cityArts October 6, 2009

OCTOBER 6, 2009 Volume 1, Issue 7 At the Galleries: Maya Lin, Raoul DeKeyser, James Brooks, et al.

Paint The Town: Met Opera Opening & the junior circuit thrives.

Separate & Unequal The Met’s exhibit of Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ reminds us of an irony-free time that we’ll never experience again.

BY DAVID FREEDLANDER n the introduction to a set of images that would later become The Americans, Walker Evans wrote about Robert Frank, his friend and protégé: “Assuredly the gods who sent Robert Frank, so heavily armed, across the United States did so with a certain smile…He shows high irony towards a nation that generally speaking has it not.”

It has been over 50 years now since Frank—with the aid of a Guggenheim grant ghostwritten by his pal Evans—was unleashed upon this continent with his Leica and his beat-up Ford, stealing hidden moments from a country stranger and younger than the one we know. Much of what is found here is as unfamiliar to contemporary viewers as it was for Frank, then a relatively recent Swiss émigré when he set off to on his project to photograph, “the people in the midst of this era of progress,” as he wrote in an early draft to the Guggenheim committee.

Inspired by documentary photographers such as Evans and Dorothea Lange, it was a radical attempt to capture on film a side the country that had otherwise been ignored. When Frank set out across the country, however, the dominant mode in photography was of the type found in the pages of Life magazine and promoted by the dominant European photographer of the times, Edward Steichen: poetic realism marked by formal clarity that tended towards the sentimental. Frank’s photographers instead are

Photograph © Robert Frank, from The Americans

I

“Rodeo—New York City, 1954” ADVERTISEMENT

www.bgfa.com

ROBERT FRANK on page 13

LetterFromtheEDITOR

0/ 4"-& /08

4 & 1 5 & . # & 3 ° 0 $ 5 0 # & 3

/&8 :03, 13&.*&3&4

*ODMVEJOH 8PSLT #Z 1&%30 "-.0%ĂŽ7"3 ."3$0

#&--0$$)*0 -&& %"/*&-4 $-"*3& %&/*4 .*$)"&- )"/&,& "-"*/ 3&4/"*4 50%% 40-0/%; -"34 70/ 53*&3 "/% .03&

It was one of the ďŹ nal Sundays in September, and I was heading with hundreds of others on the Governor’s Island ferry for the ďŹ nal evening of the New Island Festival. The culmination of the rowdy two-week event included sitespeciďŹ c performances, art installations and a 400-foot-long table on which clogged servers served up Dutch grub.

While bundled against the night chill, I realized how acclimatized I had become to the constant noise infringing on any city performance. The rumble of a train, the honk of horns or the subtle hum of some subterranean generator is ever-present during just about any New York City live event. While I sat and watched a female dancer writhe on a white makeshift stage, wood smoke wafted by, and all I heard were the chirps of crickets and the chatter of the amiable Euros that accompanied the spectacle. The creative generosity of the Dutch performers and their friends seemed to know no bounds.

But that sort of curious feeling of a spectacle blended with a distinctive space isn’t contained to our newly appreciated island refuge. At the moment, a herd of life-size sheep grazes in a Park Avenue median, along with other large-scale sculptures by the French artists Claude and François-Xavier LaLanne.

Also this past month, William Pope.L interpreted Allan Kaprow’s “Yard� 50 years later at the site of the work’s original creation: the Manhattan townhouse at 32 E. 69th St., the new home of Hauser & Wirth New York gallery. Touted as the creator of Happenings, Kaprow has been under-acknowledged in New York and its art histories (as one scholar pointed out to me). Although it may appear perverse to have a commercial gallery stage such a radical event, it is more common than ever that the best “museum� shows are taking place at our galleries.

That doesn’t mean, however, that our beloved institutions don’t have plenty of things to teach us. With Kandinsky, the Guggenheim presents a chronological look at the celebrated Abstract Expressionist. Lance Esplund, who calls the exhibit one of the most exhilarating he has seen at the museum, urges viewers to reconsider those masterful later decades which can be found at the top of the rotunda.

Plus, David Freedlander enjoys the lack of irony present in the Metropolitan Musuem’s exhibit of Robert Frank’s The Americans. He writes that the photographs “belong to a country more sure of itself. Looking at them now is not the discovery that the project of The Americans promised. It is conďŹ rmation. Their work is done.â€?

We also check in with the Met Opera and the Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert’s baton, who Jay Nordlinger writes is “reliably solid, correct, well prepared, unobjectionable.� And Joel Lobenthal wonders at Veronika Part’s recent appearance on Letterman and looks forward to her appearance in real-time with ABT beginning this week.

We’ve entered into that busy fall season when there’s a new play opening, a fresh gallery show, another dance performance—and we want to do it all. But make sure to allow yourself to remain open to all those unexpected moments that are sure to happen along the way.

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

'PS ž MN EFTDSJQUJPOT TDIFEVMF BOE UJDLFUT 'JMN-JOD DPN "MJDF 5VMMZ )BMM #PY 0Gž DF UI BOE #SPBEXBZ ] $FOUFS$IBSHF

MANHATTAN MEDIA

PUBLISHER Kate Walsh kwalsh@manhattanmedia.com

PRESIDENT/CEO Tom Allon tallon@manhattanmedia.com

ADVERTISING CONSULTANT

CFO/COO Joanne Harras jharras@manhattanmedia.com

Adele Mary Grossman agrossman@manhattanmedia.com

Alex Schweitzer

Ceil Ainsworth, Monica Conde, Lauren Wilner

aschweitzer@manhattanmedia.com

Jay Nordlinger

PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER

Gerry Gavin

SENIOR DANCE CRITIC

Mark Stinson

Joel Lobenthal

ADVERTISING DESIGN

Tom Kelly

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS:

Heather Mulcahey

tkelly@manhattanmedia.com

WEB DESIGNER

CONTROLLER Shawn Scott

SENIOR ART CRITIC Lance Esplund

Brice Brown, Adam Kirsch, John Goodrich, Amanda Gordon, Howard Mandel, Marion Maneker, Mario Naves, Ryan Tracy

Lesley Siegel

www.cityarts.info 250 Cities. 40 Countries.

5IF UI /FX :PSL 'JMN 'FTUJWBM JT NBEF QPTTJCMF XJUI GVOET GSPN UIF /FX :PSL 4UBUF $PVODJM PO UIF "SUT B TUBUF BHFODZ

2

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

GROUP PUBLISHER

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Wendy Hu SENIOR MUSIC CRITIC

" - * $ & 5 6 - -: ) " - - " / % 8" -5 & 3 3 & " % & 5 ) & "5 & 3

ADVERTISING

NEWSPAPER GROUP PUBLISHER ggavin@manhattanmedia.com MARKETING DIRECTOR

ACCOUNTS MANAGER Kathy Pollyea

Send all press releases to cityarts@manhattanmedia.com

CityArts is a division of Manhattan Media, publishers of New York Family magazine, AVENUE magazine, Our Town, West Side Spirit, New York Press, City Hall, Chelsea Clinton News, The Westsider and The Blackboard Awards.

1SFNJFSF .FEJB 1BSUOFST

Š 2009 Manhattan Media, LLC | 79 Madison Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10016 | t: 212.268.8600, f: 212.268.0577 | www.manhattanmedia.com

InBrief

Doug Beube’s work on display at Central Booking.

Book ‘Em When Maddy Rosenberg tells people she is, among other things, a book artist, she’ll often get such quizzical responses such as, “So…you’re an illustrator?” Rosenberg hopes to dispel this confusion with Central Booking, a Dumbo-based gallery focusing upon the multi-faceted art form.

A curator and artist who works across mediums, Rosenberg finds herself drawn to the differing ways that book art—which ranges from sculpture to printmaking to pamphlets made on a copy machine—manifests itself. “[Book art] is made by artists who approach some aspect of what a book is,” Rosenberg explained. “It may be text or structure or sequencing. It may be any one of those viewpoints that make it a piece of book art.”

As the gallery’s executive director and curator, Rosenberg works to filter the art form’s playful, multidisciplinary spirit into how she runs Central Booking. Two galleries make up the space, with the first devoted to all forms of book art and prints. Many of the pieces can be handled by visitors, and the price of individual works ranges from $2 to $100,000.

The second gallery houses various exhibitions. Keeping with Central Booking’s theme of disciplinary cross-pollination, the inaugural show, entitled “Natural Histories,” focuses on the overlap between art and science. A future exhibition will exam-

ine the relationship between art and social anthropology.

Rosenberg also hopes to shake up established conventions of how to lay out a gallery space, paying tribute to the work of individual artists while ultimately seeking to cultivate a larger atmosphere beyond any one piece. “It’s not a traditional installation where there’s one work or sculpture in the center,” she said of Natural Histories. “With this, I could create a whole natural environment: work hanging from the ceiling, work coming out of the walls and into the space.”

It took roughly two years to see Central Booking come to fruition, and Rosenberg does not regret the decision to forge ahead with the gallery’s opening despite the dicey economic climate. With plans to curate special webbased projects and to publish a book-art ‘zine by year’s end, she sees the medium’s future as full of possibilities. “From ‘zines to sculptural pieces to video art: It’s a very open arena,” Rosenberg said. (Matt Connolly)

125,000 yearly, according to Zugazagoitia. So, the museum’s directors refurbished the building to accommodate the flood of footsteps. For its 40th anniversary as the only museum in New York dedicated to Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latin American art, El Museo del Barrio has not only remodeled its building, but also revamped its brand and prepared special exhibitions for its reopening Oct. 17.

When rethinking the design, Zugazagoitia said he was mindful of both his traditionally Puerto Rican neighbors and the typical Museum Mile visitor.

The new building includes a courtyard and café to host events that have become popular in recent years, including open mics, book club meetings and slam poetry. The café will serve—you guessed it—tacos and other Latin fare. “I can’t think of anything more powerful than tasting something that reminds you of home when you’ve just spent hours appreciating your art and culture,” Zugazagoitia said.

During the Oct. 17 event, the museum has programmed live music for children and adults, art workshops and a premiere of Soledad O’Brian’s documentary, Latinos in America. Visitors can tour the museum’s new Carmen Ana Unanue Galleries, the first space ever dedicated to its permanent collection.

From opening day until Feb. 28, Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis will show the intersections of Latino and non-Latino art in the avant-garde

movements of the early 20th Century.

In 1969, the museum and the neighborhood were primarily Puerto Rican. Activists opened El Museo in an old schoolhouse, and as they moved the building from storefront to storefront throughout the years, the neighborhood became more diverse. The exhibit, Vozes y Visiones, will display a parallel 40-year history of the museum and Spanish Harlem with, curator Elvis Fuentes hopes, the intention of teaching visitors about these changes. “We want to create a dialogue between our cultural heritage and what artists are doing today,” Fuentes said.

The artwork is straightforward so that a diverse audience can understand it, he says.

For example, Gabriel de la Mora Googled the name “Juan Pérez” and painted the image results to show the diversity of Latinos, despite the stereotype that many of them share the same name.

Zugazagoitia hopes that, in its new incarnation, El Museo’s exhibits and events will cater to a variety of audiences. “We will show artists who haven’t had the recognition they deserve and who have made a difference in our community,” he explains. “At the same time, in our Carmen Ana Unanue Galleries, we’ll show the breadth of our collection to put those new contributions in context. If you visit twice a year, you’ll have a very different experience both times.” (Rebecca Huval) El Museo opening events scheduled Oct. 17, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. 1230 Fifth Ave. (at 104th St.), 212-831-7272.

Central Booking, 111 Front St., Gallery 214 (betw. Washington & Adams Sts.), Brooklyn, 347-731-6559

El Makeover “Sometimes, you build and hope that the public will come,” said Julian Zugazagoitia, the director of El Museo del Barrio. “For us, it has been the other way around.”

In the past decade, El Museo’s visitors have grown “exponentially” from 20,000 to

El Museo del Barrio celebrates recent renovations Oct. 17.

October 6, 2009 | City Arts

3

Playing Along

Flatbush in the Seventeenth Century Thursday October

22nd

6 to 8 pm

Curatorial Conversation with Ruth Piwonka David William Voorhees and Peter N. Miller in conjunction with the exhibition

Location 38 West 86th Street

Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick

Admission $25 general $17 students and seniors Tickets and information 212.501.3011 or programs@bgc.bard.edu please reference promotion code A

4

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

18 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024 W bgc.bard.edu

It’s normal for the audience at a concert to sing along, but when Rachel Grimes takes the stage at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Oct. 12, it’s just as likely that the crowd will be able to mimic her piano playing. It’s not that Grimes’ work is simple, but that for a few hundred of the people who bought her new album Book of Leaves, a poly-wrapped set of sheet music was included so Rachel Grimes that they could learn how to play along.

While still putting the finishing touches on the sheet music at her Kentucky home, Grimes said, “Packaging has always been a big element of almost every project I’ve done. All of the The Rachel’s records were very focused on packaging and artwork. I’m trying to get there by making this book happen—this is just one instrument and I felt like it would be a good thing to offer when the record was released.

Maybe it will be a curiosity, but maybe some people will want to play it.”

Perhaps they will; Grimes has a devoted following thanks to her classical-tinged experimental rock band Rachel’s. But try as they might, there will be things about Book of Leaves on which even the most adept student won’t pick up. In addition to Grimes’ piano playing, the album features field recordings made by both Grimes and her collaborators to capture sounds that no instrument could make.

Recording at a four-day retreat at a Catholic women’s monastery, Grimes was inspired by the sounds of nature.

“Even at Sisters of Loretto, there was a very clear undertow to this music that had for me to do with the outdoors and outdoor life,” she said. “At the monastery they have these windows that open up and you’re listening to the sound of the wind and the birds. Those sounds were on the first recordings I made and I made several recordings in the field or at the pond and it became something that was obvious I couldn’t not include.”

Her method makes her a perfect fit for the show, part of the Wordless Music series, which pairs rock musicians with their classical counterparts for concerts that explore how their work can overlap. For this concert, Grimes will be playing with experimental pianist Sarah Cahill.

“It’s so great that people are taking a chance [on experimental collaborations],” said Grimes. “It’s full of possibility of failure, but it’s worth trying.”

After all, if the collaboration with Cahill isn’t a hit, Grimes has made sure that there are plenty of others who will know how to play along. (Adam Rathe) Oct. 12, (Le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. (betw. Thompson & Sullivan Sts.), 212-2284854; 6:30, $15

Bound to Work Bucking the belt-tightening trends in both publishing and the arts, earlier this year Italian book publishing companies Skira and Rizzoli joined forces to launch Skira Rizzoli, an imprint dedicated to publishing fine arts books in conjunction with museum exhibitions.

Having already completed collaborations with the Guggenheim (Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward) and the NewYork Historical Society (The Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision), the publisher is preparing to release eight books in the next six months, including Do It Yourself: Damian Ortega, a survey of the installation and sculptural work of the influential Mexican artist currently on display at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. It might seem like an odd point to start hawking big, glossy and sometimes-expensive books, but according to Skira Rizzoli Associate Publisher Karen Hansgen, there’s no time like the present. “Museums don’t always have the resources to make the kinds of books that they want to make, but they supply the outstanding content that Skira Rizzoli desires,” she explained recently. “We thought that by coming together, we could provide museums with the highest quality of standards in all facets of bookmaking, and we would have the incredible content to work with. It seemed like the collaboration would be good for everybody.”

The publisher has also lowered its price points, hoping to make it good for the consumer as well. “What a year ago was $65 book, we’re making a $50 or $55 book if we can, without lowering the quality,” said Hansgen, a former director of publications at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. And while her personal preference leans toward contemporary art and photography, Hansgen has a wide variety of books planned for the coming months, including Louis C. Tiffany: A Passion for Color, focusing on the glasswork, vases and lamps currently at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal and the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va, and America Now + Here, a book that will accompany a traveling museum featuring filmmakers, playwrights, poets and more.

“Museum publications work in a very special way and, and I understand how they work,” said Hansgen. “In addition to helping make a beautiful book, we also provide the very best distribution and global visibility for these publications. Only so many people can see an exhibition, but when you publish a book, everybody has access to it and it’s on bookshelves for years.” (Adam Rathe)

Lincoln Center presents

London Symphony Orchestra Mahler and Schubert in Landmark Performances with conductor Bernard Haitink Support for Great Performers is provided by Suzie and Bruce Kovner Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser The Florence Gould Foundation The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc. The Shubert Foundation Robert and Anne Essner

“Mahler has drawn from Haitink some of his finest work; the LSO has rarely sounded more ideal. At the end the audience wandered out marvelling and speechless, knowing they’d never forget this performance.”—The Independent (London)

Mitsubishi International Corporation The Winston Foundation EMC2 Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Great Performers Circle Chairman’s Council Friends of Lincoln Center

Public support is provided by New York State Council on the Arts

Corporate support is provided by

Endowment support is provided by UBS

Official Sponsors

Wednesday, October 21 at 8:00 Miah Persson, soprano SCHUBERT: Symphony No.5 MAHLER: Symphony No.4 Friday, October 23 at 8:00* Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano Robert Gambill, tenor SCHUBERT: Symphony No.8 (“Unfinished”) MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde Sunday, October 25 at 3:00* MAHLER: Symphony No.9

All performances in Avery Fisher Hall Tickets from $35

*Pre-concert lecture

Bernard Haitink

Photo: Neil Libbert/Lebrecht Music & Arts

LCGreatPerformers.org

212.721.6500

Alice Tully Hall or Avery Fisher Hall Box Office

Broadway at 65th Street

MUSEUMS

Abstract Peaks In Kandinsky’s great late paintings he got at the nature of Nature

BY LANCE ESPLUND art—which was the founding core collection of t the top of the Solomon R. Guggenthe museum, originally known as the Museum heim’s spiraling ramp, where the of Non-Objective Painting. Yet there is a sense Kandinsky retrospective reaches its in the show, mildly so but lingering, that the apotheosis with the artist’s late work, late work is being tacked on to the monumental I was reminded of a parable. A Zen achievement that is the artist’s beginnings. This master was led by disciples to the peak of a gives the exhibition something of a tapering-off mountain from which the view was legendary. after the mid-teens, as if, after the Big Bang Just when they reached the summit, clouds that is the thunderous masterpiece “Black rolled in and reduced visibility to nil. The Lines” (1913)—a painting in which Kandinsky disciples were crestfallen. “Positively breathcompletely shatters Renaissance space with pure taking,” said the Zen master. free line and bold color—the exhibition were I imagine that for much of the audiwinding to a halt. ence who visit the Guggenheim’s Kandinsky Kandinsky has always been loved more for retrospective, their reactions will be less like his earlier work. But this approach seems to that of the Zen master and closer to that of his stem in part from a Post-War revisionist view disciples, for whom—after climbing all the way of European abstraction, a view that, looking to the peak of Kandinsky’s oeuvre—the view at through the emotionally charged lens of Abthe summit is not at all what they expected or stract Expressionism, puts the artist’s personal, wanted it to be. That was certainly my experiheartfelt mark—his unbridled feeling—at the ence among the show’s great late paintings. Just center of the urge to abstract. This view can when Kandinsky demands the most from view- make everything Kandinsky produced after ers, crowds begin to thin and interest wanes, as 1920 seem too thoughtful and restrained—as if visitors retreat to the security of lower altitude. his artistic impulses were emotionally bereft if Conventional wisdom about Wassily not counterfeit. Nothing could be further from Kandinsky (1866-1944)—the abstract painter, the truth, and the exhibition, if given time, poet and aesthetic theorist who taught at the and despite itself, proves this out.

Bauhaus and invented, or arrived at, pure abstraction Kandinsky is one of the most somewhere around 1911—is exhilarating exhibitions I have ever that he went too far into seen at the Guggenheim—a the clouds. Many critics feel that his late abstracmuseum in which Wright’s spiraling, tions left behind too much off-kilter ramp and bays were of their Expressionist and designed to exhibit Kandinsky’s art… landscape-based origins, and that his work became too hard-edged and methodical, too finicky, A mystic and a cool-headed Romandecorative and cerebral. tic, Kandinsky—like his Bauhaus colleague And you can feel an undercurrent of that and life-long friend the abstract painter Paul received wisdom at the Guggenheim’s exhibit, Klee—approached the world with great feeling which is weighted heavily toward the front-end and scientific objectivity. And the Guggenheim’s of Kandinsky’s career—the vigorously experiKandinsky gives us the extremes of the artist’s mental, Expressionistic and expansive period temperament in full measure. The show is a leading up to and including the artist’s first heady and revelatory ascent, as colorful and encounters with abstraction—mainly 1909-14. fragrant as a hothouse; as raucous as a jazz club.

The first comprehensive retrospective in We are immersed in painting as if in a fever the United States since the three Guggenheim dream. Kandinsky took the road to abstracsurveys in the 1980s, Kandinsky was organized tion not through the fractured plane and muted

by Tracey Bashkoff and Karole Vail. It was palette of Cubism but, beginning with Monet’s shown earlier this year at the Städtische Galerie “Haystack” paintings, through color and music. im Lenbachhaus, Munich, and the Centre Trained as an economist and a lawyer, he was Pompidou, Paris. It comprises about 100 oil also a musician and was inspired by the works of paintings, installed along Wright’s rotunda Wagner and Schoenberg, who was a close friend. (sometimes sparingly one to a bay), and more And in his own revolutionary books—Concernthan 60 works on paper in an adjacent gallery. ing the Spiritual in Art, Sounds and Point and It is one of the most exhilarating exhibitions I Line to Plane—Kandinsky expounded on the have ever seen at the Guggenheim—a museum synesthetic relationship between the abstract in which Wright’s spiraling, off-kilter ramp mediums of painting and music, equating color and bays were designed to exhibit Kandinsky’s and shape with rhythm, taste and sound.

6

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

Wassily Kandinsky’s “Dominant Curve” from April 1936 is one of the later works in the Guggenheim’s Kandinsky exhibit.

Color and line are, from the very onset of his art career (Kandinsky took up painting at the age of 30), at the center of his investigations. The show takes you slowly and methodically from Kandinsky’s early naturalistic landscapes and invented scenes of horsemen and onion-domed townscapes—Fauvist, Symbolist and Impressionist-inspired works that suggest enamels, fairytales and the bejeweled surfaces of medieval book covers—all the way to the birth and fruition of abstraction. Some of these works, so crowded with forms and movement, suggest the variety, density and interplay of Rubens’s and Breughel’s paintings of the “Wedding Feast.”

And there is much to be gleaned from the exhibit’s slow climb, felt in Kandinsky’s calculated baby steps and enormous leaps of faith. Kandinsky’s turbulent and restless strides, as well as his scientific scrutiny of each new discovery along his journey, are laid out beautifully at the Guggenheim, where this chronological show could have benefited from a more rigorously chronological hang.

Kandinsky never used color and line descriptively; movement and light were his goals. Many of the early landscapes have pure, unadulterated color planes with De Stijl-like frontal power, and linear arabesques that, like live-wires, whiplash through the space or take on a pictographic charge. By 1911, Kandinsky has set those elements free of their landscape sources. Forms are in a constant state of becoming. Color, movement, space and line become free-agents in a world without spatial recession or a ground plane. By 1914, Kandinsky is no longer painting the bird but its flight; no longer the horse but its gallop; no longer the trees or the clouds or the stars but their urges, actions and light—the essences of their beings.

At the end of the exhibition, viewers will encounter Kandinsky’s masterful last decade—a suite of pastel-hued canvases made in Paris between 1933 and 1942, hard-edged abstrac-

tions that do not so much as replicate Parisian grays as they suggest its silvery, twinkling tonalities—the cool rose, violet, turquoise and cream-tinged splendor of the City of Light.

These are fluid, evolving pictures in which air, membrane and solid flit easily, one into the other, and arabesques unfurl into organisms, as if Kandinsky were free-associating, flying high, changing one thing on a whim into another.

There is complete freedom in these late works, a freedom from the world of things, to go where the artist leads you—to take an inward path.

Here we find “Striped” (1934), swirling, playful linearities, suggesting the qualities of molecules, sea life, signs and glyphs, on an alternating black-and-white ground; “Around the Circle” (1940), forms afloat in an emeraldblue-green field—as if seeing the world from the inside of a water molecule; “Movement I” (1935) and “Upward” (1939), works with a glittering, jazzy pulse that merge night-sky and womb; the black-and-white checkerboard “Thirty” (1937), in which the artist juggles an entire vocabulary of invented forms that seem to encompass the very building blocks of the universe; and the Guggenheim’s own “Dominant Curve” (1936), a masterpiece in which stasis and explosive dynamism reach equipoise.

Compared to his earlier canvases, the late pictures can feel like an about-face, as if the artist had completely turned his back on Nature. In fact, Kandinsky never turned his back on Nature; he dissected, vivisected and de-literalized it, turning Nature inside out. He broke Nature down into its elements and dynamics. He got at the genesis—the nature—of Nature. He reinvented painting completely, not only from the ground but from the seed—the idea—up, to reach heights that are positively breathtaking.

Kandinsky, through January 13.

Guggenheim Museum, 1017 5th Ave. (at 89th St.), 212-423-3500

DecorativeARTS

Mutable Meanings Determine whether you’re looking at an object transformed or the object intact

BY BRICE BROWN Tucked quietly away, like a well-behaved bouquet, in one corner of the Boucher Room at The Frick Collection is Martin Carlin’s 18thcentury French table inlaid with floral-sprayed Sèvres porcelain plaques. Pretty to the eye, for sure, but unless you know its secret mechanical nature—like a shape-shifting rococo robot, the top was designed to rise and rotate in a number of positions—you’re missing half of what makes this table so interesting. But it wouldn’t be your fault, because the necessary considerations governing the display of an object like this means it’s hardly, if ever, open for public viewing. How could you know?

Here lies the challenge for Charlotte Vignon, newly appointed (and first ever) Associate Curator of Decorative Arts at The Frick. How do you highlight examples of decorative arts found in a house museum like The Frick—where the overall display reflects a lived-in environment as opposed to a gallery setting—so the viewer doesn’t gloss over them in favor of paintings and sculptures? And considering it’s these very objects that create the house museum’s private sphere intimacy, how do you draw attention to something meant to blend seamlessly into the fabric of the vignette without disrupting the overall integrity?

Indicating one of the massive, highly carved Renaissance tables in The Frick’s

West Gallery on which bronzes from the same period are displayed, Vignon speculated one reason people might overlook decorative arts objects in this particular setting is because they are too familiar, displayed as expected, still functioning in a preconceived manner, and are not in any way being telegraphed as special.

The viewer sees the table not as a work of art, just as a table, a surface for the sculptures. As Vignon explained to me, this is unfortunate because “these objects are full of life, not dead.

They are the atmosphere and important in defining the type of museum Frick wanted, and now is. But the dark side of this is that people just don’t look at the objects.”

A conundrum, indeed. Vignon has plans to initiate the obvious solutions, such as adding more descriptive plaques for the decorative arts, beefing up the presence of decorative arts on the audio guide, publishing scholarly articles on the Frick’s holdings and even bringing a few objects, such as clocks, out of storage. All good, but I think the more interesting—and, ultimately, more effective—approach are the cozy yet laser-beam focused exhibitions Vignon will be mounting as a way of reintroducing the Frick’s collection of decorative arts to the public. The first of these, Exuberant Grotesques: Renaissance Maiolica from the Fontana Workshop, is now on view, and it sets a high precedent.

“Basin (wine cooler), Battle with Elephants” Vignon’s template for these shows is to select one object from the collection around which ancillary examples are used to build a visual narrative about the historical and cultural moment of the chosen piece. Of the six maiolica pieces in Exuberant Grotesques, the keystone is a large dish, which entered The Frick’s permanent collection in 2008. Its center is painted with an istoriato (a narrative history scene) of The Judgment of Paris, while the rim is decorated with a wispy frieze of grotesques (a specialty of the Fontana workshop) comprising curlicue-toed satyrs with viols, winged horses with fauna torsos and longnecked chimerical people flittering about.

Seen together with the other pieces— which include a magnificent wine cooler with an istoriato depicting a Battle with Elephants based on a drawing by Taddeo Zuccaro, a rare example of a well-known artist supplying the design for a maiolica ware—we get a taste of the grand narratives, diplomatic messages and impressive spectacle of wealth

these Renaissance maiolica were intended to telegraph when grouped as a large service on a credenze.

But the real nut of the exhibition rests in a concept Vignon illustrates in her essay for the catalogue. By tracing the trajectory of the ways maiolica has been viewed, collected and displayed since the time of its production, she exposes a quality perhaps unique to the decorative arts object: its meaning can be mutable depending on context. In one era, maiolica wares had equal footing with Old Master paintings; in another, they were stripped to their decorative bones and used solely as arrangements in interior design. So the next time you are face-to-face with a decorative arts object, ask yourself if what you are seeing is the object transformed, or the object intact.

Exuberant Grotesques: Renaissance Maiolica from the Fontana Workshop through Jan. 17 at The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St. (at 5th Ave.), 212-288-0700.

Museums

Broaching the Subject

Madeleine Albright’s “Blue Bird” a piece by Anton Lachmann, Austria, c.1880

Madeleine Albright and the art of wearing your mind on your chest

Photo by John Bigelow Taylor

BY ADAM RATHE “If the gays like me, I have to be doing something right,” Madam Secretary said with a laugh.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was discussing her role as a style icon last week at the Museum of Art and Design, where Read My Pins, an exhibition of over 200 of her brooches, famously used to convey diplomatic messages, had just opened.

The pins were laid out in the museum’s second-floor Tiffany & Co. gallery, clustered together in groups such as wild animals, insects and Americana. “I must say the pins look fabulous all here instead of in my plastic bags,” Albright noted. Walking through the exhibit, which opens to coincide with the release of Albright’s coffee-table book, Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box, the long-time tactician shared stories about the pins and how she used them to communicate

though, the museum is banking on the idea that plenty of people will know about Albright’s pins and take the time to view them.

Albright herself, wearing a pin with a map of Sudan and an airplane on it, thinks that the exhibit will help make diplomacy seem less imposing and said, “The whole purpose of it was to make foreign policy less foreign. I think we all have our niche… The reason I like pins at all is that I think that they really do enable you to wear a very small piece of art and have it serve a purpose. I think that that is a part of it—to make art part of our lives and not have it be something that is foreign. It kind of works on the whole theme.”

during her time as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of State.

“It all began with Saddam Hussein. I was ambassador to the United Nations, and we did an awful lot of sanctions resolutions having to do with Iraq because it was after the Gulf War, so we did Iraq practically all the time,” she explained. “Saddam Hussein made it very clear that they didn’t love me, and he called me an ‘unparalleled serpent.’ I happened to have a snake pin, and so I was over there and I decided that I’d wear the snake pin when I was doing Iraq things. I actually was standing in front of a bank of cameras or a gaggle of journalists coming out of the security council and somebody said, ‘Why are you wearing the snake pin?’ and I said, ‘Saddam Hussein called me a serpent.’ Then I thought, ‘This is fun.’ I bought a lot of costume jewelry, and when people were asking me, ‘What are you going to do on a particular day?’ what the

agenda was and how I felt, I’d say, ‘Read my pins.’”

Moving through the exhibit, we studied an arrow that Albright wore when negotiating the anti-ballistic missile treaty with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, also a dove that Yitzhak Rabin’s wife Leah gave as a gift and even a heart made by Albright’s own daughter when she was 5.

Though not everyone has been a fan of Albright’s pins: Airport security once stopped her for wearing a brooch featuring a dagger and while on German television, an interviewer sitting with Albright and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, asked, “What do you think of what Secretary Albright does with her pins?” to which Fischer replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

With the exhibit up until Jan. 2010,

Read My Pins through Jan. 31, 2010. Museum of Art and Design, 2 Columbus Circle (at Broadway), 212-219-7777.

October 6, 2009 | City Arts

7

ClassicalMUSIC

A Sane, Well-Sung Figaro And a Brahms concerto that sounded almost like Mozart

BY JAY NORDLINGER Would you believe that Isabel Leonard, ere in the opening weeks of the another starlet, looked like a boy as Cheruseason, the Metropolitan Opera bino? (This is a trouser role, as you know.) has offered two works by Mozart: She did, and she acted rather like one too.

The Marriage of Figaro and The Moreover, she sang with her now-expected Magic Flute. The company’s music direcintelligence and style. As for the rest of the tor, James Levine, is one of the best Mozart cast, it was satisfactory to stellar. In the stellar conductors of all time. Yes, of all time. And he category was Maurizio Muraro, an Italian was not booked for either Mozart opera. As bass. He was our Bartolo, and he is the real it happened, he needed back surgery shortly McCoy: a bona fide, characterful Italian opera after the season began, and was knocked out singer. I might add that it was nice to hear of the pit for anything until about December. some native Italian coming from the stage.

And he obviously can’t conduct everything the The production is that of Jonathan Miller, Met stages—particularly given that he does from 1998. And what a joy to see a production double duty as music director of the Boston of this opera that is sane, aware and right—in Symphony Orchestra. Still, Mozart at the Met harmony with the composer’s and the libretwithout Levine: kind of a pity. tist’s vision. About a month and a half ago, in Conducting The Marriage of Figaro is Dan Salzburg, I covered a “European,” “modern” Ettinger, a young Israeli. He looks a bit like a Figaro—a subversion of the opera (which is punk rocker, with spiky blond hair. The night I no insult to many stage directors, believe me). attended, he did not handle the overture well: It Some think that the Met is being “Europeanwas sloppy, disjointed and limp. An air of uncer- ized,” as seen in this year’s new Tosca. If so, tainty hung over the performance at large. Would see productions such as Miller’s Figaro—prothe score go off the rails? Sometimes it did. And ductions that serve the work at hand, rather some of Mozart’s most impressive moments did than a director’s ego or kinks—while you can. not make their impression: For example, the “ he Gilbert era,” as the New York Philwedding march could have used much more harmonic calls it, is underway—Alan nobility. But Ettinger is a talented, alert guy, and Gilbert has been music director of the he acquitted himself with honor. Incidentally, he Philharmonic for several weeks. “Era” employs a version of the Furtwängler flutter in suggests a long tenure, doesn’t it? In any case, the left hand.

In the title role of Figaro was John Relyea, Gilbert led his troops in Brahms one Friday morning—yes, morning. Some Philharmonic who was solid, as usual. “Se vuol ballare” concerts start at 11 o’clock, and that is a most was aristocratic, just as Mozart intends: The civilized hour for hearing music. servant is going chin to chin with the boss, The Brahms was the Violin Concerto, at least in his own mind. “Aprite un po’ and the soloist was Frank Peter Zimmermann, quegli’occhi” could have used more pop and that worthy violinist from Germany. His, zing—it was rather flat, but competent. Porand Gilbert’s, approach to the concerto was traying Susanna was Danielle de Niese, that interesting. Mainly, it was relaxed, neat, lowstarlet of the operatic stage. She was bright key—almost chamber-like. and lively, much like Susanna. And she was From his opening notes, Zimmermann wonderfully conversational in her recitatives. played with poise and assurance. He knew exThe Count was Bo Skovhus, wearing a Tarzan wig. Was it really as long as 12 years ago Some think that the Met is being that he sang a recital in “Europeanized,” as seen in this year’s Alice Tully Hall, with his own (blond) hair? As the new Tosca. If so, see productions Count, he was thoroughly such as Miller’s Figaro while you can. professional, both in his singing and in his acting.

The voice might be a tad actly what he was doing, and what he wanted. small for the house, however. His Countess He would not countenance any excess, or was Emma Bell, an English soprano who is even exaggeration. The piece did not seem making her Met debut this season. In “Porgi, like a warhorse. It seemed, as I have sugamor,” she showed something relatively rare: gested, strangely small-scale. Everything was a dusky soprano. The sound was impure, but smooth, tasteful and rounded. The cadenza in interesting. The sound was purer for “Dove sono,” and Bell sang this with arresting musi- the first movement was amazing: There was no struggle in it, no bigness—barely any virtucality—deserving all the shouts that went up osity. Zimmermann executed it with an ease, a after that aria.

H

T

8

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

Danielle de Niese as Susanna in Figaro. nonchalance, that was almost unseemly.

The slow movement was taken at a breathable tempo, and came naturally from Zimmermann’s bow. As for the rondo, it was practically Mozartean, rather than Brahmsian. You could admire the violinist’s refinement—he is a smart and beautiful player—but you also could have asked for more oomph, more power.

Gilbert did his part with competence and care. He is a very hard conductor to criticize. What I mean is, he is reliably solid, correct, well prepared, unobjectionable. But, in the realm of intangibles, one can find a deficiency: a certain lack of musicality or zing. The final pages of Brahms’s first movement, and the final pages of the rondo, are joy-filled and thrilling. You should hardly be able to sit in your seat. From Gilbert and the Philharmonic, however, they were bland—correct, fine, but no big deal, and therefore a cheat.

Gilbert’s predecessor, Lorin Maazel, could absolutely bomb or absolutely score. He could earn an A-plus or a D-minus. That was part of his excitement: his mercuriality or unpredictability. Gilbert will never bomb, I gather, but we may miss out on some heights. There are tradeoffs in the music world, as in so many other arenas of life.

The Philharmonic will shortly embark on a tour of Asia, where we’re told the future of music lies. And, in November, Riccardo Muti will spend a fair amount of time on the Philharmonic’s podium, here in New York.

He was supposed to be a steady, long-term guest with our orchestra, until he went and signed with Chicago. He can be an exemplary and exciting conductor, but he can also be ineffectual: merely a stick-waver, often glowering. On his programs with the Philharmonic will be excerpts from Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet. Let’s hope Muti has his dancing shoes on, in spirit.

JAZZ

If You’re Feeling Saxy Juilliard Joseph W. Polisi, President

BY HOWARD MANDEL t’s a clichÊ to cite the sax and the city as inseparable entities, yet here we are. What do people who live here sound like? Jazz saxophones, mostly. Voices and saxes share the same register. People bark, gasp, call, shriek, laugh, chatter, expound and sigh, with or without these horns. There are surely saxophonists on farms and on the beach, in the mountains and the woods, but saxists and those who listen to them are most typically urban dwellers. Saxes are all about breathing—us, too. The question is: Who are we hearing and what are they saying?

A comparison of Ornette Coleman, the 79-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and alto sax radical who opened the season for Jazz at Lincoln Center Sept. 26 and Evan Parker, the 64-year-old British multi-reeds conceptualist and improviser making a heroic stand at The Stone through Oct. 16 may be instructive. Simply put: Coleman is a natural modernist, a culminating ďŹ gure, among the last of the Mohicans. Parker represents the next evolutionary stage in sax-based innovation and collaboration.

To say Coleman—who received four standing ovations for his 90-minute concert with bass, electric bass guitar and drums in Wynton Marsalis’ haven of the jazz establishment—is a Cubist bluesman is not to consign him to history. The piercingly lyrical tunes Coleman played at Rose Hall have become familiar as he’s revised and distilled them over the past ďŹ ve decades, but remain immediate and affecting, like touchstones of poetry.

When he ďŹ rst came to New York from Fort Worth via L.A. to stage a jazz revolution in 1959, Coleman’s fragmentary melodies and unpredictable modulations shocked purists while his intensely vocalized sax sound excited such cognoscenti as Leonard Bernstein, Dorothy Kilgallen and Thomas Pynchon. Since then he has urged the abolition of artistic categorization, encouraged individualistic expression, written a monumental—if problematic—symphony and instigated free funk. It’s become increasingly clear that whatever the musical context, Coleman’s own statements from his keening sax or trumpet and violin are rooted in the American idiom that produced at the same time Charlie Parker and Muddy Waters, breaking from but also blending bebop and the real folk-blues.

Evan Parker, who plays in 23 different instrumental combinations over his 16 nights (which began Oct. 1) at The Stone, has no genetic stake in African-American heritage. His earliest inuence is Paul Desmond, the eet, wry alto sax soloist with Dave Brubeck, but he switched allegiances upon exposure to John

I

Coltrane’s relentlessly searching 1960s tenor and soprano sax music. After that, Parker bent himself to acquiring techniques of blowing, tonguing, lipping and ďŹ ngering the sax that now allow him to produce multiple pitches simultaneously and uctuating streams of tones in virtually never-ending phrases. His unaccompanied concerts are especially breathtaking.

Avant-garde musicians in late ’60s Britain struggled for a sound distinct from that of the American stalwarts they held in high regard, and Parker was central in a circle of severe conceptualists who favored extended techniques, inty gestures and open-ended sonic associations over anything like melodic vocabulary or vernacular references. He’s mellowed and matured but continues to explore far reaches of spontaneous music-making with an international coterie of free-thinkers, including his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, in which his soprano sax blends with trumpet, Japanese sho, clarinet, violin, piano, bass and six players of signal-processing equipment, computer-generated sounds and other live electronics.

On The Moment’s Energy, the group’s new, ďŹ fth album, Parker et al. produce soundtracks of chamber orchestra dimensions as if for a travelogue of a continuously unfolding but unearthly world. Drama and emotion emerge from wild, yet not unpleasant, stretches of sound. So many textures and events ensue that one is pressed to recall what’s been played, much less identify which instruments did it and how.

At The Stone, Parker engages not with his Ensemble but with like-minded bright lights of our local scene. He plays duets Oct. 8 with host John Zorn, himself a saxophonist given to outlandish sounds and extreme ranges, and later the same evening with Ned Rothenberg, a specialist of tradition and extended reed techniques. The next night Parker plays with Susie Ibarra, the resourceful drummer/percussionist who sometimes interpolates Asian, Indonesian or Filipino accents, followed by the irrepressible Brazilian percussionist Cyro Batista. On Oct. 10, Parker is accompanied in both sets by William Parker, bassist for the whole East Village and fervent pianist Matt Shipp. He returns Oct. 14 with bassist Dave Holland, who roomed with Evan P. in London in the ’60s; Parker’s Oct. 15 partner is electric guitarist Fred Frith. And for the ďŹ nal evening on Oct. 16, saxophonists Tim Berne and Earl Howard mix it up with Parker before his concluding solo, which is sure to be a blast.

Evan Parker through Oct. 16, The Stone, corner of East 2nd St. & Ave. C, www.thestonenyc.com; 8 & 10, $10-$20.

Tuesday, October 20 at 6 • Peter Jay Sharp Theater

Master Class with RenĂŠe Fleming Photo: Decca /Andrew Eccles

Ornette Coleman and Evan Parker personify the sounds of the city

and singers from Juilliard Vocal Arts

SPECIAL EVENT Re-dedication of The Peter Jay Sharp Theater Ms. Fleming’s first NY master class is a benefit for The Juilliard School Priority seating $125 Benefit ticket and reception with Miss Fleming immediately following $500 ($300 tax-deductible) Benefit ticket information at (212) 799-5000 x329 Juilliard 155 West 65th Street • Box Office open M-F, 11AM-6PM (212) 769-7406 www.juilliard.edu

THE SIDNEY BECHET SOCIETY PRESENTS

JAZZ LEGENDS

VINCE GIORDANO “Remembering Stuyvesant Casino and Central Plaza�

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 6:15pm & 9pm

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 Volume 1, Issue 6

Celebration of these hotbeds of traditional jazz.

Randy Reinhart, trumpet; Mark Lopeman, reeds; Jim Fryer, trombone; Ehud Asherie, piano; Kenny Salvo, banjo; Rob Garcia, drums and Ricky Gordon on washboard.

Guests: Marty Napoleon and Sol Yaged

Symphony Space 2537 Broadway (at 95th St), NYC Tickets are $25, available at the Box OfďŹ ce,

by Telephone (212) 864-5400 or online at www.symphonyspace.org (online use Code #RAC102)

PREVIEW

Kandinsky.

\eh (* Y^Whj[h hWj[

More info at www.sidneybechet.org

October 6, 2009 | City Arts

9

AttheGALLERIES Maya Lin: Three Ways of Looking at the Earth Maya Lin’s sculptures, the subject of this exhibition on display at PaceWildenstein’s West 22nd Street branch, have occasioned tut-tutting from gallery-goers who’d prefer an artist limit herself to, rather than broaden, a signature métier. In Lin’s case, that would be public sculpture.

It’s understandable, really: The sleek Minimalist elegance of Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. generated initial controversy, eventual plaudits and considerable renown for the Yale architecture student who conceived it when she was all of 21 years old. Lin’s career has subsequently been defined by that solemn, public and political enterprise. There are worse things to live down; there are easier accomplishments to surmount. Lin has been pegged as the go-to-girl for monuments.

So what, Lin’s admirers wonder, is the current work doing inside? The three sizable pieces at PaceWildenstein are from <Systematic Landscapes>, a group of sculptures in which high tech methodologies—sonar, say, or computer models—were used to describe, translate and quantify the natural world.

“2 X 4 Landscape (2006),” a spectacular accumulation of 50,000 pieces of the lumber yard staple, flows, swells and crests like a gently rolling hill. “Blue Lake Pass (2006)” posits Donald Judd as topographer, with its regulated array of particleboard boxes with irregular contours based on Rocky Mountain terrain. Lin worked with the assistance of oceanographers to contrive “Water Line (2006),” a spare transcription of the ocean floor constructed with aluminum wire and hung from the ceiling, seemingly unbothered by gravity.

PaceWildenstein has done Lin no favors in its installation. Notwithstanding the hangar-like space, the pieces feel cramped and constrained, their evocative capacity diminished by each work’s tight proximity to the other. “Water Line,” in particular, suffers: Lin’s elegant linear traceries aren’t given leeway to elaborate upon their undulating rhythms.

Perhaps that’s why some gallery-goers consider the pieces models for public works and not fully realized sculptures: Lin’s art is made to feel smaller than it is. Less is decidedly more when dealing with an artist who sets out to embody nature’s boundlessness. PaceWildenstein, in a rush, perhaps, to showcase a prize talent, should’ve settled for one way of looking at the earth. (Mario Naves) Maya Lin: Three Ways of Looking at the Earth at PaceWildenstein, through Oct. 21. 545 W. 22nd St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-989-4258.

Grisha Bruskin, “Man in the Gas Mask”

10

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

James Brooks, “Cantanda, 1958”

Grishna Bruskin: Twilight of the Gods

Janine Antoni: Up Against

The 33 bronze sculptures in this dramatic installation by the Russian-born, New York-based artist Grishna Bruskin look like the remains of a devastated and broken civilization, its symbols and weapons eerily impotent. Expressionless, each figure has lost part of its body or face— the bureaucrat half of his jacket, a bride a section of her skirt, a bandaged boy most of his legs and a general an arm and legs. They might have been unearthed in an archaeological dig, uncovered after centuries of burial. But in reality, Bruskin recently cast them in Tuscany and buried them underground for several months so that the earth’s natural chemicals would give them an archaeological patina.

A wall nearby is filled with photographs documenting the process whereby he achieved his effects. The lost civilization that he imagines and mythologizes is the Soviet Union, in which he grew up.

Bruskin chose an aesthetically and intellectually powerful way in which to explore the glamorization of the ancient and as well as the fallibility of what was once perceived to be an infallible empire. The very blandness of his characters and the mundane quality of their occupations makes one question the almost automatic reverence for past civilizations. He also, in a sense, mocks archaeology by producing instant artifacts. But if he were simply illustrating his cynicism, his sculptures would have no effect.

They do have meaning. Not the traditional meaning we associate with the ancient but as poignant symbols of a philosophy that not only did not work for the average citizen but also ended up physically destroying millions of people. After all, no one could better understand the evils of a society than someone who has lived in it. More than anything, his current installation is the work of a mature artist, capable of injecting commentary into his art, without decreasing its persuasiveness. (Valerie Gladstone)

“For me, the body [is] a funnel through which the world has been poured”—so says Janine Antoni, whose work is at Luhring Augustine. No friend of subtlety, Antoni has crafted a series of miniature, copper gargoyles that, having been designed with specific anatomical details in mind, allow women to urinate while standing up. The artist appears in a photograph, perched atop the Chrysler Building, utilizing one of the gargoyles for that purpose. The press release describes the resulting image as an “exuberant gesture.”

The press release is chock full of information that might otherwise elide those naïve enough to believe that art might be employed for something other than aggrieved narcissism—you know, like creating objects with their own free-standing, artistic rationale. Whatever Antoni constructs, photographs or gnaws on—this is, remember, the artist who gained notoriety by chewing on lard and chocolate—is tethered, ineluctably and with grave insistence, to theory. This time around it’s “destruction, motherhood and fantasy,” “the body as measure” and the “instinctive physiological reaction against danger”. But the only thing Antoni brings to these subjects is irony-free pretension.

Equating penises with monsters is an overripe feminist conceit, as is the notion that motherhood is a trap. In a large photograph, we see parent Antoni ensnared within a spider’s web, her legs encased in a doll house and her visage stoic and beleaguered. Having discovered that motherhood is “complex,” Antoni equates her parental lot in life with the crucifixion.

Any artist this pedantic (or humorless) shouldn’t indulge in messianic comparisons. So when Antoni stages an installation that features a room-sized video projection of a blinking eye, a wrecking ball and a soundtrack of doom-laden, booming noises, you’re grateful for the foray into Surrealism-Lite. Better a Dali-complex than a Jesus-

Grishna Bruskin: Twilight of the Gods, through Oct. 17. Marlborough Gallery, 40 W. 57th St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212- 397-0317.

complex, but not so much better that you’d want to take the work seriously. (MN) Janine Antoni: Up Against, through Oct. 21. Luhring Augustine, 531 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-206-9100.

Thi Chien: Addiction We’ve all seen black and white photos of hardup addicts meant to scare us away from drugs. But like statistics about smoking’s hazards, they usually miss the mark through sheer overkill, and, most likely, lack of empathy on the part of the misguided advertising campaigns. Not so Thi Chien, a brilliant 24-year-old photographer who spent his first 11 years in Vietnam and the last 13 teaching himself photography and intently observing the world around him in New York.

Rarely have such riveting, in-your-face photographs of addicts ever been shot. Clearly, he became a fly on the wall, for there is no other way that he could have gotten so inside the derangement, exhaustion and desperation of these people.

There is no question that he feels their pain, from the haggard woman with rhinestone earrings, the cap of a needle between her teeth and a needle held in her fingers to the grizzled, toothless old man staring out with hopeless eyes and the wildeyed young man looking shell-shocked through a veil of smoke. But Chien doesn’t only use faces to illustrate the full range of an addict’s life. He shows $50 bills furtively changing hands, naked women, their breasts pierced, snorting cocaine and a man’s filthy fingers delicately holding a small white pill.

Using black and white and color with discrimination, Chien gets so close that it almost feels as if his subjects’ shadows will fall out of the frame.

Whether catching them in grimy rooms or on the street, he knows that their secrets lie in their eyes and hands, and he never condemns them or does anything less than respect them. He wants these

works to stand as a testament to the horrors of addiction and that it should. And it wouldn’t be hard to imagine his subjects hoping that perhaps, by exposing their agony, others will not follow in their footsteps. (VG) Thi Chien: Addiction, through Oct. 28. Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard St. (betw. Rivington & Delancey Sts.), 212-529-2266.

In Confluence: James Brooks and Giorgio Cavallon Abstract Expressionism was a movement of pioneers, and unsurprisingly, we best remember its most demonstrative and singular moments: the epic gestures of Kline and de Kooning, or the primal sensory appeals of Newman and Rothko. But the movement also encompassed more reflective, lyrical approaches. Jason McCoy’s spare but illuminating exhibition pairs the mature work of two such painters, Giorgio Cavallon (1904-1989) and James Brooks (1906-1992).

Both painters moved to New York in the mid1920s and later worked in the WPA, the holding pen for so many future Abstract Expressionists. Cavallon turned to abstraction while studying in the ’30s with Hans Hofmann, whose influence shows in the loose but muscular grids of color in his three untitled paintings at Jason McCoy. While Cavallon’s touch is far lighter and more intimate than Hofmann’s, his color-forms build in equally brisk rhythms in a canvas from 1977; here, beneath a block of dense, blended reds, a mild gray releases a drift of brushstrokes towards a sudden burst of scarlet marks.

Below, reds and bluish-grays sift, half submerged, through a surrounding field of layered whites. The pulsating white background—a recurrent element in Cavallon’s paintings—suggests another influence: the limpid light of his native Italy. The reference becomes more explicit in a 1988 painting, in which rectangles of color playfully stretch and cluster like sun-drenched buildings on a hillside.

If Cavallon’s work reflects the lingering influence of European-style composition, Brooks’ three canvases align themselves more consciously with the proclamatory, self-defining gestures of Ab-Ex. Among the first to employ a pouring and staining technique, he punctuates the broad floods of cobalt, black and white in Gudrun (1971) with quick notes of red and pure ultramarine—and, most notably, an asterisk-like detonation of strokes reminiscent of Pollock. Hoobin (1968) swirls with darkly gleaming blacks, violets and blues, some of them transparent enough to let the bare canvas glow through—a deft means of turning the painting’s support into a deep window. A single, solid patch of cerulean blue deftly sets off these transparent depths.

We tend to associate Abstract Expressionism with displays of epic intent. Privileging reflection over demonstration, Cavallon and Brooks remind us that lyricism has its powers, too. (John Goodrich)

green-umber, to the bluish highlights of a reflected skylight—as the cup’s surfaces curve under the light. Amidst these shifts of color pressures, small distances—from the base of the cup to its lip, say—become palpable relocations in space.

Stylistically, Walp’s paintings flirt with Cubism. Around her central objects, peripheral items circulate as geometric, almost flattened forms, recounting the fine patterns on a piece of fabric, the porous textures of a brick, or the serrated edge of a paper towel. These secondary incidents recede like ripples from a central point, diminishing in visual impact as they progress towards the canvas’ edges. Herein lies the paradox of these paintings: in terms of weight of color, they actually come closer to the spirit of Morandi—and his internal, spreading luminosity—than to the restless, lateral leaps of Juan Gris—or Chardin, the 18th-century still life painter he revered.

But this isn’t always the case; in a painting from 2007, the visual weights of a kiwi fruit, a brick and a succulent in a cup compete intriguingly across the expanse of a tabletop. (They suggest the lonely resolve of a de Chirico’s scenario.)

And “Nuts in a White Cup with Brick, Pine Cone, Xerox and Clothespin” (2008) beautifully captures not only the huddling of dark nuts within their pale container, but the dense interval to the brick resting, with wall-like immobility, in the depths. Walp’s work has always exuded an air of graceful triumph, but these paintings promise additional adventures ahead. (JG) Walp, through Oct. 31. Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 724 5th Ave. (betw. E. 56th & E. 57th Sts.), 212-262-5050.

Lee Berre: Don’t Look Back Lee Berre’s mixed-media works leave me thoroughly unsettled—but then, this is clearly the intention of the 29-year-old South Korean artist.

In her first show at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, Berre combines an impressive number of talents—a skillful hand, a quirky eye, a gift for the topical—to craft unnerving images of girls that suggest both victimization and moldering adulation. Working on wood panels with acrylic, pencil and applied prints and fabric, the artist surrounds her androgynous figures with tokens of consumerism (toys, candy) and, more ominously, dentures, medications and psychedelic toadstools. But by far the most disturbing feature is the modeling of the figures, whose curdling shadows and contours suggest corporal decay. Molten, oversized eyes complete the effect, which might be described as manga techniques applied to an Egon Schiele aesthetic. Like the toys and candy, some of the girls’ accoutrements—their silky hair and rather minimal, plaid garments—are spared the decay. Posing with the elaborate casualness of models, the figures seem leeched by their own accessories.

The titles of these works (all dated 2009) help to focus the pathos. The individual, life-size figures in each of a series of four panels represent Rapunzel, Joan of Arc, Salome and Alice in Wonderland— all, arguably, young and public victims of adult situations. The oval painting “For Sale” depicts a wrinkled newborn baby sporting a harlequin’s hat.

Four round portraits of young women (all titled “Don’t Look Back”) feature young, wizened women peering coquettishly from beneath billowing hair ribbons. More cryptic is the oval panel “Same Shame,” in which two eyeless sheep—or perhaps just their empty, wooly hides—hug each other in a ghoulish embrace.

The tender horridness of these images intrigue, while Berre’s careful, caressing technique suggests that she, too, is a voyeur, inviting an interesting debate about who is exploiting whom. But from my old-fashioned standpoint, the most unnerv-

ing aspect of her work is the way it epitomizes the contemporary indifference to the distinctions between traditional art and cartooning and illustration. Blending high and low has been especially fashionable in recent years, but understanding the difference hasn’t. Illustration—as Berre brilliantly demonstrates—can deliver a message with unmatched efficiency and panache. But we can expect other qualities from painting, and I think wistfully of the pictorial gravity with which Blake and Ernst and Lucien Freud deliver the macabre. (JG) Berre, through Oct. 31. Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, 547 W. 27th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-244-4320.

Terminus: Drawings (1979-1982) and Recent Paintings How much pleasure you derive from Raoul De Keyser’s abstract drawings and paintings, on display at David Zwirner, will depend on your taste for specialization. The veteran Belgian artist—De Keyser was born in 1930—has garnered a cult following for being a “painter’s painter.” That is to say, his aesthetic purview is highly cultivated and forbiddingly narrow.

De Keyser’s trinket-like arrays of geometric forms, biomorphic blips and wandering brushstrokes imagine Paul Klee minus the jewel-like attention to surface or Ellsworth Kelly devoid of structural integrity. Incapable of differentiating between casual and ragtag, De Keyser is a miniaturist who skimps on craft. His surfaces don’t compel us to nose up to them; De Keyser’s laxity guarantees our indifference. At which point you conclude that some objects of cult reverence deserve the small audience they cultivate. (MN) Terminus: Drawings (1979-1982) and Recent Paintings, through Oct. 24. David Zwirner, 533 W. 19th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-727-2070.

Brooks and Cavallon through Oct. 31. Jason McCoy, Inc., 41 E. 57th St. (at Madison Ave.), 212-319-1996.

Susan Jane Walp: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper As followers of Susan Jane Walp will know, Ms. Walp has perfected an obvious but richly elaborated means of enticing the eye: icon-like still life compositions, with centered bowls or cups drawing the viewer into their depths. In her third show of small, radiant paintings at Tibor de Nagy, the strategy beguiles as much as ever.

In one sense, the nearly 20 paintings and drawings are simply what they are. “Dark Spring Tulip in Cup of Water with Knife, Xerox and Burdock Root” (2009) is exactly that, with cup and flower taking center stage. Walp’s observations of light, however, can be exquisite, catching the subtlest shifts—from grayed olive-blue, to shadowed

Raoul De Keyser, “Across”

October 6, 2009 | City Arts

11

DANCE

Hot Screen Veronika Part makes her Letterman debut, but dancers continue to express themselves best in movement

BY JOEL LOBENTHAL ver the summer, hosannas went out over the blogosphere when American Ballet Theatre’s Veronika Part appeared on a segment of David Letterman’s Late Show. Ken Tucker, a writer for Entertainment Weekly, contrasted today’s media environment unfavorably to the “bygone era” when after-hours talk shows on TV were “filled with all sorts of performers, not just movie and TV stars plugging their latest product.” Tucker and many others were thrilled to see Part sit down with Dave.

Personally, I wasn’t quite as ecstatic. Certainly the ruthless stupidification of American popular culture accomplished over the last three decades means that TV has almost entirely eliminated from its purview things like opera and ballet. And although she is one of my favorite dancers and it was gratifying to see Part—and ballet itself—given some of the exposure they deserve, her appearance also served as another reminder of how far we have declined. This was the first time, so Letterman announced, that a ballet dancer had appeared on his show, which has been airing since 1993. That’s something that should have had

O

him hanging his head in shame.

Soon after the Part appearance, a friend of another great Russian ballet star told me that 25 years ago, back when Dave was doing his Late Night thing, he had taped a session with this great ballerina, who got up and didn’t even bother to bourrèe, but simply walked off his set. That’s how insulted she was by the inanity of Letterman’s questions. Certainly watching him on this go ‘round, I can see how that might have been possible. Letterman told us that he’s “woefully ignorant; I don’t know anything about ballet.” Unfortunately, it was not so much an apology as, instead, a slightly upmarket emblem of time-honored “I ain’t no elistist” faux-populist pride. But Dave was cordial and not really condescending with Part, and the six-minute segment unfolded as a typical Letterman small-talk fest. Luckily her pointe shoes (yes, she slipped one on, at Letterman’s request) were not made for walkin’. Instead she chortled good-naturedly and answered his queries as well as anyone in her position could.

She’s certainly capable of speaking intelligently about issues of substance, which she had no opportunity to do here.

Another recent breakout that was hearten-

Veronika Part ing to dance lovers was Laura Jacobs’s novel The Bird Catcher, published by St. Martin’s (full disclosure: Jacobs is a friend of mine).

Her lovely novel is one of the very few recognitions by the current mainstream publishing or electronic media of the reality that significant amounts of the U.S. population do routinely attend and enjoy dance performances.

“Broadway’s most popular hangout…”

– Associated Press

Holiday Parties $14 Prix Fixe Lunch Brunch Pre-Theatre Dining

Happy Hour Specials Late Night Menu Private Events 50” HDTV

258 West 44th Street New York, NY 10036 212-221-9222 www.AngusMcIndoe.com 12

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

Margret Snow, Jacobs’s thirty-something heroine, has recently suffered the loss of her professor husband. Dance is one of Margret’s romantic, ornithological (hence, the title) and cultural passions. Not only does Margret go to dance, and talk to other people who do, but she has a fling with a Martha Graham dancer—yeah, a guy.

Virtually any dancer, no matter how thoughtful or articulate, is nevertheless at his or her most expressive in movement. Veronika Part can be seen in real-time during ABT’s perennial fall season, which happens Oct. 7-10. It’s not at City Center as it usually is, but instead at Avery Fisher Hall. Neither venue is an ideal stage for ballet, but ABT, for the most part, has customarily been able to tailor its repertory to what can be legible at City Center. For its Fisher season, it has commissioned new ballets by Aszure Burton, Benjamin Millepied and Alexei Ratmansky that will presumably take the configuration of this symphonic stage into account.

American Ballet Theatre Oct. 7-10, Avery Fisher Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Ave. at W. 65th St.,212-721-6500; $20-$135.

ROBERT FRANK from page 1

more sure of itself. Looking at them now is not the discovery that the project of The Americans promised. It is confirmation. Their work is done.

They stick out only because they are among the few images on display at the Met whose subject content leaves them unable to reach out into our world. For the rest, their images are unsettling enough that the content matters less. This is not a show about the 1950’s or a road trip by a Swiss Jew unleashed upon the endless ribbon of the American roadway, or about the politics of segregation or corruption.

This is a show about “looking in,” as the catalogue is titled. It is about ways of seeing, and the ways photography captures and distorts. This is evident from the very first photograph, that of two women standing in adjacent window sills in Hoboken, New Jersey, looking out onto a parade. One is in a housedress, the other in a winter coat. Their faces are obscured, one by a window shade, the other by an American flag. They look out at us, but, try as we might to peer in on them, we cannot. It’s as if Frank is trying to tell us that there will be as much obscured from his project as revealed.

We viewers, however, are engaged in the process of trying to see through the murkiness, of trying to find the truth behind “the redbrick wall behind the red neons,” as Jack Kerouac, Frank’s collaborator, described in his own journey.

Kerouac wrote the introduction to the original Grove Press edition of The Americans

and starred in the short film “Pull My Daisy,” which launched Frank into his second career as an experimental filmmaker. Comparisons are often made between the two of them, and there is some undeniable overlap: Both, for example, were transfixed by the wonders of the road, and believed, as Kerouac wrote, in “performing our one noble function of the time, move.”

Kerouac even sketched scenes and moments in much the same way Frank snapped photos of them, but Kerouac looked for the truth behind the neon, behind the obscurity.

Frank painted the shadows, and invited us to look over a shoulder with him.

Many of the more powerful images, in fact, are just that. There are two bulky men in sport coats riding the club car on the train from New York to Washington. They stand shoulder to shoulder in front of an old timer, whose face—glistening with scotch sweat— peaks between them. In another, Orthodox Jews huddle together on Yom Kippur by the East River, their heads bent, their backs to us. A youngster stares mischievously away, toward the river and the horizon. Our sympathies lie with him, the looker.

The progression of the images hint at Frank’s dark journey: the intent, cigar shrouded stares of rodeo-goers, the downcast eyes of passersby looking down at a blanket covering a car accident victim by the side of the road on Route 66 between Winslow and Flagstaff, Arizona. Frank, who must have often felt like a spy, even includes a rebuke to all of us for

doing our own spying: In one photograph, a man perched on a hillside in San Francisco stares with a growl. It is a photograph he says he included to let his viewers know what it was like to sneak up on someone and take their picture, and get a “what the hell are you doing response” in return.

More poignantly to our contemporary gaze, however, is another photograph of parade watchers on a trolley car in New Orleans.

A white man, a white woman, two white children, a black man and a black woman stare out a series of successive windows The photograph was taken on Canal Street, in New Orleans, and is meant as a commentary on mid-’50s social hierarchies. A shot of irony on a people devoid of it, the photograph resonates beyond its frame and that bus. It’s impossible to look at the photograph today and not be reminded of the catastrophic events that took place in New Orleans 50 years later, especially with the black man’s searching look—as if he’s desperate for escape.

While there’s a dashed-off quality to many of the images—edges blurry, faces are often lost in the midst of the crowd—Frank is asking the viewer to look harder, to pay more attention. We want to keep looking. Not to find truth, necessarily, but because there is so much more to see.

Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ through Jan. 3 at Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave. (at E. 82nd St.), 212-535-7710.

Photograph © Robert Frank, from The Americans

dark, and not just in their themes.

Bathroom shoeshine men, plying their trade surrounded by tiles and piss. Rows of hefty cars lined up in loose formation for a drive-in movie on a summer dusk. Bored elevator girls, staring dreamily away from the rote pushing of lit buttons.

The 83 photographs that make up The Americans and which are now on view, alongside some earlier work, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the exhibit Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ are Pictures of the Gone World, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who ran in the same circles as Frank, titled his first book of poems in 1955.

The photos are wrapped in a gauzy, old-timey sheen, imbued with an elegance and an earnestness toward which it’s difficult not to feel wistful. Diners, coffee shops, boxy convertibles, dark bars lit from the glow of a jukebox—all have receded deeply into the memory of America, traces of which can only be found in museum pieces or places the forces of progress have left untouched.

But more gone, perhaps, is the irony-free America that Frank found. Despite many predictions, especially after 9/11, that we would be living again in an age free of irony, the jaundiced and mischievous arched eyebrow remains the way in which many tastemakers make sense of the world. The distance between appearance and reality, if small when Frank set out, has grown large enough to encompass even canonic collections of photography.

This is part of what makes Frank’s photographs so mesmerizing at the Met. They are pictures of a people incapable of imagining themselves as others see them, and we are likewise incapable of looking them with the earnestness of eyes that haven’t seen the violence captured during the Vietnam War—or Abu Ghraib. In one of the iconic photographs, a black housekeeper in Charleston, South Carolina, holds a white baby. The two stare off in opposite directions, the housekeeper’s gaze impenetrable and resigned, the baby’s narrow and fierce. Formally, it is a stunning photograph, simple and sparse, but it is a hard one to take seriously now. And not because issues of class and race and caregiving have disappeared. Rather, the duo carry too much symbolic and historic weight. They become almost sentimental.

The same is true for another iconic photograph from the collection: a crowded assembly hall meeting at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1956. We see union delegates and a beseeching politician crowd around someone we are to presume is a dirty political operative or union boss. He holds a cigar. Dark sunglasses cover his face. To us, he looks not so much like a mobbed-up political boss but like a caricature of a mobbed-up political boss.

The power of these images is lost to us. Too fixed in our minds, they belong to a country

“Trolley-New Orleans,” 1955.

October 6, 2009 | City Arts

13

ArtsAGENDA GALLERIES Gallery listings courtesy of 179 CANAL: Antoine Catala: TV SHOW.

Through Oct. 25, 179 Canal St., 2nd Floor, www.179canal.com.

ACA GALLERIES: Eccentrics, Misfits and Ideologists.

Opens Oct. 17, 529 W. 20th St., 5th floor, 212206-8080.

A.I.R. GALLERY: Ann Schaumbuger, New Paintings. Open A.I.R. Group Exhibition: Locks in Translation curated by Joanne McFarland. Taryn Wells, Color Lines. Through Nov. 2, 111 Front St. #228, Brooklyn, 212-255-6651.

ACQUAVELLA: Riopelle: Grands Formats. Through to Oct. 23, 18 E. 79th St., 212-734-6300.

AMADOR GALLERY: Keizo Kitajima: The Joy of Portraits. Through Nov. 7, 41 E. 57 St., 6th Floor, 212-759-6740.

AMERICAS SOCIETY: Fernell Franco: Amarrados [Bound]. Through Dec. 12, 680 Park Ave., 212249-8950.

ANDREA MEISLIN GALLERY: Jed Fielding. Through Oct. 17, 526 W. 26th St., suite 214, 212-627-2552.

APEXART: A Way Beyond Fashion curated by Robert Punkenhofer. Through Oct. 24, 291 Church St., 212-431-5270.

ARARIO GALLERY: Osang Gwon: Deodorant Type.

Through Oct. 24, 521 W. 25th St., 212-2062760.

ARARIO GALLERY: Wonsook Kim, Forest Scenes.

Through Oct. 21, 521 W. 25th St., 212-2062760.

ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS CENTRE: Out of the Archive: Process and Progress. Through Oct. 30, 26 Bowery, 3rd floor, 212-233-2154.

ATLANTIC GALLERY: Pamela Talese: Rust Never Sleeps.

Through Oct. 30, 135 W. 29th St., suite 601, 212-219-3183.

BLT GALLERY: Julia San Martin: Paintings and Drawings. Through Nov. 7, 270 Bowery, 2nd Floor, 212-260-4129.

BETTY CUNINGHAM GALLERY: Abby Leigh. Opens Oct. 15, 541 W. 25th St., 212-242-2772.

BLACKSTON: Tina Hejtmanek: Day without a Name.

Through Oct. 25, 29C Ludlow St., 212-6958201.

BLUE MOUNTAIN GALLERY: Charles Kaiman. Through Oct. 31, 530 W. 25th St., 4th floor, 646-4864730.

BOWERY GALLERY: Christine Hartman. Through Oct. 31, 530 W. 25th St., 4th floor, 646 -230-6655.

BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC: Next Wave Art. Through Dec. 20, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, 718-636-4100.

CUBAN ART SPACE: Montebravo: Carnaval! Through Oct. 24, 231 W. 29th St., #401, 212-242-0559.

DAVID KRUT PROJECTS: Andrea Hornick: Recent Work 1460 -1865. Through Oct. 24, 526 W. 26th St., 8th Floor, 212-255-3094.

DEAN PROJECT: Mirror on Mirror Mirrored. Through Nov. 19, 45-43 21st St., Queens, 718-706-1462.

DEREK ELLER GALLERY: David Kennedy Cutler.

Through Oct. 30, 615 W. 27th St., 212-206-6411.

DISPATCH: Justin Matherly. Through Nov. 1, 127 Henry St., 212-227-2783.

DUMBO ARTS CENTER: The Experience of Green.

Through Nov. 29, 30 Washington St., Brooklyn, 718-694-0831.

E-FLUX: If You Lived Here Still… Through Oct. 31, 41 Essex St., 212-619-3356.

EDWARD THORP GALLERY: Fervor. Through Oct. 31, 210 11th Ave., 6th Floor, 212-691-6565.

EFA PROJECT SPACE: Arctic Book Club: Artists Respond to an African in Greenland. Through Oct. 24, 323 W. 39th St., 2nd Floor, 212-563-5855.

ELGA WIMMER: A Matter of Light. Through Oct. 30, 526 W. 26th St., 3rd Floor, 212-206-0006.

14

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

ELI KLEIN FINE ART: Chasing Flames: 15 Chinese

Contemporary Artists. Through Nov. 15, 462 W. Broadway, 212-255-4388.

THE ERNEST RUBINSTEIN GALLERY AT THE EDUCATIONAL ALLIANCE: The Better Half. Through Oct. 29, 197

E. Broadway, 212-780-2300.

ENVOY ENTERPRISES: Slava Mogutin. Food Chain.

Through Nov. 1, 131 Chrystie St., 212-226-4555.

FIFI PROJECTS: Vanishing Act. Through Nov. 14, 29 Essex St., 786-280-5783.

FIGUREWORKS: Cult of Michael Jackson. Through Oct. 31, 168 N. 6th St., Brooklyn, 718-486-7021.

FIRST STREET: Lisa Zwerling: The Fountains.

Through Oct. 31, 526 W. 26th St., suite 915, 646-336-8053.

FLOMENHAFT GALLERY: Women of Valor: Jaune Quickto-see Smith and Linda Stein. Through Oct. 24, 547 W. 27th St., suite 200, 212-268-4952.

GAGOSIAN GALLERY: Takashi Murakami: Anselm Reyle. Through Oct. 24, 555 W. 24th St., 212741-1111.

GAGOSIAN GALLERY: Sally Mann: Proud Flesh. Cy Twombly: Eight Sculptures. Through Oct. 31, 980 Madison Ave., 212-744-2313.

GALLERY MET: There’s Something About Mary.

Through Jan. 22, south lobby of the Metropolian Opera House, West 62nd Street between Columbus & Amsterdam Aves., 212-362-6000.

GALLERY SAKIKO: Songlines: Aboriginal Artists: Works on Bark & Works on Paper by Bryan Osburn, Willy Bo Richardson, Donald Silverstein.

Through Oct. 23, 20 W. 22nd St., suite 1008, 646-201-9450.

GEORGE BILLIS GALLERY: Alejandro Mazon. Through Oct. 31, 555 W. 25th St., 212-645-2621.

HAUSER & WIRTH NEW YORK: Allan Kaprow YARD. Through Oct. 24, 32 E. 69th St., 212-794-4970.

HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT, ABRONS ARTS CENTER: Jayson Keeling, Behind the Green Door. Untitled (land-scape). Through Oct. 24, 466 Grand St., 212-598-0400 ext 202.

HOGAR COLLECTION: Scarlet Fever. Through Oct. 26, 362 Grand St., Brooklyn, 718-388-5022.

HOWARD SCOTT GALLERY: Rolf Behn. Through Nov. 7, 529 W. 20th St., 7th floor, 646-486-7004.

JEN BEKMAN GALLERY: A Square, Photographs by Hosang Park. Through Nov. 7, 6 Spring St., 212-219-0166.

JOHN CONNELLY PRESENTS: Scott Hug. Through Oct. 24, 625 W. 27th St., 212-337-9563.

JUNE KELLY GALLERY: Colin Chase. Opens Oct.9, 166 Mercer St., 212-226-1660.

KATHARINA RICH PERLOW: American Abstractions Part Two 1950-Present. Through Oct. 28, 41 E. 57th St., 13th floor, 212-644-7171.

KATHRYN MARKEL FINE ARTS: Sara MacCulloch New Paintings. Opens Oct. 15, 529 W. 20th St., suite 6W, 212-366-5368.

KENTLER INTERNATIONAL DRAWING CENTER: Re-inventing Silverpoint: An Ancient Technique for the 21st Century. Through Oct. 25, 353 Van Brunt St., Brooklyn, 718-875-2098.

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.

KLOMPCHING GALLERY: Simon Roberts’, We English

by Simon Roberts. Through Oct. 23, 111 Front St., suite 206, Brooklyn, 212-796-2070.

KS ART: I’m Back Damnit. Through Oct. 24, 73 Leonard St., 212-219-9918.

L & M ARTS: Sam Francis: 1953 - 1959. Opens Oct. 15, 45 E. 78 St., 212-861-0020.

LAURENCE MILLER GALLERY: The Abstracted Landscape.

Through Nov. 14, 20 W. 57th St., 212-397-3939.

LEO KOENIG, INC.: Naomi Fisher, The Brave Keep Undefiled A Wisdom Of Their Own. Through

Oct. 24, 545 W. 23rd St., 212-334-9255.

LESLEY HELLER GALLERY: Lothar Osterburg. Through

Oct. 17, 16 E. 77th St., 212-410-6120.

LESLIE/LOHMAN GALLERY: San Francisco: The Making

of a Queer Mecca. Through Oct. 23, 26 Wooster St., 212-431-2609.

LOCATION ONE: Virtual Residency Project 2.0: Levels of Undo. Through Oct. 31, 26 Greene St., 212334-3347.

LOHIN GEDULD GALLERY: Jay Milder. Opens Oct. 14, 531 W. 25th St., 212-675-2656.

LOWER EAST SIDE PRINTSHOP: Enoc Perez, Monoprints.

Through Nov. 1, 306 W. 37th St., 6th Floor, 212-673-5390.

LTMH GALLERY: Darius Yektai: All I Know About Love at 36. Through Nov. 8, 39 E. 78th St., 212-249-7695.

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.

MAGNAN PROJECTS: Clive Murphy, Ghost Machine.

Through Oct. 31, 317 10th Ave., 212-244-2344.

MARIAN SPORE: Untitled (fault). Through Dec. 31, 55 33rd St., 4th floor, Brooklyn, 646-620-7758.

MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY: Vincent Fecteau. Through Oct. 24, 523 W. 24th St., 212-243-0200.

MATTHEW MARKS GALLERY: Rebecca Warren, Feelings.

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.

MAX PROTETCH GALLERY: Tim Hyde, How To Draw A Cathedral. Through Oct. 31, 511 W. 22nd St., 212-633-6999.

METAPHOR CONTEMPORARY ART: Slippery When Wet. Through Nov. 22, 382 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, 718-254-9126.

MIKE WEISS GALLERY: Yigal Ozeri, Desire for Anima.

Through Oct. 24, 520 W. 24th St., 212-6916899.

MITCHELL-INNES & NASH: Justine Kurland: This Train is Bound for Glory. Opens Oct. 15, 534 W. 26th St., 212-744-7400.

MOMENTA ART: The Society for the Advancement of Inflammatory Consciousness, Less Me More Z. Through Oct. 26, 359 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, 718-218-8058.

NEWMAN POPIASHVILI GALLERY: Raul deNieves, Riddlin Doors. Through Oct. 31, 504 W. 22nd St., 212-274-9166.

NICOLE KLAGSBRUN GALLERY: Brendan Fowler, James Hyde and Jacob Kassay. Through Oct. 31, 526 W. 26th St., 2nd Floor, 212-243-3335.

NOHO GALLERY: Nancy Staub Laughlin. Through Oct. 31, 530 W. 25th St., 212-367-7063.

NURTUREART: PLAN B. Through Oct. 24, 910 Grand St., 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, 718-782-7755.

NYU KIMMEL WINDOWS GALLERY: Boško Blagojevic: In Place of a Proximity. Through Oct. 22, W. 3rd and Laguardia Place, 212-998-4900.

ON STELLAR RAYS: Zipora Fried, Trust Me. Be Careful. Through Oct. 25, 133 Orchard St., 646-6758242.

PERRY RUBENSTEIN GALLERY: The Law of Fives: FAILE, Zilla Leutenegger, Teresa Margolles, Robin Rhode, Richard Woods. Through Oct. 31, 527 W. 23rd St., 212-627-8000.

PPOW GALLERY: George Boorujy, Migratory Drift.

Through Oct. 24, 511 W. 25th St., room 301, 212-647-1044.

PRINCE STREET GALLERY: Judith Lambertson. Through Oct. 31, 530 W. 25th St., 4th floor, 646-2300246.

RAANDESK GALLERY OF ART: Unsettled Beauty: New

The Morgan Library & Museum presents a special exhibition featuring original drawings and manuscript pages from the classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, through Nov. 1.

Paintings by Jeff Huntington. Through Oct. 30, 16 W. 23rd St., 4th Floor, 212-696-7432.

RACHEL UFFNER GALLERY: Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Tears. Through Oct. 25, 47 Orchard St., 212274-0064.

RECESS: Corin Hewitt and Molly McFadden.

Through Nov. 28, 41 Grand St., 914-772-7720.

RL FINE ARTS: Florencio Gelabert, Lines & Concavities. Through Oct. 24, 39 W. 19th St., suite 612, 212-645-6402.

ROBERT MANN GALLERY: Robert Frank. Through Dec. 23, 210 11th Ave., 212-989-7600.

RONALD FELDMAN FINE ARTS: Allan Wexler, Overlook.

Through Oct. 24, 31 Mercer St., 212-226-3232.

SALON 94: Maya Lin: Recycled Landscapes.

Through Nov. 13, 12 E. 94th St., 646-672-9212.

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., suite B, 212-630-0722.

SIMON PRESTON GALLERY: Caragh Thuring, Assembly.

Through Nov. 1, 301 Broome St., 212-431-1105.

SOUTHFIRST: Jack Early. Through Nov. 1, 60 N. 6th St., Brooklyn, 718-599-4884.

SUE SCOTT GALLERY: Franklin Evans: 2008/2009 < 2009/2010. Through Oct. 24, 1 Rivington St., 212-358-8767.

SUGAR: A taste of Sugar. Through Nov. 7, 449 Troutman St., Brooklyn, 718-417-1180.

TALLER BORICUA: Crossing Bridges / Cruzando Puentes. Through Nov. 7, 1680 Lexington Ave., 212-831-4333.

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.

W. M. BRADY & CO.: Simon Parkes Recent Painting.

Through Oct. 23, 22 E. 80th St., 212-249-7212.

WALLSPACE GALLERY: Donelle Woolford, Return.

Through Oct. 24, 619 W. 27th St., ground floor, 212-594-9478.

WALLY FINDLAY GALLERIES, NEW YORK: Lluis Ribas.

Through Oct.15, 124 E. 57th St., 212-421-5390.

MUSEUMS

WASHBURN GALLERY: Leon Polk Smith. Through Oct.

31, 20 W. 57th St., 212-397-6780.

WHITE BOX: Towing the Line, Drawing Space: 40

Contemporary Dutch Artists, Defining the Moment in Holland. Through Oct. 29, 329 Broome St., 212-714-2347.

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., suite A, 212643-3152.

ZURCHER STUDIO : Uncontrolled Growth. Through Oct. 25, 33 Bleecker St., 212-777-0790.

AUCTION HOUSES CHRISTIE’S: 19th Century Furniture, Sculpture,

Works of Art & Ceramics. Oct. 20, 10 a.m. and 2, 20 Rockefeller Plz., 212-636-2000.

DOYLE NEW YORK: Important English and Continental Furniture and Decorations. Oct. 21, 10 a.m., 175 E. 87th St., 212-427-2730.

RO GALLERY: Fine art buyers and sellers in online live art auctions. 800-888-1063, www.selectartworksonline.com.

SALMAGUNDI CLUB: Semi-Annual Auction and Exhibition. Oct. 16, 18 and 22, 47 5th Ave., 212-155-7740.

SOTHEBY’S: Important English Furniture including property from Hayfield House. Oct. 16, 10 a.m.

19th Century European Art including Important British Paintings. Oct. 22, 10 a.m., 1334 York Ave., 212-606-7414.

SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES: Medical, Scientific, Bibles, Early Printed Books. Oct. 20, 10:30 a.m. and 2, 104 E. 25th St., 212-254-4710.

ART EVENTS ARTISTS TALK ON ART PRESENTS: Past Dreams and

Future Visions: The South Bronx Art Scene in the 21st Century: A panel discussion on how the Bronx art scene has emerged, submerged and changed many times over the last 30 years. Oct. 9, 209 E. 23rd St., 212-592-2000; 7, $7.

FLOMENHAFT GALLERY PRESENTS: Linda Stein hosts a Body-Swapping Fashion Show & Dance. Oct. 13, 547 W. 27th St., suite 200, 212-268-4952.

SABINE FLACH: Do You See My Heart Beat? Lament in Contemporary Video Art: Art historian Sabine Flach discusses two conceptual film works: Sam Taylor-Wood’s Pent Up and Bill Viola’s Silent Mountain. Oct. 13, 133-141 W. 21st St., room 101C, 212-592-2000; 6:30, Free.

GALLERY NIGHT: Over 60 art galleries on 57th Street will stay open until 8 for special exhibitions.

Oct. 15, 57th Street between Lexington and 7th avenues, 212-888-3550; 5, Free.

THE CHANCE TO BE BRAVE, THE COURAGE TO DARE: A PowerPoint presentation by Linda Stein. Oct. 18, The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn, 718-638-5000; 2, Free.

AN EVENING WITH JOHN CALE: Artist, musician, sonic innovator, reflects upon the liaison between music and art. Oct. 19, Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53 St., 212-397-6980; 7, $10.

AVENUE ANTIQUES AND ART AT THE ARMORY: Featuring a world-class selection from 50 prominent dealers. December 3-6 at the Park Avenue Armory.

December 2 Opening Night Preview Benefit for The American Cancer Society HOPE LODGE NYC. To purchase benefit tickets, please call 646-442-1646. Lectures provided by Royal Oak Society on Dec 3 and 5. For additional show information please visit www.avenueshows.com.

ABC NO RIO: The Wake. Opens Oct. 9, 156 Rivington

St., 212-254-3697.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: On Feathered

Wings: Birds in Flight. Ongoing, Central Park West at West 79th Street, 212-769-5100.

BARD GRADUATE CENTER: Jas Elsner, Alois Riegal and Classical Archeology. Opens Oct. 7, 18 W. 86th St., 212-501-3023.

BRONX MUSEUM: Intersections: The Grand Concourse Commissions. Through Jan. 2010, 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, 718-681-6000.

BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Public Perspectives: Brooklyn Utopias?. Through Jan. 2010, Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St., Brooklyn, 718-222-4111.

BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY: Nature Seen in Brooklyn, Now and Then: Three Photographers Look at Brooklyn. Through Nov. 5, Grand Army Plaza at Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-230-2100.

BROOKLYN MUSEUM: Magic in Ancient Egypt: Image, Word, and Reality. Through Oct. 18, 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn, 718-638-5000.

CHELSEA ART MUSEUM: Jean Miotte: What a Beautiful World. Through Dec. 2009, 556 W. 22nd St., 212-255-0719.

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.

Through Jan. 2010, 1 E. 70th St., 212-288-0700.

JAPAN SOCIETY: Serizawa: Master of Japanese Textile Design. Opens Oct. 9, 333 E. 47th St., 212-832-1155.

JEWISH MUSEUM: Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish Life, explores the new Jewish rituals since the mid-1990s. Rite Now: Sacred and Secular in Video. Through Feb. 7, 1109 5th Ave., 212-423-3200.

MERCHANT’S HOUSE MUSEUM: Death & Mourning in the Mid-19th Century Home. Through Nov. 2, 29 E. 4th St., 212-777-1089.

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 Nov. 29, 2009 (weather permitting). Surface Tension: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection. Through May 2010, 1000 5th Ave., 212-535-7710.

THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM: Where the Wild Things Are: Original Drawings by Maurice Sendak.

Through Nov. 1. William Blake’s World: “A New Heaven Is Begun,” includes more than 100 works and two major series of watercolors. Through Jan. 2010, 225 Madison Ave., 212-685-0008.

EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO: Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis, the museum’s first show following extensive renovations.

Opens Oct. 17, 1230 5th Ave., 2128-31-7272.

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. Through Jan. 2010. 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, The Erotic Object. Through Jan. 2010. 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-9400.

K I TA J I M A T H E J O Y O F P O R T R A I T S

A

amador

41 e 57

new york 10022

October 6, 2009 | City Arts

15

David Burliuk Feeding chickens in the snow

Eccentrics, Misfits and Idealists: David Burliuk, Louis Elshemius and Lawrence Lebduska October 17 - November 28

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

ROLF BEHM PANDORA Recent Paintings 8 October - 7 November 2009 Reception for the artist THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 6-8 P.M

Howard Scott Gallery

Arena, 2008, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 38”x59”

529 West 20th Street | Tues-Sat 10:30-6 646 486 7004 | howardscottgallery.com

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

White Spaces, acrylic on linen, Edward Evans

SALMAGUNDI CLUB FALL 2009 FINE ART AUCTIONS Fri, Oct 16, 8 pm Sun, Oct 18, 2 pm

Thu, Oct 22, 8 pm Fri, Oct 30, 8 pm

PUBLIC WELCOME! Bids start at $150 for photos, $300 for sculpture, $300 for paintings.

Exhibit open Daily 1-6 pm Thurs 1-8 pm

47 Fifth Avenue NYC 212.255.7740 | www.salmagundi.org | info@salmagundi.org

16

City Arts | www.cityarts.info

ArtsAGENDA NATIONAL ACADEMY MUSEUM: Reconfiguring the Body

in American Art, 1820-2009. Through Nov. 15, 5 E. 89th St., 212-996-1908.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN: Andrea Carlson. Through Jan. 10, 1 Bowling Green, 212-514-3700.

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 HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School at the New-York Historical Society. Through March 2010, 170 Central Park West, 212-873-3400.

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY: Mapping New York’s Shoreline, 1609-2009. A celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival in New York Harbor, featuring maps, atlases, journals, broadsides, manuscripts, prints and photographs.

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, 917-275-6975.

NOGUCHI MUSEUM: Noguchi ReINstalled. Through Oct. 24 2010, 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. Carl Jung’s The Red Book.

Through Jan. 25, 150 W. 17th St., 212-620-5000.

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.

SKYSCRAPER MUSEUM: China Prophecy: Shanghai.

Ongoing, 39 Battery Pl., 212-968-1961.

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT MUSEUM: New Amsterdam: The Island at the Center of the World. Through Jan. 2010, 12 Fulton St., 212-748-8651.

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.

tion with the museum’s exhibition, “Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans.” Oct. 17, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., 212-570-3949; 7, $40.

DAME EMMA KIRKBY: The famed soprano comes to New York with celebrated lutenist Jakob Lindberg. Oct. 20, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212-247-7800; 7:30, $50.

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: Performs Mahler and Schubert at Avery Fisher Hall. Lincoln Center Great Performers. Times vary, 212-721-6500, $35 and up.

ST. LUKE’S CHAMBER ENSEMBLE: Opens its 35th anniversary season with a program of three works written by Franz Schubert between the ages of 19 and 22, ranging from an intimate duo to perhaps his most beloved chamber piece, the “Trout” quintet. Oct. 21 & 23, The Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave., 212-685-0008. Oct 24, The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, 718-638-5000; times and prices vary.

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: Julliard School’s new periodinstrument faculty ensemble debuts with an allBach 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.

IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA: Bartlett Sher’s hit production of Rossini’s comic masterpiece. Through Mar. 2010, Metropolitan Opera, West 62nd Street between Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.; times vary, 212-362-6000; $27 and up.

AIDA:Violeta Urmana stars in the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Dolora Zajick as her rival for the affections of Johan Botha’s Radamès. Through April 2010, Metropolitan Opera; $20 and up.

TOSCA: Puccini’s famed work, directed by Luc Bondy. Through May 2010, Metropolitan Opera; $20 and up.

MUSIC & OPERA

JAZZ

SO PERCUSSION: Presents Imaginary City, a multime-

JOE MARTIN: Heads the all-star quartet featuring Brad

dia, site-specific work explores the perspectives of urban environment. Oct. 7 through 14, BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St., Brooklyn, 718636-4100; 7:30, $20 and up.

NEW YORK POPS: Wayne Brady hosts a concert of the best-loved songs of Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sam Cooke, performed by The New York Pops. Oct. 9, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212-247-7800; 8, $33 and up.

YUJA WANG: The pianist makes her Carnegie Hall orchestral debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Oct. 13, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212-2477800; 8, $37 and up.

MITSUKO UCHIDA: Returns to Carnegie Hall with an all-Beethoven recital featuring the composer’s last three sonatas as part of the Great Artists Series.

Oct. 14, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., 212-2477800; 8, $39 and up.

MMARTISTS IN CONCERT: Performing works by Mozart and Gubaidulina’s “Rejoice!” Oct. 16, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave., 212-570-3949; 7, $40.

THE TIGER LILLIES: The group returns to New York for its annual concerts, this time performing Dark and Deviant, a show that celebrates 20 years of twisted, theatrical music. Oct. 16 & 17, St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St., Brooklyn, 718-2548779; 8, $32 and up.

PATTI SMITH: With Jesse Smith performing “A Salute to Robert Frank, Artist and Friend” in conjuc-

Mehldau, Mark Turner and Marcus Gilmore for state-of-the-art modern jazz. Oct. 7 & 8, Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St., 212-576-2232; 7:30, $20.

BONERAMA: Bring the brass, funk and rock rhythms of New Orleans with: The Collin Brown Band, Kenny Brooks, Will Bernard and Johnny Durkin. Oct. 9, Sullivan Hall, 214 Sullivan St., 212-505-1703; 10, $20/$25.

CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO: Blending styles from folk and pop to Gospel and hip-hop, pianist Cyrus Chestnut with bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Neal Smith. Oct. 9, Miller Theatre, 2960 Broadway at W. 116th St., 212-854-7799; 8, $7 and up.

MSM JAZZ PHILHARMONIC: Showcase the music of Eddie Sauter with guest saxophone soloist Joe Lovano. Oct. 9, Manhattan School of Music, 120 Claremont Ave., 917-493-4469; 7:30, $10.

THE LADIES OF DUKE ELLINGTON: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis perform the songwriter’s musical odes to the ladies: “Sophisticated Lady,” “The Clothed Woman” and “The Tattooed Bride.” Oct. 15 through 17, Rose Theater, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; 8, $10 and up.

VINCE GIORDANO: Remembering Stuyvesant Casino and Central Plaza, where the great musicians performed in 40’s & 50’s every Friday & Saturday. Oct. 27, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway; 212-864-5400; 6:15 and 9, $25.

THEATER A BOY AND HIS SOUL: Coleman Domingo (from Pass-

ing Strange) performs a one man show about growing up queer and black in inner city Philadelphia. Through Oct 18, Vineyard Theater, 108 E. 15th St., 212-353-0303.

THE BUDDHA PLAY: A one-man show about the life, the quest for enlightenment, and the teachings of the historical Buddha. Through Nov.1, Baruch Performing Arts Center, 151 E. 25th St., 646312-4085.

COUNTY OF KINGS: A Def Poetry Jam alum’s solo show about growing up in Brooklyn as hip-hop emerges. Through Nov. 8, Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., 212-967-7555.

FUERZA BRUTA: Look Up: A visual dance-rave, techoride, Latino walking-on-the-ceiling fiesta from Buenos Aires. Open run, Daryl Roth Theater, 101 E. 15th St., 212-239-2600.

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: Legendary performer Anna Deavere Smith addresses health care and the human body, features interviews with Lance Armstrong, Anderson Cooper and Ann Richards. Through Nov. 8, Second Stage Theatre, 307 W. 43rd St., 212-246-4422.

LIPSYNCH: An epic, multi-part exploration of human connection, Robert Lepage’s piece interweaves nine separate stories set in different times and places but connected by their focus on the human voice. Through Oct. 11, BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St., Brooklyn, 718-636-4100.

LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE: Nora and Delia Ephron adapt Ilene Beckerman’s popular book of the same title. Through Dec. 13, Westside Theatre, 407 W. 43rd St., 212-239-6200.

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.

PLANTANOS AND COLLARD GREENS: A romantic comedy about a relationship between an African-American man and a Latina woman. Through Oct 25, French Institute Alliance Française, 212-307-4100.

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.

TELLUS: An exploration of the clash and harmonization of different cultures. Opens Oct. 9, Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie St., 212-219-0736, 7:30, $20.

DANCE COMME TOUJOURS HERE I STAND: Big Dance Theater’s

new work re-invents Agnès Varda’s classic New Wave film, Cléo From 5 to 7, as a piece of dance theater. Through Oct. 10, The Kitchen, 512 W. 19th St., 212-255-5793; 8, $15.

AMERICAN SADNESS: The Chase Brock Experience will present the world premiere of “American Sadness” as part of the company’s Abrons Arts Center season. Through Oct. 11, Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St., 212-352-3101; times vary, $19 and up.

DECREATION: William Forsythe returns to BAM with his latest work, an exploration movement and emotion inspired by Anne Carson’s essay of the same title. Oct. 7 through 10, BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, $20 and up.

GIBNEY DANCE: Choreographer and community activ-

ist Gina Gibney presents her newest eveninglength piece, View Partially Obstructed. Oct. 13 through 17, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 W. 37th St., 212-868-4444; 8, $15 and up.

THE UNSINKABLE PETER GENNARO: Dancers Over 40 pays tribute to the dancer and choreographer of countless TV shows and numerous Broadway shows, including The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Bajour, Fiorello, Annie. Oct. 19, St. Luke’s Theater, 308 W. 46th St., 212-239-6200; 7:30, $35.

FILM HUNGARIANS IN HOLLYWOOD: Featuring films with

Hungarian directors, writers, actors and musicians through Hollywood’s Golden Age in the 1930s to the present. Through Oct.27, BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn, 718-636-4100; $11.

SPIKE JONZE: The First 80 Years: A retrospective of the director’s music videos and films, including a peek at his soon-to-be-released Where The Wild Things Are. Oct. 8 through 18, Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-94001; $10.

ULRIKE OTTINGER: German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger will present his films such as The Picture of Dorian Gray in the Yellow Chest. Oct. 9 through 13, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave., 212-505-5181, Free.

ELIA KAZAN RETROSPECTIVE AT FILM FORUM: For three weeks there will be a retrospective of Director Elia Kazan (1909-2003) playing 16 of the director’s films. Oct. 9th-29th. 209 W. Houston St.; $12.

UNDISCOVERED COUNTRIES: A mini-retrospective of Ulrike Ottinger. Oct. 9-14, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave, New York, $7 and up.

TOSCA: A new production of Puccini’s Tosca by Luc Bondy as part of The Met: Live in HD. Saturday, Oct. 10. 1000 5th Ave., 212-535-7710.

VERDI’S LA TRAVIATA: An encore screening from Teatro alla Scala. Oct. 11, 2537 Broadway; $7, $21.

LITERARY EVENTS NAKED LUNCH AT 50: In celebration of the 50th an-

niversary of William S. Burrough’s classic novel Naked Lunch, SVA faculty member Regina Weinreich hosts readings and performances and a screening of Alan Govenar’s new documentary The Beat Hotel. Oct. 10, SVA Theatre, 333 W. 23rd St., 212-592-2000; 3:30, Free.

PEN PARENTIS READING SERIES: Two-time Stoker award-winning horror writer Sarah Langan, whose third book, Audrey’s Door, was recently optioned for film, and notable YA author, screenwriter and director of dark fantasy and horror, JT Petty. Oct. 13, The Libertine, 15 Gold St., 212-785-5950.

RECKONING WITH TORTURE: Memos and Testimonies from the “War on Terror”: Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Eve Ensler and more read from recently released secret documents that have brought these abuses to light—memos, declassified communications, and testimonies by detainees. Oct. 13, Cooper Union, Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St., 212-353-4195; 7, $10 and up.

GREAT EVENINGS IN THE GREAT HALL: New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik and others discuss the work of Thomas Henry Huxley, Robert J. Oppenheimer, Bertrand Russell, John Dewey and John Stewart Mill. Oct. 15, Cooper Union, Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St., 212-353-4195; 6:30, Free.

CHINUA ACHEBE: The legendary Things Fall Apart author sits for an interview with PEN American Center President K. Anthony Appiah. Oct. 19, 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., 212-4155550; 8, $10 and up.

JUDITH LAMBERTSON Landscapes en Plein Aire October 6-October 31, 2009 Opening Reception Saturday, October 10, 3-6pm 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

WATER AND SKY Ralph Carpentier, Anne Seelbach and Susan Sugar Through October 17 Encore Music Forum Concert October 8, 7 pm Jazz and Contemporary Chamber Music

NABI GALLERY Anne Seelbach, Horseshoe Crabs, 2007

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

Blue Mountain Gallery Presents

Charles Kaiman Recent Paintings October 6 - October 31, 2009 Meet the Artist Thursday, Oct 8, 5-8 PM www.charleskaimanpainter.com Blue Mountain Gallery 530 West 25th Street, fourth floor New York, New York 10001 646 486 4730

www.bluemountaingallery.org Tues to Sat 11 am to 6 pm

Lemon and Sugar oil on linen, 18” x 24”, 2008

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

Yvonne Thomas

(1913-2009) Memorial Exhibition Nov. 1 - Dec. 10, 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 October 6, 2009 | City Arts

17

AVENUE Shows

Antiques & Art at the Armory

Exhibitor Images: Hollis Reh & Shariff, European Decorative Arts Company, Michael Pashby Antiques, Ophir Gallery

DeďŹ ned by Quality & Design December 2, 2009 Private Preview Opening Benefit for The American Cancer Society HOPE LODGE NYC

December 3-6, 2009 Open to the Public

THE PARK AVENUE ARMORY 643 PARK AVENUE,NEW YORK CITY For show information please visit:

www.avenueshows.com or call 646.442.1627 Admission $20 Show design by Richard Mishaan

PainttheTOWN

By Amanda Gordon

SCHOLARS ON THE TOWN Filling out call slips, eating lunch together and hitting the New York Public Library party circuit: The Cullman Fellows have started their nine-month residencies at the library. At a party at Norwood for the Young Lions, library supporters in their 20s and 30s, the scholars blended right in, though some seemed more shy than others. “What should I say, “Are you a Young Lion?” François Furstenberg, a Montrealer who is writing a book about French-American relations in the 18th century, asked in jest, as he considered how to approach a woman he’d admired. British philosopher Andy Martin—bold enough to have talked to the models he spotted roaming the library during Fashion Week—worked the room with ease, helped by a scholarly topic anyone could relate to: “It’s called ‘What It Feels Like To Be Alive’,” Martin said. Near the bar, John Tresch, a historian and sociologist of science, found common ground with a computer programmer. “I was telling her about my work,” Tresch said. “I focus on the relationship between art and imagination, science and technology in the 19th century, and she said she feels it is not that different today.”

The party seemed to achieve one of the goals of the Cullman Fellows program: interdisciplinary bonding. “You’re trying to cross lines of professional communities that have been drawn,” said Rutgers history professor James Livingston.

“You not only need to learn something about whom you’re talking to, you want to. They’re incredibly smart people.” He is writing a biography of Horace Kallen, who is not exactly an icebreaker. “Everybody I talk to says ‘I’ve never heard of this guy,’” said Livingston. Undaunted, he has perfected the cocktail party précis: “Kallen is the omni American, a German Jew who went to Harvard, a Rhodes Scholar, a founder of the New School, the intellectual godfather of the U.N., the zelig of the 20th century!” he said, pausing for a breath and a sip of beer.

Photos by Amanda Gordon

NEXTS AND NOTES

Clockwise from left: Leelee Sobieski and Adam Kimmel at the Met Opera; Lynn and Sam Waterston with Ann Ziff at the Met Opera; Kay Ryan and Bill Murray break in the library at Poets House.

OPENING NIGHT “I’ve just been knocked out—it’s the best night I’ve had in a long time,” said actor Bill Murray at the opening night of Poets House.” The Met Opera’s opening night gave pregnant actress Leelee Sobieski, a native New Yorker, a parental urge.

“I want to take my child here,” she said.

New York does opening nights like no other town, and this season, one year after the bank meltdown, we’re defiantly on a roll. Faces familiar and new have been coming together to celebrate, among other things, the new guy at the Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Tosca, the Kandinsky exhibition at the Guggenheim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the new home for Poets House in Battery Park City, rent-free until 2069: All beginnings, boos included.

“It’s the transition between what everybody else has done, what they had in mind, and its realization: Now it starts living, it stops being someone’s dream,” said the U.S. Poet Laureate,

Kay Ryan. “It’s a rebirth of the artistic sensibility after summer,” the executive director of the New York Public Library’s Performing Arts Library, Jacqueline Davis, said. “I love that collective energy and getting everyone’s fresh opinion of what they just saw,” said the director of the Watermill Foundation, Stephanie French.

Opening nights also mean business. “In my experience, it’s about the investors,” said the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, of the opening nights he has presided over as a Broadway producer.

“Opening nights focus on New York as a cultural capital of the world, bring together people, many of whom know each other, and raise a hell of a lot of money,” said public relations impresario Howard Rubenstein, whose firm handles press for many such occasions.

Bring it on: We’re not tuckered out, just ready for more. As the Philharmonic’s new maestro, Alan Gilbert, told us a few days after his opening night, “All together, I think the rest of the season will be as easy as this last week by itself.”

The junior circuit is thriving in tough times: Museum of Arts and Design is launching Paperball on Oct. 14, with model Coco Rocha as host and a display of paper dresses

by Matthew Williamson, Yeohlee Teng and others. On Oct. 29, Young Patrons of Lincoln Center honor Mark Ronson and Georgina Chapman at a masquerade ball.

“There’s a lot of competition for this demographic,” admits Young Patrons steering committee co-chair Jessica Evelyn Betts, but she’s confident. “We’ve built buzz and Mark is spinning.” … Here’s an honoree trend: On Nov. 2, the New York Public Library will make Library Lions out of three employees, “to tell the story of the moment: what’s happening in the library,” said David Monn, who is designing the event’s décor. They are David Smith, reference librarian for 31 years, Julia Chang, Supervising Librarian for Children’s Programs, and career specialist Janice Moore-Smith. The tradition of honoring celebrated figures will not be entirely disposed: Annie Proulx and Hilary Knight will also be made Lions. … Jamie Bennett has started a new job as Director of Public Affairs for the National Endowment for the Arts, moving him to Washington D.C. Bennett worked for arts patron Agnes Gund at the Museum of Modern Art and the Department of Cultural Affairs. His parting cultural pick: Taylor Mac’s residency at HERE Arts Center starting October 29, a vaudevillian affair.

For more party coverage, visit www.cityarts.info.

To contact the author or purchase photos, email Amanda.Gordon@rocketmail.com October 6, 2009 | City Arts

19