Elliott Green: Personified Abstraction at D’Amelio Terras, through Oct. 31. 525 W. 22nd St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-352-9460.

Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick Euphrosynias Ulpias. Terrestrial globe, 1542. Copper, wood. New-York Historical Society. Gift of John David Wolfe.

Gallery Information 212 501 3023 18 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024 W bgc.bard.edu

Yigal Ozeri’s ‘Untitled; Jessica in the park’

September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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DecorativeARTS

AVENUE Shows Antiques & Art at the Armory

An English George III Perfume Neccessaire, Circa 1765 The Antique Enamel Company

Defined by Quality & Design

THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY 643 PARK AVENUE,NYC December 3-6, 2009 For show information please visit:

www.avenueshows.com or call 646.442.1627 LIMITED EXHIBITOR SPACE AVAILABLE: please call 212.284.9728 for details. 18

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

Below the Surface Challenging you to understand and appreciate the decorative arts BY BRICE BROWN Have you ever swooned over the delicate handle on a French 18th-century teacup? Been stupefied by the colorful, highly precise detail of Qing Dynasty enamels? Found yourself more focused on the ornately carved polychrome cherubs of a 17th-century Spanish frame than on the picture inside it? Or, does the very mention of decorative arts or antiques cause you to squirm, recalling fusty memories of grandparent’s off-limits china cabinet? Do objects like the ones mentioned above even appear anywhere in your mental art-rolodex? You might just regard these pieces as trapped in history’s amber and irrelevant to any contemporary art dialogue (you’d be wrong, though). My guess is most readers will fall somewhere in the middle: While not outright dismissive—of course, appreciating a certain quality of craftsmanship—they are nonetheless not convinced these objects have the visual power and historical importance of, say, a de Kooning painting. Some semantic clarification is in order here. The term decorative art, though curiously pejorative sounding, is a more accurate descriptor for objects—both new and old—that are not paintings or sculptures but contain a high level of design. The word “antiques,” though more commonly used, is actually too generic and refers primarily to an object’s age, not artistic quality. A Mason jar can be an antique. I’ll admit my first introduction to the decorative arts was met with a wary eye, as I considered most of these objects as pretty things, but bearing no influence on my ideas about the visual arts. It took a lot of time and convincing for me to broaden my aesthetic parameters, which, though not suffering from a lack of curiosity, were firmly and exclusively grounded in all things modern and contemporary. But once I gave myself over to the deep, unexpected visual surprises of these works, I quickly realized two things. First, decorative arts objects are not ossified relics, but fluid historical markers steeped in the time and place of their making. When you look at Josef Hoffmann’s stark yet graceful reduction of all form to the square, you are witnessing a society’s attempt to shed it’s past –– barnacled with decorative flourish –– and move into abstraction’s promise of a modern utopian society. Appreciating Hoffmann’s furniture, tabletop

items and architecture also helps flesh out the larger art historical timeline, making it very clear Mondrian’s march toward the grid did not arrive out of a vacuum. I also realized that, although I looked at a lot of art, very little seeing was taking place–– and this is a subtle, yet crucial, distinction. You can look at something for surface decoration or formal qualities, or simply because it pleases your eye. If you are looking at something, presumably you want to know more about it, but at what point does looking become seeing? Seeing is active, investigative, engaging with an object and not simply gathering visual data. Looking at an object is easy; seeing it is work. So, all this to say, I am throwing down the gauntlet with this new monthly A piece of Maiolica from the Frick Collection exhibit.

column, challenging you to look with fresh eyes at the decorative arts. It’s my hope that two things will happen: any stigma of these works as dead, old, stale or irrelevant will be removed and these works’ important relationship to modern and contemporary art will be ferreted out. A cursory glance at the fall season’s upcoming exhibitions promises a varied and exciting range, and shows to look for on the near horizon include Il Mobile Italiano, which opened Sept. 10 at Sebastian + Barquet; Exuberant Grotesques: Renaissance Maiolica from the Fontana Workshop, opening Sept. 15 at The Frick; Imperial Privilege: Vienna Porcelain of Du Paquier, 1718-44, opening Sept. 22 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Serizawa: Master of Japanese Textile Design, opening Oct. 9 at the Japan Society. And lots of non-musuem events are also gearing up––such as The Modern Show, AVENUE Antiques & Art at the Armory, The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show and The Winter Antique Show, as well as the city-wide Asia Art Week––providing even more venues for viewing high-quality decorative arts, often showcasing pieces shuffling off into private collections never be shown publicly again. So saddle up, we’re going for the long ride.

ArtsAGENDA GALLERIES Gallery listings courtesy of

CLAIRE OLIVER GALLERY: Nezaket Ekici: Kopfsonate.

Through Oct. 10, 513 W. 26th St., 212-9295949. CUBAN ART SPACE: Montebravo, Carnaval!. Through Oct. 24, 231 W. 29th St. , #401, 212-242-0559. CULTURAL SERVICES OF THE FRENCH EMBASSY: In-Eyes, Works by Juliette Binoche. Through Oct. 9, 972 Fifth Ave., 212-439-1469. CUNY GRADUATE CENTER: Silent Pictures. Through Oct. 11, 365 5th Ave., 212-817-8157. DCKT CONTEMPORARY: Josh Azzarella, Untitled #100 (Fantasia). Through Oct. 11, 195 Bowery, 212741-9955. DEITCH PROJECTS (18 WOOSTER ST): Tara Auerbach, Here and Now / And Nowhere. Through Oct. 17, 18 Wooster St., 212-343-7300. DORFMAN PROJECTS: Ray Smith, Exquisite Corpse 2009. Through Oct. 17, 529 W. 20th St., 7th Floor, 212-352 -2272. E-FLUX: If You Lived Here Still…. Through Oct. 31, 41 Essex St., 212-619-3356. ENGLISH KILLS ART GALLERY: The Gnastic Pursuit. Through Oct. 11, 114 Forrest St., ground floor, Brooklyn, 718-366-7323. FIGUREWORKS: Cult of Michael Jackson. Through Oct. 31, 168 N. 6th St., Brooklyn, 718-486-7021. FIVEMYLES: Fortune Tellers. Through Oct. 18, 558 St. Johns Pl., Brooklyn, 718-783-4438. FOXY PRODUCTION: Abstract Abstract. Through Oct. 10, 623 W. 27th St., ground floor, 212-239-2758. FRANKLIN 54 GALLERY & PROJECTS: Laura Duggan: Faces & Figures. Through Sept. 26, 526 W. 26th St. 917-821-0753. FREDERIEKE TAYLOR GALLERY: Federico Diaz, Adhesion. Through Oct. 17, 535 W. 22nd St., 6th Floor, 646-230-0992. FRONT ROOM GALLERY: Stephen Mallon, Brace For Im-

106 GREEN: Whitey On The Moon. Through Oct.

11, 106 Green St., Brooklyn, www.106green. blogspot.com. ACA GALLERIES: New York: Then and Now. Through Oct. 10. Susan Malloy: Visions of New York. Through Oct. 10, 529 W. 20th St., 212-2068080. A.M. RICHARD FINE ART: Derek Stroup, Station Pieces. Through Oct. 11, 328 Berry St., 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, 917-570-1476. AMADOR GALLERY: Keizo Kitajima, The Joy of Portraits. Through Nov. 7, 41 E. 57 St., 6th Floor, 212-759-6740. ANNAKUSTERA: Orit Ben-Shitrit, Aleksandar Duravcevic, Dejan Kaludjerovic. Through Oct. 17, 520 W. 21st St., 212-989-0082. ARARIO GALLERY: Osang Gwon, Deodorant Type. Through Oct. 24, 521 W. 25th St., 212-2062760. ATLANTIC GALLERY: Peggy Fox Retrospective. Through Oct. 3. Pamela Talese: Rust Never Sleeps. Opens Oct 6, 135 W. 29th St., 212-2193183. BERNARD GOLDBERG FINE ARTS: Gallery Selections. Through Sept. 31, 667 Madison Ave., 212- 8139797. BLUE MOUNTAIN GALLERY: Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh, Arctic Ice Melt: Moulins Of My Mind. Through Oct. 3, 530 W. 25th St., 646-486-4730. BOWERY GALLERY: Anne Delaney. Through Oct. 3, 530 W. 25th St., 646-230-6655. CANADA GALLERY: Spaced Out / On Time. Through Oct. 11, 55 Chrystie St., 212-925-4631. CAVIN-MORRIS GALLERY: Essentially Us. Through Oct. 17, 210 11th Ave., 212-226-6768.

pact: the aftermath of flight 1549. Through Oct. 11, 147 Roebling St., Brooklyn, 718-782-2556. GALLERY CANTELMO: Kiyoshi Niiyama, The Pearlette Age. Through Oct. 9, 55 W. 39th St., Suite 204, 212-244-4600. GALLERY HANAHOU: Tina Berning, The Passengers. Through Oct. 9, 611 Broadway, Suite 730, 646486-6586. GEORGE BILLIS GALLERY: Alejandro Mazon. Through Oct. 31, 531 W. 25th St., 212-645-2621. GOFF + ROSENTHAL: Type A, Ruled. Through Oct. 17, 537 W. 23rd St., 212-675-0461. HARRIS LIEBERMAN GALLERY: Lisa Oppenheim. Through Oct. 10, 89 Vandam St., 212-206-1290. HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT, ABRONS ARTS CENTER: Jayson Keeling, Behind the Green Door. Through Oct. 24, 466 Grand St., 212-598-0400, ext. 202. INVISIBLE-EXPORTS: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, 30 Years of Being Cut Up. Through Oct. 18, 14A Orchard St., 212-226-5447. JACK THE PELICAN PRESENTS: Andrew Erdos & Carol Kane. Through Oct. 11, 487 Driggs Ave., Brooklyn, 718-782-0183.

KATHARINA RICH PERLOW GALLERY: Realism and Almost

Realism Part 2. Through Sept. 29. American Abstractions Part 2. Opens Oct. 1, 41 E. 57th St., 212-644-7171. KATE WERBLE GALLERY: Seven in One! Seven in One-Third!! Through Oct. 10, 83 Vandam St., 212-352-9700. KATHRYN MARKEL FINE ARTS: Trine Bumiller: New Work—Half Light. Through Oct. 10, 529 W. 20th St., 212-366-5368. KENTLER INTERNATIONAL DRAWING CENTER: Re-inventing Silverpoint: An Ancient Technique for the 21st Century. Through Oct. 18, 353 Van Brunt St., Brooklyn, 718-875-2098. KLAUS VON NICHTSSAGEND GALLERY: David Gilbert, Ian Pedigo, Jessica Stockholder. Through Oct. 11, 438 Union Ave., Brooklyn, 718-383-7309. KLOMPCHING GALLERY: Simon Roberts’, We English. Through Oct. 23, 111 Front St., Suite 206, Brooklyn, 212-796-2070. LAST RITES GALLERY: Scott G. Brooks & Jeff McMillan. Through Oct. 11, 511 W. 33rd St., 3rd floor, 212-529-0666.

BARGEMUSIC “the perfect chamber music hall” –Allan Kozinn,

PRESENTS

The New York Times

Some Highlights of This Fall Season

Please see our calendar online for details

Beethoven String Quartets 1-6, THIS SEASON’S FREE GALLERY WALKS INCLUDE:

SEPT. 10 ɷ OCT. 1 ɷ NOV. 5 ɷ DEC. 3 ɷ JAN. 7 ɷ FEB. 4 ɷ MAR. 4 ɷ APR. 1 ɷ MAY 6 ɷ JUNE 3

Op. 18 & All 32 Sonatas for Piano Solo. Trios by Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Schubert, Shostakovich and more. Bach French & English Suites, Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1, Brahms Clarinet Quintet, DvoĢák Dumky Trio & Quintets by Mendelssohn & Shostakovich. Plus presentations of groundbreaking new works as part of our critically acclaimed “Here and Now” Series.

Brooklyn’s artsy, waterfront neighborhood keeps its doors open late for evenings of gallery exhibits, performances, screenings, curatorial discussions, artist talks & drink specials starting at 5:30pm.

[With] a small stage and stunning views of the lower Manhattan skyline, a night at this venue is quite unlike listening to chamber music in any other setting.”

CHECK INDIVIDUAL WEBSITES FOR UP-TO-DATE INFO

A.I.R. GALLERY AMOS ENO GALLERY ASWOON GALLERY BOSE PACIA BROOKLYN ART PROJECT BROOKLYN ARTS COUNCIL CAPTION GALLERY CENTRAL BOOKING DUMBO ARTS CENTER FARMANI GALLERY

GALAPAGOS ART SPACE GIACOBETTI-PAUL GALLERY HENRY GREGG GALLERY KLOMPCHING GALLERY KRIS GRAVES PROJECTS MAGASIN TOTALE MELVILLE HOUSE POSSIBLE PROJECTS POWERHOUSE ARENA RABBITHOLE STUDIO

RANDALL SCOTT GALLERY REBAR SMACK MELLON SPEAK LOW VII PHOTO SPRING UMBRAGE GALLERY UNDERWATER LOUNGE WATERMILL BROOKLYN GALLERY

Subway Directions: @DumboCulture411 culture411@twotrees-dumbo.com

F to York St. A C to High St. 2 3 to Clark St.

Sponsored by

TWO TREES

- Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor Mayoral Proclamation April 2, 2009

don’t miss:

PARTICIPANTS

“One of our city’s greatest cultural institutions.

JAZZ thursdays 8pm

www.bargemusic.org • 718.624.2083 • Fulton Ferry Landing September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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ArtsAGENDA SEPTEMBER BOOKS Zaha Hadid Complete Works by Zaha Hadid

Taking a break from current commissions— including an aquatics center for the 2012 London Olympics— Iraqi-born Hadid uses this book, with over 500 illustrations, to catalogue her architectural designs, including the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany, as well as furniture, interiors, sculptures and objects including bowls and jewelry. Hadid, so far the only female winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, selected the work for the book. The introduction to the 256-page survey was written by Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum—not the Contemporary Art Center, for which Hadid designed a building in 1998.

Governors Island, the Jewel of New York Harbor by Ann J. Buttenweiser

Image courtesy of the artist

Daniel Gordon’s “Nude Portrait,” in MoMA’s New Photography 2009, opening Sept. 30. LESLEY HELLER GALLERY: Lothar Osterburg. Through

Oct. 17. Sara Sosnowy. Through Oct. 17, 16 E. 77th St., 212-410-6120. LESLIE TONKONOW ARTWORKS + PROJECTS: Tracey Baran, Pictures of Tracey. Through Oct. 17, 535 W. 22nd St., 6th floor, 212-255-8450. LESLIE/LOHMAN GALLERY: San Francisco: The Making of a Queer Mecca. Through Oct. 23, 26 Wooster St., 212-431-2609. LIKE THE SPICE: Eric LoPresti, Fade. Through Oct. 11, 224 Roebling St., Brooklyn, 718-388-5388. LOCATION ONE: Virtual Residency Project 2.0: Levels of Undo. Through Oct. 31, 26 Greene St., 212334-3347. LOHIN GEDULD GALLERY: Color Time Space, a group exhibition. Through Oct. 10, 531 W. 25th St., 212-675-2656. LUHRING AUGUSTINE GALLERY: Janine Antoni, Up Against. Through Oct. 24, 531 W. 24th St., 212-206-9100. MACCARONE GALLERY: Wood. Through Oct. 24, 630 Greenwich St., 212-431-4977. MARIAN SPORE: Untitled (fault). Through Dec. 31, 55 33rd St., Brooklyn, 646-620-7758. MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY: Anthony Pearson. Through Oct. 10, 509 W. 24th St., 212-6809889. MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY: Vincent Fecteau. Through Oct. 24, 523 W. 24th St., 212-243-0200. MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY: Rebecca Warren, Feelings.

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City Arts | www.cityarts.info

Through Oct. 24, 522 W. 22nd St., 212-2430200. MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY: Peter Hujar, Photographs 1956-1958. Through Oct. 24, 526 W. 22nd St., 212-243-0200. MIKE WEISS GALLERY: Yigal Ozeri, “Desire for Anima.” Through Oct. 24, 520 W. 24th St., 212-691-6899. MITCHELL-INNES & NASH: Enoc Perez, New Paintings of Architectural Landmarks. Through Oct. 10, 534 W. 26th St., Chelsea, 212-744-7400. MORGAN LEHMAN GALLERY: Alix Smith, States of Union. Through Oct. 10, 317 10th Ave., 212-2686699. NABI GALLERY: Water and Sky: Paintings by Ralph Carpentier, Anne Seelbach, and Susan Sugar. Through Oct. 17, 137 W. 25th St., 212-9296063. NICOLE KLAGSBRUN GALLERY: Brendan Fowler, James Hyde, and Jacob Kassay. Through Oct. 31, 526 W. 26th St., 212-243-3335. NOHO GALLERY: Tina Rohrer: Colored Squared III. Through Oct. 3, 530 W. 25th St., 212-367-7063. NURTUREART: PLAN B. Through Oct. 24, 910 Grand St., Brooklyn, 718-782-7755. PARTICIPANT INC.: My Barbarian, The Night Epi$ode. Through Oct. 18, 253 E. Houston St., 212-2544334. PIEROGI 2000: Jane Fine, Glad All Over. Through Oct. 11, 177 N. 9th St., Brooklyn, 718-599-2144.

POSTMASTERS GALLERY: Anthony Goicolea. Through

Oct. 17, 459 W. 19th St., 212-727-3323. PRAXIS: Open Secrets, Recent Photographs by Luis

Mallo. Through Oct. 10, 25 E. 73rd St., 212772-9478. PRINCE STREET GALLERY: David K. Gordon: Recent Paintings, Pastels, Prints. Through Oct. 3, 530 W. 25th St., 646-230-0246. PRISKA C. JUSCHKA FINE ART: Jade Townsend: Sick, Sick Wind. Through Oct. 17, 547 W. 27th St., 212-244-4320. RAANDESK GALLERY OF ART: Unsettled Beauty: New Paintings by Jeff Huntington. Through Oct. 30, 16 W. 23rd St., 212.696.7432. RANDALL SCOTT GALLERY : David DiMichele, Pseudodocumentation; Chris Anthony, Stages; Lara Jo Regan, Project Room. Through Oct. 17, 111 Front St., Brooklyn, 202.332.0806. RENWICK GALLERY: Talia Chetrit, Reading. Through Oct. 17, 45 Renwick St., 212-609-3535. RONALD FELDMAN FINE ARTS: Allan Wexler, Overlook. Through Oct. 24, 31 Mercer St., 212-226-3232. SALON 94 FREEMANS: Carter – And Within Area Although. Through Oct. 24, 1 Freeman Alley, 646-672-9212. SCARAMOUCHE: Jonathan VanDyke, The Hole in the Palm of Your Hand. Through Nov. 1, 53 Stanton St., 212-228-2229. SCHROEDER ROMERO: Play It Forward. Through Oct. 24, 637 W. 27th St., 212-630-0722.

This may be the year of Nutten Island, as Governors Island was once known, with all the attention and love that has been showered on the little land mass located just beyond Wall Street. You won’t know the full story, however, without this compendium of maps, plans, photographs and anecdotes. The beautiful, full-color book weaves together the history of the island with items, such as quirky postcards and obscure blueprints. As the city continues to decide what to do with its strange parcel of land, this book will be an essential guide to its continued evolution in the minds of New Yorkers.

John Cage: Zen Ox-Herding Pictures by Stephen Addiss and Ray Kass

Fifty watercolor images by artist and composer Cage will be published for the first time in this attractive book. Paired with lines of Cage’s poetry and examining the influence of Zen Buddhism in his life, these works were created in 1988 and archived by Kass, who ran the workshop in which they were made. Oxherding is a traditional focus of Buddhist art, and while Cage’s work is nothing if not abstract—no oxen to be seen here, folks—the way Addiss and Kass pair it with his words makes for a calming and rewarding experience.

Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward by Richard Cleary

The Guggenheim museum celebrated the 50th anniversary of its iconic New York building this year by mounting an impressive exhibition of its architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. This book collects the drawings, plans, photographs and models of more than 200 projects by America’s most well-known pioneer in form and function. While it may not be a definitive edition (don’t expect to find the beloved Falling Water or other welltraveled accomplishments), it does include many less-known works that were never realized, such as the plans for the redevelopment of Baghdad, Iraq. It also includes writings by Wright scholars and serves as a re-evaluation of his contributions to architecture and the built world.

Through Nov. 1, 301 Broome St., 212-431-1105. SLOAN FINE ART: Eric White, LP. Through Oct. 10, 128 Rivington St., 212-477-1140. SPUTNIK GALLERY: Alexey Salmanov, Dance | Trash | Glamour. Through Oct. 10, 547 W. 27th, 212695-5747. SUE SCOTT GALLERY: Franklin Evans: 2008/2009 < 2009/2010. Through Oct. 24, 1 Rivington St., 212-358-8767. THE ERNEST RUBINSTEIN GALLERY AT THE EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCE: The Better Half. Through Oct. 29, 197

E. Broadway, 212-780-2300. THE JOURNAL GALLERY: Ida Ekblad. Through Oct. 25,

168 N. 1st St., Brooklyn, 718-218-7148. THE KITCHEN: One Minute More: Kate Gilmore, Jamie Isenstein, Oliver Lutz, Clifford Owens, Georgia Sagri, Aki Sasamoto and Josh Tonsfeldt. Through Oct. 31, 512 W. 19th St., 212-255-5793. TRACY WILLIAMS, LTD.: Jennifer Nocon, Bloodsucker. Through Oct. 31, 313 W. 4th St., 212-229-2757. UBS ART GALLERY: Jack Tworkov, Against Extremes – Five Decades of Painting. Through Oct. 27, 1285 6th Ave., 212-713-2885. VON LINTEL GALLERY: Joseph Stashkevetch, Hudson Sketches. Trough Oct. 10, 520 W. 23rd St., 212242-0599. WHITE COLUMNS: Registered – Elena Bajo, Margarida Correia, Gregg Evans, Claudia Weber. Through Oct. 24, 320 W. 13th St., 212-924-4212. WINKLEMAN GALLERY: Andy Yoder Man Cave. Through Oct. 24, 637 W. 27th St., 212-6433152.

AUCTION HOUSES CHRISTIE’S: Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art.

Sept. 14 & 15, 4. American Paintings. Sept. 29, 10 a.m. 20 Rockefeller Plz., 212-636-2000. DOYLE NEW YORK: Doyle at Home. Sept. 16, 10 a.m. 19th and 20th Century Decorative Arts. Sept. 23, 10 a.m. The Estate of Beverly Sills. Oct. 7, 10 a.m. 175 E. 87th St., 212-427-2730. SOTHEBY’S: South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art. Sept. 17, 10 a.m. Contemporary Art. Sept. 24, 10 a.m. American Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture. Sept. 30, 10 a.m. 1334 York Ave., 212-606-7414. SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES: Printed & Manuscript Americana. Sept. 17, 1:30. 19th & 20th Century Prints and Drawings. Sept. 24, 10:30 a.m. and 2:30. African-American Fine Art. Oct. 1, 6. 104 E. 25th St., 212-254-4710.

ART EVENTS AVENUE ANTIQUES & ART AT THE ARMORY: Antiques and

art for sale from dozens of well known dealers and galleries. Opening night is a beneďŹ t for American Cancer Society. Dec. 3 through 6, Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Ave., 646-4421626; times vary, $20, beneďŹ t tickets are $150 and up. BAM NEXT WAVE FESTIVAL: The cutting edge festival enters its 27th season with a line-up of contemporary performance, artist talks, literature, ďŹ lm and visual art, including contributions from Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Juliette Binoche and more. Sept. 15 through Dec. 18, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, 718-636-4100. THE KITCHEN BLOCK PARTY: A family-friendly street festival featuring dozens of artist-led activity booths, workshops, and live performances. Sept. 26, West 19th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues; noon to 5, FREE.

MUSEUMS ABC NO RIO: Hanging Out at ABC No Rio. Opens

Sept. 25, 156 Rivington St., 212-254-3697. BARD GRADUATE CENTER: Dutch New York Between

East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick. Opens Sept. 18, 18 W. 86th St., 212-5013023. BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Living and Learning: Pages of the Past: The Breukelen Adventures of Jasper Danckaerts. Through Jan. 2010, Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St., Brooklyn, 718-222-4111. BRONX MUSEUM: Intersections: The Grand Concourse Commissions. Through Jan. 2010, 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, 718-681-6000. BROOKLYN MUSEUM: Yinka Shonibare MBE. Through Sept. 20, 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn, 718638-5000. CHELSEA ART MUSEUM: Carlo Zanni: Flying False Colors. Opens Oct. 1, 556 W. 22nd St., 212-2550719. COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM: Design for a Living World. Ten designers found eco-friendly materials to explore design and the environment. Through Jan. 2010, 2 E. 91st St., 212-849-8400. THE FRICK COLLECTION: Exuberant Grotesques: Renaissance Maiolica from the Fontana Workshop. Opens Sept. 15, 1 E. 70th St., 212-288-0700. JEWISH MUSEUM: Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish Life, explores the many new Jewish rituals since the mid1990s. Rite Now: Sacred and Secular in Video. Through Feb. 7, 1109 5th Ave., 212-423-3200. THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: Roxy Paine on the Roof: A 130-foot long, 45-foot wide metal sculpture displayed on the Met’s rooftop. Through Oct. 25. Surface Tension: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection. Opens Sept.15, 1000 5th Ave., 212-535-7710. THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM: New at the Morgan: Acquisitions Since 2004. Over 100 works including drawings, texts, manuscripts and rare printed books and bindings. Through Oct. 18, 225 Madison Ave., 212-685-0008. MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FINANCE: Woman of Wall Street. Through Jan. 2010, 48 Wall St., 212-908-4110. MUSEUM OF ART AND DESIGN: Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection. Opens Sept. 30. Slash: Paper Under the Knife. Opens Oct. 7, 2 Columbus Cir., 212-299-7777. MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE: Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges. Through Jan 4, 36 Battery Pl., 646437-4200. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: New Photography 2009: Walead Beshty, Daniel Gordon, Leslie Hewitt, Carter Mull, Sterling Ruby, Sara VanDerBeek. Opens Sept. 30, 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-9400. MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: The Edge of New York: Waterfront Photographs. Through Nov. 29, 1220 5th Ave., 212-534-1672. NATIONAL ACADEMY MUSEUM: ReconďŹ guring the Body in American Art, 1820-2009. Through Nov. 15, 5 E. 89th St., 212-996-1908. NEUE GALERIE: Focus: Oskar Kokoschka: Through oil portraits, drawings and graphic works that were created for the Wiener Werkstätte show Kokoschka’s movement from Jugendstil to Expressionism. Through Oct. 5, 1048 5th Ave., 212-628-6200. NEW MUSEUM: Intersections Intersected: The Photography of David Goldblatt. Through Oct. 11. Emory Douglas: Black Panther. Dorothy Ionnone: Lioness. Through Oct. 18, 235 Bowery, 212-219-1222. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: Mapping New York’s Shoreline, 1609-2009. A celebration of the

Susan Malloy, 59th Street Bridge

SIMON PRESTON GALLERY: Caragh Thuring, Assembly.

Susan Malloy: Visions of New York New York: Then and Now Through October 10

529 W 20th St. 212 206 8080 acagalleries.com

Trine Bumiller New Work-Half Light Through October 10 Mnemonic, 2009, Oil on canvas, 5 parts, 54 x 72 inches

KATHRYN MARKEL FINE ARTS

212 366 5368 | markelfinearts.com 529 W. 20th St. | Tues-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-6

“The Easels�

Meet the Art/Meet the Artist Featuring works by AJ Nadel, Curated by Elisa Pritzker Guest Moderator: Dominique Nahas, Independent Curator and Critic

September 24th, 6-8P

FRANKLIN 54 GALLERY + PROJECTS 526 West 26th St. #403 | 917-821-0753 | franklin54@rcn.com ERIC SLOANE (1905-1985)

GREEN RIVER GALLERY SINCE 1975

SPECIALIZING IN WORKS BY ERIC SLOANE AND AMERICAN ART OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES 1578 Boston Corners Road Millerton, NY 12546 518-789-3311 Open Saturday 10-5, Sunday 12-5, or by appointment

Winter Sun, oil on masonite, 18 x 30 in

Tina Rohrer Color Squared III Through October 3 Colorful, abstract, geometric acrylic paintings and works on paper.

530 W. 25th St., 4th Fl. (betw 10 & 11th Aves.) 212-367-7063 www.nohogallery.com

Laura Duggan: Faces & Figures

Through September 26th Reception: September 17th, 6-9P

FRANKLIN 54 GALLERY + PROJECTS 526 West 26th St. #403 | 917-821-0753 | franklin54@rcn.com

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ArtsAGENDA PACIFICA QUARTET: Performing works by Mozart,

Janacek and Brahms. Oct. 24, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., 212-570-3949; 7, $45. JULLIARD BAROQUE: Debuting the Julliard School’s new period-instrument faculty ensemble with an all-Bach concert. Oct. 27, Paul Hall, 155 W. 65th St., 212-769-7406; 8, FREE TILL FELLNER: Performing Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas. Oct. 30, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., 212-570-3949; 7, $45. YALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC: King of Swing: A Festival Celebrating Benny Goodman’s 100th Birthday. Sept. 26, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212-2477800; 7:30, $10 and up. Courtesy of ACA Galleries

Lizbeth Mitty’s “El Summertime #1,” part of New York: Then and Now at ACA Galleries. 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival in New York Harbor, featuring maps, atlases, books, journals, broadsides, manuscripts, prints and photographs. Opens Sept. 25, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, 917-275-6975. NOGUCHI MUSEUM: Noguice ReINstalled. Through Oct. 24, 33rd Road at Vernon Boulevard, Queens, 718-721-2308. RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART: Mandala: The Perfect Circle. An exploration of Himalayan Buddhism’s everpresent symbols. Through Jan 11. A Collector’s Passion. Work from Dr. David Nalin’s collection. Through Nov. 9, 150 W. 17th St., 212-620-5000. SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK: EAF09: 2009 Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition. Through March 7, 32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Queens, 718-956-1819. SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: Intervals: Kandinsky. The first major American retrospective of the artist’s work since the 1980s. Through Jan. 13, 1071 5th Ave., 212-423-3500. STUDIO MUSEUM OF HARLEM: Collected. Hurvin Anderson: explores the places that Caribbean immigrants inhabited in London in the 1950s and ‘60s through rich paintings. Through Oct. 25, 144 W. 125th St., 212-864-4500. SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MUSEUM: New Amsterdam: The Island at the Center of the World. Through Jan. 2010, 12 Fulton St., 212-748-8651.

What Bleeds into the Imagination

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: Georgia O’Keeffe:

Abstraction. Opens Sept. 17. Steve Wolfe on Paper. Opens Sept. 30, 945 Madison Ave., 212-570-3600.

CLASSICAL MUSIC & OPERA BARGEMUSIC: There and Then: Road from Valencia:

Music and words from the Sephardic journey through Renaissance Europe, featuring The New York Consort of Viols. Sept. 25, Fulton Ferry Landing, Brooklyn, 718-624-2083; 8, $40. NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC: The New York Philharmonic’s opening night gala features the world premiere of Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg’s “Expo” conducted by Alan Gilbert, world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming singing Messiaen and Berlioz’s spectacular orchestra showpiece. Sept. 16, Avery Fischer Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plz., 212-721-6500; 7:30, $71 and up. NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC: Alan Gilbert conducts Mahler’s Third Symphony with mezzo-soprano Petra Lang, the Women of the Westminster Symphonic Choir and The American Boychoir. Sept. 17 through 19, Avery Fischer Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plz., 212-721-6500; times vary, $34 and up. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: Opens its 2009-2010 season with Puccini’s Tosca featuring Karita Mattila singing the title role for the first time outside her

native Finland, James Levine conducting and Luc Bondy making his directorial Met debut. Sept. 21, Metropolitan Opera, 212-362-6000, 6:30, $75 and up. FRANK PETER ZIMMERMANN: Joins the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for an evening featuring Brahms’s Violin Concerto and Schoenberg’s Pelleas and Melisande. Sept. 24 through 26, Avery Fischer Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plz., 212-7216500; times vary, $29 and up. EMANUEL AX: Performing Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The night also features Alan Gilbert conducting works by Lindberg and Ives. Sept. 30, Oct. 1 & 3, Avery Fischer Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plz., 212-721-6500; times vary, $31 and up. BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: Performing under the direction of James Levine and featuring pianist Evgeny Kissin at the opening night gala of Carnegie Hall’s 119th season. The program includes the New York premiere of John Williams’ On Willows and Birches with BSO principal harpist Ann Hobson Pilot as featured soloist. Oct. 1, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212-247-7800, 7, $59 and up, gala tickets $800 and up. THE NEW YORK POPS: Performing Wayne Brady’s Sammy and Sam: A Tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sam Cooke featuring guest artist Wayne Brady. Oct. 9, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212247-7800; 8, $33 and up.

BOWERY GALLERY

Opening Reception Saturday, October 10, 3-6pm

ANNE DELANEY Fleeing, Escape 1

oil on canvas 36x 30 2009

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City Arts | www.cityarts.info

Reeves and Kenny Washington playing the music of Johnny Griffin. Sept. 5, Smoke Jazz & Supper Club-Lounge, 2751 Broadway, 212-8646662, times vary, $30. WOMEN IN JAZZ FESTIVAL: The fifth installment of this festival features the Amina Figarova Quintet, Renee Rosnes Quartet, Elana James & The Hot Club of Cowtown, Marian McPartland, Marlena Shaw with Sherrie Maricle & The Diva Jazz Orchestra and more. Sept. 7 through Oct. 5, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; times vary, $31 and up. RENEE ROSNES QUARTET: With Lewis Nash, Peter Washington and Steve Nelson. Sept. 8 through 13, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; times vary, $30 and up. MINGUS MONDAYS: The Mingus Big Band carries on the explosive jazz tradition of its namesake, Charles Mingus the great bassist and composer, Sept. 14, Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St., 212-5762232; 7:30, $25. TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE: Performing their blend of iconic jazz and high-energy funk rock during a two-night engagement, Sept. 17 & 18, Sullivan Hall, 214 Sullivan St., 212-505-1703; 8:30, $25. THE MATT WILSON QUARTET: Featuring Andrew D’Angelo, Jeff Lederer and Chris Lightcap, Sept. 22 & 23, Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St., 212-5762232; times vary, $20. ORNETTE COLEMAN: A night of category-defying music with a man whose explosion on the music scene in 1960 changed the course of jazz. Sept. 26, Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212721-6500; 8, $30 and up.

Landscapes en Plein Aire October 6-October 31, 2009

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11-6

ERIC ALEXANDER QUARTET: with Mike LeDonne, Nat

JUDITH LAMBERTSON

Through October 3 530 West 25 Street 4th Floor New York, New York 10001 (Tel.) 646-230-6655

JAZZ

PRINCE STREET GALLERY 530 West 25th Street 4th Floor 646-230-0246 www.princestreetgallery.org Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11-6

Windy Day Oil On Panel 8x10 inches

THE CECIL MCBEE BAND: The venerable bassist plays

his first engagement as a leader in New York City in 30 years featuring Noah Preminger, George Cables and Victor Lewis. Sept. 29 & 30, Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St., 212-5762232; times vary, $25. SMOKIN’ JAZZ SESSIONS: Monty Alexander blends the rhythms of Jamaica with the classic sound of jazz as he takes audiences on a journey from Harlem to Kingston, Oct. 2 & 3, The Allen Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; times vary, $55 and up. CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO: Blending styles from folk and pop to Gospel and hip-hop, pianist Cyrus Chestnut returns to Miller Theatre with bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Neal Smith. Oct. 9, Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, 212-8547799; 8, $7 and up. MARTY EHRLICH RITES QUARTET: Renowned saxophonist and clarinetist Ehrlich brings his Rites Quartet to Miller Theatre in celebration of their newest album. Oct. 24, Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway, 212-854-7799, 8, $7 and up. JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS: The orchestra will join Marsalis’ quintet with

tenor saxophonist Walter Blanding for a special evening featuring tap dancer Jared Grimes. Oct. 29 through 31, Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; 8, $30 and up. SINGERS OVER MANHATTAN: Famed jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves featuring guitarist Romero Lubambo. Oct. 30 & 31, The Allen Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; times vary, $55 and up.

THEATER AFTERMATH: Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, cre-

ators of The Exonerated, present a play based on interviews with Iraqis. Through Oct. 4, New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th St., 212-239-6200. AFTER MISS JULIE: A modern interpretation of August Strindberg’s classic. Instead of 1888 Sweden, this version is set in 1945 England, on the night Winston Churchill lost the general election. Through Dec. 6, American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St., 212-719-1300. BLIND LEMON BLUES: Set during Leadbelly’s last recording session, this play features blues, gospel, soul and rap. Through Oct. 4, Theatre at Saint Peters, 619 Lexington Ave., 212-935-5820. HAIR: The American Tribal Love Rock Musical: Those who danced along with the cast at Summerstage can relive the experience with Gavin Creel as the new face of Claude, and Will Swenson reprising his role as Berger. Open run, Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 W. 45th St., 212239-6200. KEEP YOUR PANTHEON / SCHOOL: A double bill of David Mamet. In Pantheon, an ancient Roman acting troupe grabs at the chance to make it big, but finds itself getting deeper into trouble. In School, we learn how to recycle, David Mamet style. Through Nov. 1, The Atlantic Theatre Company, 336 W. 20th St., 212-279-4200. LET ME DOWN EASY: From legendary performer Anna Deavere Smith, this play addresses health care and the human body, featuring text from interviews with Lance Armstrong, Anderson Cooper and Ann Richards. Through Nov. 8, Second Stage Theatre, 307 W. 43rd St., 212-246-4422.

LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE: Nora Ephron and her

sister Delia adapt Ilene Beckerman’s popular book of the same title. Through Dec. 13, Westside Theatre, 407 W. 43rd St., 212-239-6200. NEW VICTORY SCOTTISH FESTIVAL: A seven-week theater festival featuring work from four of Scotland’s leading theater companies. Through Nov. 1, New Victory Theater, 209 W. 42nd St., 646-2233010. OLEANNA: The David Mamet classic about the relationship between a male professor and his female student. Opens Oct. 11, John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., 212-239-6200. OOHRAH!: The Off-Broadway debut from Ars Nova resident playwright Bekah Brunstetter offers a fresh look at what happens when soldiers return from war. Through Sept. 27, The Atlantic Theater Company, 336 W. 20th St., 212-279-4200. OTHELLO: Peter Sellars directs this Shakespeare tragedy about jealousy. Starring John Ortiz and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Through Oct. 4, NYU Skirball Center, 566 LaGuardia Pl., 212-5398900. THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE, PART 1: The plays in this cycle by legendary playwright Horton Foote are “Roots in a Parched Ground,” “Convicts” and “Lily Dale.” Through Mar. 6, The Peter Norton Space, 555 W. 42nd St., 212-244-7529. OUR TOWN: Director David Cromer takes on Thornton Wilder’s famed show. Through Sept. 27, Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow St., 212-8684444. THE PRIDE OF PARNELL STREET: This new play by Sebastian Barry probes the disintegration of one couple’s relationship, told around the 1990 defeat of Ireland in the World Cup. Through Oct. 4, 59E59’s

Theater C, 59 E. 59th St., 212-279-4200. THE RETRIBUTIONISTS: Daniel Goldfarb’s new play

tells the story of a dysfunctional group of Jewish freedom fighters in 1946 Germany. Through Sept. 27, Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., 212-279-4200. SPINNING THE TIMES: An evening of five short works by female Irish playwrights, based on stories ripped from New York City headlines. Through Sept. 20, 59E59’s Theater C, 59 E. 59th St., 212-279-4200. SUPERIOR DONUTS: The new play from Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts, who penned last year’s August: Osage County. Opens Sept. 16, Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., 212-239-6200. TANGUERA: A musical that tells the story of a young French girl lost in Buenos Aires. Through Oct. 18, NY City Center Main Stage, 130 W. 55 St., 212-581-1212. THE UNDERSTUDY: The new comedy from Theresa Rebeck takes a look at the insanity of what goes on backstage. Through Jan. 3, Laura Pels Theatre, 1530 Broadway, 212-719-1300.

LITERARY EVENTS JOSH NEUFELD: The American Splendor illustrator

will discuss his new graphic novel, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge. Sept. 16, McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St., 212-274-1160; 7, FREE. LORRIE MOORE: Everyone’s fall literary crush will read from and sign copies of A Gate at the Stairs. Sept. 21, Barnes & Noble, 33 E. 17th St., 212253-0810; 7, FREE. STEVEN MILLHAUSER AND ANNIE PROULX: The two great authors share a stage for the first time. Sept. 24, 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., 212-4155562; 8, $10 and up.

Beginning with the issue of October 6, CityArts will publish twice a month. The following are the publication dates and deadlines through December 1. October 20 November 3 November 17 December 1

deadline October 14 deadline October 28 deadline November 11 deadline November 19

Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh ARCTIC ICE MELT: Moulins of My Mind Through abraded surfaces and turgid swirls, Kavanagh’s sculpture conveys the ominous message that global warming portends.

Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6pm Through October 03, 2009 Blue Mountain Gallery 530 West 25th Street, fourth floor New York, New York 10001 646 486 4730

www.bluemountaingallery.org September 15, 2009 | City Arts

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