Roy Lichtenstein’s "House II" creates optical illusion

ROY LICHTENSTEIN: SCULPTURE

Gagosian Gallery

555 West 24th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.

Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm

Through October 22

Admission: free

212-741-1111

http://www.gagosian.com/current/exhibitions/?gid=2

http://www.lichtensteinfoundation.org/lonindex.htm

The colorful, playful, and influential sculptures of Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein turn the four galleries in the Gagosian into a carnival of fun, exciting, involving imagery. In the first gallery, "Brushstroke Nude" twists in the wind. Make sure to walk past the fabulous "House II" staring at the center; you’ll feel as if it is alive, moving inside and outside of itself. Gallery II features several of his line sculptures as well as the extraordinary "Woman Contemplating a Yellow Cup" and "Woman with Mirror," which you can look into from either side. In the third gallery is one of our favorites, "Goldfish Bowl," resting on a book on an easel, as well as the bright yellow, diagonal "Maquette for the Gilman Paper Company Lamp." In the small fourth gallery, notice the optical tricks perpetrated by "Pyramid." And don’t forget about the back office gallery, where you’ll find the Victorianesque "Surrealist Head."

Courtesy ClampArt

"Apparition #907" by Bill Armstrong

APPARITION: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BILL ARMSTRONG

ClampArt

531 West 25^th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.

Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm

Through October 22

Admission: free

646-230-0020

http://clampart.com

Setting his lens at infinity, Bill Armstrong takes pictures of reworked photographs of Roman sculpture heads, resulting in haunting images that are purposely severely out of focus. Against a black background, faces can barely be made out, in green, red, purple, blue, white, yellow, and other hazy colors. The pictures are filled with the mystery of spirituality and death; interestingly, Armstrong took these photos shortly after the passing of his father, and he writes in the catalog that it is "uncanny" that "some of the ghostly images actually resemble my father … It was only later that I understood that I had been trying to communicate with him through the medium of light-sensitive materials." Conversely, if you stare at these pictures long enough, you’ll think the subjects in them are trying to communicate with you (perhaps reminding us that all great empires eventually fall).

SWEET EARTH: EXPERIMENTAL UTOPIAS IN AMERICA by Joel Sternfeld

Luhring Augustine

531 West 24th St.

Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm

Through October 22

Admission: free

212-206-9100

http://www.luhringaugustine.com

Joel Sternfeld continues his photographic exploration of America with this extraordinary series that he’s been working on for twelve years. He has traveled the nation to find current and past sites of social experimentation, where people formed unique communities of environmental sustainability. His subjects range from the endangered Liz Christy Garden on the Bowery to Leonard Knight’s remarkable Salvation Mountain in Slab City, California, from the ruins of Drop City in Trinidad, Colorado, to the remains of Zzyzx Springs on Lake Tuendae in California, from Patch Adams’s stunning Dacha/Staff Building at the Gesundheit! Institute in Hillsboro, West Virginia, to the tree-laden Lost Valley Education Center in Dexter, Oregon. Each photo is accompanied by text detailing the site’s history as a place of communal gathering, green living, and peace and love. When we stopped by, Sternfeld just happened to be there, speaking passionately about his work. "I am so sorry this one is over," he said. You have until October 22 to check these out, or else you can buy the book, which includes many more destinations.

SUSAN WIDES: KAATERSKILL

Kim Foster Gallery

529 West 20^th St., ground floor

Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am — 6:00 pm

Through October 22

Admission: free

212-229-0044

http://www.artnet.com/kfoster.html

http://www.artnet.com/event/79360/kaaterskill-photographs-by-susan-wides.html

http://www.widesholl.com/sw

Evoking the work of such Hudson River School painters as Thomas Cole, John Frederick Kensett, and George Inness, Susan Wides has taken a series of stunning photographs around Kaaterskill Falls in upstate New York. In one photo, the leaves are changing, providing a gorgeous backdrop for — a car dump, which just happens to be across the street from where Cole lived. Notice how the image goes in and out of focus the deeper you look, questioning the reality of the view. Several shots of the falls themselves go beyond pretty landscape pictures, mixing in abstract concepts that challenge the viewer. We’ve been to Kaaterskill Falls numerous times, and we’ve taken lots of photos there, but we’ve never seen anything quite like this there.

In the Neighborhood

twi-ny/mdr

Literary pub caters to Chelsea gallerygoers

THE HALF KING

505 West 23rd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.

Admission: free

212-462-4300

http://www.thehalfking.com

Named after an eighteenth-century leader of the Seneca and the Delaware Indians, this very pleasant pub serves a good brunch, decent burgers, and very good Guinness in an outdoor patio, a bar area with wooden booths (all the wood came from a two-hundred-year-old Pennsylvania barn), and a dining room with long couches, fast-moving fans, and an art show along the walls. "One in a Billion: Coming of Age in the New China," which was supposed to end in early September but is still up, features excellent photographs by New York City-born photojournalist David Butow, documenting what he calls the "transitional, only-child generation" in China, "the world’s greatest Work in Progress." Owned by Scott Anderson, Nanette Burstein, and Sebastian Junger, the Half King also hosts reading and music series.

Monday, October 3 Nick Flynn, ANOTHER BULLS–T NIGHT IN SUCK CITY, 7:00

Monday, October 10 Michael Segell, THE DEVIL’S HORN, 7:00

Monday, October 17 Rosa Lowinger, TROPICANA NIGHTS: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE LEGENDARY CUBAN NIGHTCLUB, 7:00

Architectural Event of the Week

twi-ny/mdr

New York Marble Cemetery opens its doors

OPENHOUSENEWYORK

Various venues in all five boroughs

October 8-9

Admission: free

Reservations required for some visits

917-583-2398

http://ohny.org

Some of New York’s most exciting and impossible-to-get-into locations are opening their doors to celebrate architecture at this third annual free event — but you better reserve early for some of the hottest spots. From the Old Croton Aqueduct and Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx to the Fifty-ninth St. Marine Transfer Station and the Little Red Lighthouse in Manhattan, from the Hindu Temple Society of America and Fort Tilden in Queens to the Brooklyn Army Terminal and the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, from the St. George Theater and Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island to Ellis Island’s South Side, visitors will be given special tours and learn about the architectural history of New York City landmarks.

Among the dozens of other participants are the Arsenal, the Seguine Mansion, the Eldridge Street Synagogue, the Church of the Transfiguration, Governors Island, the General Grant National Memorial, the Old Quaker Meeting House, the John J. Harvey Fireboat, Chelsea Market, the Green-Wood Cemetery, Floyd Bennett Field, Scandinavia House, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the Merchant’s House Museum, an MTA Substation, the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, Teardrop Park, Wave Hill, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, MoMA’s Conservation Department, the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, the Jacob Riis Park Bathhouse, and such old standbys as the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal, and the Waldorf=Astoria. There are also canoe tours of Red Hook Harbor and the Gowanus Canal. In the first two years we visited the Grand Lodge of Masons on West 23rd St. and both downtown marble cemeteries, which were all revelations. Prepare for very long lines at some of the more popular spots, so always have a backup plan in the neighborhood.