Monthly Archives: May 2012

Last-Minute Invite to Gertrude’s Place

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There are only a few days left to go visit the Steins (Gertrude, Leo, and the rest of the family). They’re at the Met in The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde.

Instead of the tiny, little studio they inhabited in Paris, the Met has spread out all of the Matisses and Picassos they ever owned over nine galleries. Sure, there is a smattering of Cezannes, Renoirs, and a few others, but the show is really about the how the Steins kick-started the careers of Henri and Pablo.

If you’ve seen Woody Allen’s re-creation of Gertrude’s place in Midnight in Paris, you might be surprised that learn that it was only a 460 square-foot studio. But what a collection of paintings moved around on those walls! Take a look. The Met has produced a brief video comprised of old photos from the decades that the Steins lived, entertained, collected, and schmoozed in that miniscule space, which had such an outsized influence on the direction of the 20th century avant-garde.

It took the Met eight years to pull all the works together (to raise money to buy more work, the Steins often sold off beloved favorites to the Cone sisters in Baltimore or Mr. Barnes in Philadelphia). If you want to know more, view the recording of the two-hour panel that the curator hosted back in April.

And go over and pay Gertrude and the family one last visit.

Mars on Park Avenue

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It’s time to live the dream. No doubt you’ve seen the American Museum of Natural History’s show about what it’s like to explore Beyond Planet Earth. (AMNH has even dug out 1950s letters to the Hayden on its web site.)

But drop into the Park Avenue Armory to experience it for yourself. Tom Sachs has created the surface of Mars and an exploratory base out of materials that he scrounged near his art studio. The results are spectacular, fun, and a trip worth taking.

You’ll go through orientation to enter Space Program: Mars, but once you’re on the base, you can stroll around, take the test to enter the LEM, chat with the dozens of lab-coated workers, tour the museum, or just sit and view it all from the bleachers in front of Mission Control. Seriously, you can be entertained all day. Check out the inspiring trailer and a few on-site photos.

If you’ve wanted to travel to Mars, now’s your chance, before the show blasts off June 17.

Find a Good Weave

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Ernesto Neto, The Sun Lits Life, Let the Son installation at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

This week is the time to see some really innovative weaving by three completely different artists.

In Chelsea, relax into the colorful crocheted poly-chord environmental sculptures created by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto at Tanya Bonakdar’s 21st Street Chelsea gallery. The participatory experience is more intimate than Neto’s Park Avenue Armory installation three years ago, but features his signature dangling spice-filled pods. Be sure you climb to the second floor to recline on the Blue Hammock and Green Hammock. Enjoy the photos here, but experience it all in person before the final day, May 25.

If you missed Sheila Hicks’s 50-year retrospective last year at Philadelphia’s ICA, celebrate her achievement at Sikkema Jenkins one block away on 22ndStreet. The array of fiber work from 1958 to today is cooler and more high-concept. Runs until June 2.

Aricoco, nest-un-settled (aging), 2011

At Columbus Circle, meet young Brooklyn artist Aricoco upstairs at the studios on the 6th Floor of the Museum of Art and Design. Known for her interdisciplinary works and performances, such as her RUNawayHOME cocoon, ask her what she’s weaving out of the red and white plastic shopping bags she sourced in Chinatown.

Manhattan’s Digital Grid

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How much fun can you have with the Manhattan Grid? Plenty, if you have computer access and can make a trip (before July 15) to the The Greatest Grid exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.

Plan to spend a couple of hours wrapping your mind around how the farmland in your neighborhood was leveled by hand and horse cart to make the wide, smooth streets and sidewalks we’re used to today. (You’ll quickly see that the East Side’s Second Avenue Subway construction isn’t that big a disruption after all!)

Go online and check out one of the exhibit’s highlights – a digital composite of 92 farm maps drafted in 1818-1820 by John Randel, Jr. to show how the grid would bisect various hills, rivers, streams, swamps and pastures in years to come. Zoom in on your street and see who owned your property in the early 1800s, and read how MCNY worked with the City create this cool online map.

Also, take a look at the digital maps posted by The New York Times, including Randel’s big 1811 map of the grid (the centerpiece of the MCNY show), the 1836 farm map, and other interactive images created by the NYT team. Clicking through the views on the left will reveal all sorts of interesting history.

Check out the Channel 7 Eyewitness News video, featuring an interview with the curator (NYU’s Hillary Ballon) and a peek inside the show.

Want to do a little time travel on the modern version of the Manhattan grid or another borough? It’s easy. Go to NYCityMap and type in an address. When the schematic map appears, clock on the “Photo Camera” icon at the top of the map and you’ll see an aerial view of the neighborhood. Move the slide bar to enjoy the view to any time between 1924 and today to see what the block was like way back when.

Ferry to Frieze

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The international art crowd has descended upon a deserted island that is crammed with sculpture, installations, art talks, events, high-end food, and 180 galleries from all corners of the world. It’s the Frieze Art Fair (New York edition) and there are two more days to catch it on little-visited Randall’s Island in New York’s East River.

One of the nicest ways to get there is via the free New York Water Taxi, which offers a spectacular ride up the East River. Check out the photos. If you can’t get out there today or tomorrow, check out the virtual walk-through of the caterpillar tent and sculpture garden.

For other virtual fun, go shopping on the Frieze Art Fair virtual site, read more about the special projects that were commissioned for the fair, take advantage of the podcasts of the special talks, and listen to some of the sound projects.

Hope to see you at the fair!

Entrance to the Frieze Art Fair on Randall’s Island

Florence, Machine & McQueen

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Nostalgic for the Met’s McQueen show last year? In the run-up to 2012’s Costume Institute Gala at the Met next Monday, Vogue is running its fantastic video of last year’s gala featuring, well…everybody. Just try to count the famous faces in this video.

You’ll get a glimpse of the red carpet, the grand staircase, cater waiters, celebs, designers, Scottish bagpipers, the exhibition itself, and Florence holding forth at the Temple of Dendur with vocals, charisma, and lighting that Lee would have loved (very Plato’s Atlantis).

In case you didn’t know, this year’s fete will celebrate Schiaparelli and Prada, who are taking up residence at the Met through mid-August in an exhibit that opens to the public on May 10, featuring videos by Baz Luhrmann with fictional “conversations” between these two design icons. Preview some of the featured fashions and theme.

And be sure to set your calendar to see the live web stream of the glitterati on this year’s Costume Institute red carpet on May 7, sponsored by the Met, Vogue, and Amazon.