Monthly Archives: November 2012

Holiday Rush for Christopher Columbus

Posted on by
Reply
Greeting visitors in his apartment 75 feet in the air

Greeting visitors in his apartment 75 feet in the air

It’s the holiday season in New York, with art lovers rushing to see the spectacular apartment that Tatzu Nishi has created (courtesy of The Public Art Fund) for Christopher Columbus, the man at the center of things near the Time-Warner Building.

He’s been standing atop that column since 1892, so it’s about time that he had us over to see his taste in décor, books, and light TV viewing.  Here’s the Flickr feed, which takes you on a 360-degree view of his digs.

Who knew Captain Columbus was into pop culture? He even has a copy of one of Andy’s early cat lithos in his bookcase. Enjoy the holiday views that Columbus is enjoying, and get your free tickets now, because you won’t be seeing the City from this view again!

What Columbus is reading inside his apartment

What Columbus is reading inside his apartment

NYC Spider Theater Due to Close

Posted on by
Reply

Bronze Spider 1, 1995 by Ms. Bourgeois lurks at the show’s entrance

About the best spider theater in town is about to close in a few weeks – the live-animal floor show inside the American Museum of National History’s Spiders Alive! exhibition, where an actual spider-handler enthralls the crowds with myth-busting tales while introducing the arachnid star of the show, a Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula. Nearly 20 live species are crawling around the terrariums, but crowds are flocking to the live demo/theater area of the show and sitting spellbound until intermission. Go see it!

Since the AMNH never does anything second-rate, it’s fitting to note that welcoming visitors to the show is an art-world superstar. Lurking inconspicuously in the “canoe” lobby area outside the show is one of the smaller bronze spiders crafted by Louise Bourgeois. It’s smaller than the babies that graced the 1999 opening of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in London (and later the Guggenheim in Bilbao and Rockefeller Center), but who cares? Stop by for a glimpse.

Robert Cuccioli, AMNH curator Norman Platnik, Reeve Carney and multiple Spider-Men take in AMNH’s “Spiders Alive!” © AMNH\R. Mickens

And lest you think that AMNH ignored the other obvious art-world connection, it didn’t, as shown by this amusing photo in September, when the cast of that other spider-themed show came to visit AMNH curator Normal Platnik for a walk-through.

Check out the opening-day YouTube promo below, but go meet the spiders up close and personal before they leave after January 6. If you’re a sci café geek that wants more, go poke around the AMNH World Spider Catalog.

235 Years of Veteran History in a High-Tech Park

Posted on by
Reply

Open again after the hurricane, best-kept-secret BLDG 92 has opened its doors to honor veteran, industrial, medical, and military history at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center.

The stunning displays of over 235 years of history in New York Harbor inside are nothing compared to the experience of traipsing around by bus and foot to poke in and around the mix of crumbling 19th-century architecture, active dry docks, overgrown campuses, historic streets, and state-of-the-art sustainable design.

Take a look at the sights seen during the sunny days of summer on the Flickr feed, and book your trip now. It’s an adventure to get there (subways aren’t exactly close), but you will feel amazing to walk in the footsteps of so many heroes of American history and innovation, like Commodore Perry, Dr. Squibb, the North Atlantic Command for WWII, and Rosie the Riveter.

If it all feels and looks a little like a back lot, it is. (Boardwalk Empire shoots at the Steiner Studios and SNL builds sets there.)

Check out the photo of the tugboat under repair in the third oldest dry dock in the country – right where the Monitor was built for combat during the Civil War.  And if you’re a Navy history buff, immerse yourself in BLDG 92’s Flickr stream courtesy of the National Archives, stereoscopes and all.

What have you been missing?  Just check out this video, and then go see the real thing on foot, by bus,  by bicycle, or on an industrial tour:

Do-It-Yourself Fashion Alphabet

Posted on by
Reply

Christian Dior, dress in satin, 1954, France, gift of Sally Cary Iselin.

You’ve probably been too busy looking for electrical outlets below 34th Street to have noticed that today is the last day of the exhibition Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of the Museum at FIT, Part Two.

Don’t worry, because as your power (and Internet) comes back on, you can get your fashion fix via FIT’s new digital archive that lets you surf by alphabet to see all the famous designers and dresses that are in the collection. Search by designer or brand, they’re all there.

The gallery show has the outfits arranged A (for Adrian with a MoMA-inspired creation) to Z (Zoran) in its upstairs gallery. The curators often placed two designer ensembles side-by-side, emphasizing the original designer (for example, Dior) and the younger designer who took over creative duties for the house over time (for example, YSL for Dior).

It’s a treat to see side-by-side examples of new and old Hermes (featuring Gaultier vs. the Kelly bag), Valentino, Balmain, Kenzo, YSL, Dior, and Comme des Garcon creatives.

Charles James, evening dress in silk taffeta and net, 1955, USA, gift of Robert Wells In Memory of Lisa Kirk.

Is Charles James still the reigning world champion? Take a trip to Seventh Avenue today or start surfing fashion history to make your own determination.

MoMA Displays Post-Sandy Boardwalk Episode

Posted on by
Reply

Maybe it’s a bridge and not a coastal boardwalk, but the character in Munch’s pastel on view at MoMA through April 2013 pretty much sums up the experience of so many Tri-State residents in the last week.  Ironically, the privately owned drawing went up only a few days before the hurricane stormed through the region, devastating homes, beaches, and the Chelsea galleries.

Many downtown museums remain closed, including the South Street Seaport Museum, the New York City Police Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Skyscraper Museum, although the Museum of Jewish Heritage at the Battery has just announced its reopening. On the West Side, the Intrepid is closed until it can fix its inundated welcome center and repair the outdoor protective bubble around the space shuttle Enterprise, which got a little beat up. The High Line is repairing all of its electrical infrastructure.

To help the arts and museum community during this difficult week, MoMA has posted a PDF with instructions on conserving art works that have sustained flood damage and held a workshop with conservators from the American Institute for Conservation Collections Emergency Response Team for afflicted dealers and collectors this past weekend.

While the repairs and restoration will take time and with another windy storm on the way toward New York, Mr. Munch’s 117-year-old evocation remains pretty much on point.