this week in art

ON BROADWAY: FROM RENT TO REVOLUTION

on broadway

Rizzoli Bookstore
1133 Broadway at 26th St.
Monday, May 23, RSVP only, 6:30
212-759-2424
rizzolibookstore.com
www.broadwaycares.org

Before word of mouth, before the reviews, before the public sees the cast and sets and hears the dialogue and music, a Broadway show attempts to define itself — and sell tickets — by establishing a look, a unique brand, via posters, billboards, and advertisements. For the last twenty years, SpotCo, originally known as Spot Design, has been at the forefront of this business, working on campaigns for more than three hundred clients, including eight Pulitzer Prize winners and the last eight winners of the Tony for Best Musical. The company’s history is celebrated in the new coffee-table book On Broadway: From Rent to Revolution (Rizzoli, April 2016, $45), which explores SpotCo’s branding of such shows as Rent, Chicago, The Vagina Monologues, Doubt, Avenue Q, Hair, Once, Kinky Boots, Fun Home, and Hamilton. “What separates SpotCo’s oeuvre from what has come before and makes it so astounding is that as a whole it has no recognizable visual style, in a business that was long thought to rely on exactly that, no matter how hackneyed and clichéd,” author and graphic designer extraordinaire Chip Kidd writes in his foreword. “The only thing that unites them all is an unwavering sense of intelligence and the apparent belief that their audience is comprised of people who can think, intuit, and take a chance on something they haven’t quite experienced before.” The book also features text by SpotCo founder Drew Hodges and producers, composers, illustrators, playwrights, artistic directors, photographers, and actors (Harvey Fierstein, Cherry Jones, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patrick Stewart, Sting) detailing the various campaigns, in addition to an introduction by former company maid David Sedaris. On May 23, the Rizzoli Bookstore will host the annual Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS charity event while also celebrating On Broadway: From Rent to Revolution; the evening will include a red carpet entrance for numerous stars of the Great White Way, an auction of original art, and more.

GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL AT NYBG: AN EVENING OF WORLD-CLASS OPERA

The Glimmerglass Opera will preview 2016 summer festival at the New York Botanical Garden on May 26 (photo of 2015 Glimmerglass production of Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE by Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)

The New York Botanical Garden
2900 Southern Blvd., Bronx
Thursday, May 26, $35, 6:00
718-817-8700
www.nybg.org
glimmerglass.org

Opera in the Bronx? On May 26, as part of its 125th anniversary, the New York Botanical Garden will offer a sneak peek at this summer’s Glimmerglass Festival at a special one-night-only program. The evening begins at 6:00 with a viewing of the gallery section of the new exhibition “Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas,” which features gardens curated by Francisca Coelho in the style of works by Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, and other artists, along with Impressionist paintings and sculptures. At 7:00 in Ross Hall, soprano Alison King, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Chaz’men Williams-Ali, baritone Johnathan McCullough, and pianist Kevin Miller will perform excerpts from a new Belle Époque production of Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, Gioachino Rossini and Giovanni Gherardini’s The Thieving Magpie, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd, and Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, as well as past favorites, presented by Glimmerglass artistic and general director Francesca Zambello and the Young Artists Program. Following the performance, ticket holders are invited to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory to see the garden part of the Impressionism exhibition. The Glimmerglass Festival takes place July 8 to August 27 in Cooperstown and also includes Laura Karpman and Kelley Rourke’s new Youth Opera: Wilde Tales, discussions with New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman and journalist Jeffrey Toobin on The Crucible, Sondheim on Sweeney Todd, and Supreme Court Justice and opera lover Ruth Bader Ginsburg in addition to master classes, lounges, preview brunches, and more.

THE ART OF DRAWING: A CONVERSATION WITH ERIC FISCHL

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, “Street Life in Dresden,” lithograph on heavy cream Japan paper, 1908

Who: Eric Fischl and Jane Kallir
What: Discussion about the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and the evolution of drawing over the last century
Where: Galerie St. Etienne, 24 West 57th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., 212-245-6734
When: Wednesday, May 18, free, 6:30
Why: “Ecstatic drawing is the foundation of the new art,” German Expressionist painter and Die Brücke cofounder Ernst Ludwig Kirchner said in 1919. On May 18, New York City native and painter and sculptor Eric Fischl will be at Galerie St. Etienne in Midtown to discuss “The Art of Drawing” with gallery owner Jane Kallir, held in conjunction with the exhibition “Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Featuring Watercolors and Drawings from the Robert Lehman Collection,” which continues through July 1. The exhibition comprises more than fifty pen-and-ink drawings, woodcuts, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs by Kirchner, who committed suicide in 1938 at the age of fifty-eight, shortly after the Nazis detained or destroyed more than six hundred of his works. “Just as he preferred moving models, Kirchner himself moved as he drew, changing position or walking through town with a sketchbook in hand. He drew every day and nearly everywhere he went, filling at least 180 sketchbooks, over 12,000 sheets,” Kallir writes in her extensive exhibition essay. “Drawing is the key to Kirchner’s art, and his sketches are the key to his drawings. But the sketches should not be viewed as studies per se. Rather, the sketches birthed new forms, conceived in the throes of ‘ecstatic’ experience, that ‘crystallized and hardened’ in subsequent pictures.” Fischl, whose work includes such series as “Art Fair,” “Corrida in Ronda,” “The Travel of Romance,” “Ten Breaths,” and “The Bed, the Chair . . .” in addition to the MTA mosaic “The Garden of Circus Delights” in Penn Station, will lend insight into his own creative process as well. Free advance reservations are not required but recommended and can be made here.

WANDERLUST: SLEEPWALKER BY TONY MATELLI

A group of women pose with Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” on the High Line (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The High Line
Eleventh Ave. from 34th St. to Gansevoort St.
“Wanderlust” through March 17, 2017
Open daily, free, 7:00 am – 11:00 pm
www.thehighline.org
sleepwalker high line slide show

It’s all about context. In June 2014, there was a furor at Wellesley when students at the all-woman college protested against the installation of Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” sculpture, a lifelike rendering of a bald white man in nothing but his tighty-whities, eyes closed and arms outstretched. While he is meant to be in the midst of harmless somnambulation, hundreds of women signed an online petition that claimed that the work “has become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for some members of our campus community”; others playfully mocked the work, creating virtual images of it dressed in school T-shirts and the like. Matelli responded by telling CBS Boston, “I think that these people are misconstruing this work. I think they’re seeing something in this work that isn’t there. But who am I to say how people should react to this?” Ultimately, the statue had to be removed after being spray-painted and subsequently broken in protest. A few months later, I encountered a different casting of “Sleepwalker” on the rooftop deck of the Marlborough Chelsea, where it was just him and me; at the time, I wrote that I found it to be “intriguing and humorous, not threatening at all, perhaps even symbolic of an America that often seems to be half asleep.” Of course, I’m not a college-age woman, and the sculpture is not by the side of the road in some woods.

Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” gets a hug from a happy stranger on the High Line (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“Sleepwalker” has now made its way to the High Line, where it awaits visitors by the Fourteenth St. entrance as part of the group show “Wanderlust.” On a recent Saturday afternoon, I watched as people huddled around it, many wondering if it were an actual real person, waiting for him to make a sudden movement. Kids reached out to touch a hand, a young man sniffed its head, and tourists posed in silly positions with the work. There were hugs, funny faces, selfies, and an abundance of smiles after initial hesitation. At Wellesley, “Sleepwalker” was steeped in controversy. At the Marlborough Chelsea, it was somewhat of a lonely, pathetic creature. And now, on the High Line, one of the city’s most attractive destinations, it has become a novelty; there was even an official photo contest on April 23 “inviting visitors to the park to post their most creative photo inspired by Tony Matelli’s sculpture ‘Sleepwalker.’” It’s a far cry from the spray-painted version surrounded by police tape on the Wellesley campus. Art affects people in different ways, and “Sleepwalker” is a stunning example of that. It also says a lot about where we are as a culture in the twenty-first century.

WANDERLUST: TIDE AND CURRENT TAXI BY MARIE LORENZ

Marie Lorenz will be offering free trips along the Hudson River with handcrafted canoes stored under the High Line at Gansevoort St. (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Marie Lorenz
What: Rowboat trips along the Hudson River as part of “Wanderlust” exhibit on the High Line
Where: Village Community Boathouse, Pier 40, 353 West St. at West Houston St.
When: May 26, June 4 & 23, August 25, free, multiple times
Why: At the 2014 Frieze Art Fair, we found a unique way to get back to Manhattan from Randall’s Island: We took a rowboat ride organized by environmental artist Marie Lorenz across the East River to Harlem. Lorenz began her “Tide and Current Taxi” project back in 2005, giving free rides around the city’s waterways while documenting them on video. Lorenz is now offering rides along the Hudson as part of the latest High Line exhibition, “Wanderlust,” which celebrates the High Line as an ambulatory space. Three of the rowboats can be seen underneath the Gansevoort end of the High Line; on May 26, June 4, June 23, and August 25, Lorenz will lower one of the boats and take lucky passengers on trips of between twenty and forty minutes, depending on the weather, the tide, and other factors. The ride is free, but you must sign up in advance, and quick, because many of the time slots are already booked. We had a great time on our trip with Lorenz two years ago, so don’t hesitate to catch a ride on this amazing journey. “Wanderlust” continues through March 2017 and also includes works by Tony Matelli, Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Valentin Carron, Iman Issa, Matt Johnson, Paulo Nazareth, Mike Nelson, Roman Ondak, Susan Philipsz, and Rayyane Tabet.

FRIEZE ART FAIR HIGHLIGHTS

Alex Da Corte’s giant floating baby and part of Heather Phillipson’s “100% Other Fibres” greet Frieze visitors (all photos by twi-ny/mdr unless otherwise noted)

FRIEZE ART FAIR
Randall’s Island Park
May 5-8, $29-$49 per day
friezenewyork.com

On a cold, rainy Friday afternoon, Frieze was about as comfortable and manageable as any major international art fair can get. You could take your time looking at the art, easily procure a table at one of the restaurants, and not have to wait on long lines to use the rest rooms. At the fifth annual Frieze New York, held on Randall’s Island, video, contemporary photography, and outdoor sculpture are out while large-scale painting, mid-to-late-twentieth-century photography, and performance are in. Below are our recommended highlights, in no particular order; also be on the lookout for works by Carolee Schneeman, Liz Magic Laser, Rieko Otake, Bernd and Hilla Becher, John Divola, Nancy Holt, Frank Bowling, and reverse pickpocket David Horvitz.

A troupe of mimes moves throughout the fair in a green vehicle in Anthea Hamilton’s “Kar-A-Sutra (After Mario Bellini)”

Eduardo Navarro’s “Instructions from the Sky” remained indoors because of the weather

Maurizio Cattelan pays tribute to the Daniel Newburg Gallery by restaging his 1994 U.S. debut, “Warning! Enter at Your Own Risk. Do Not Touch, Do Not Feed, No Smoking, No Photographs, No Dogs, Thank you.” complete with chandelier and Gabriel the donkey, who recently appeared at the Met in La Bohème.

Look inside Mika Rottenberg’s “Lips” for a surprise video, right next to her sizzling “AC Trio”

Hauser & Wirth’s staff have a tough time stopping people from touching Roni Horn’s untitled glass pieces

You can see more of N. Dash’s beautiful works of adobe, acrylic, gesso, string, canvas, and jute at Casey Kaplan in Chelsea

Philippe Parreno and Rirkrit Tiravanija collaborated on eight-minute video installation “Stories Are Propaganda”

Spencer Lowell’s “New York, New York, New York” provides unique look at Queens Museum Panorama (photo courtesy Queens Museum)

Alex Katz’s “Nine Women” is significantly smaller than 1982 Times Square mural

Perhaps Krzysztof Wodiczko’s twenty-five-year-old “Homeless Vehicle Project” could still help New York City’s homeless crisis

Michelle Grabner’s untitled enamel on panel painting is a bright standout

François Morellet turns Galerie Herve Bize space into a dizzying experience

Perennial favorite Galerie Eigen + Art features new works by David Schnell, including “Becken” (above) and “Pakt” (photo courtesy Galerie Eigen + Art)

Fred Wilson’s “Emilia’s Mirror — Act 5, Scene 2” is part of Pace installation

Daniel Dewar and Grégory Gicquel’s “Stoneware Mural with Pipes n°4” is part of Frame Stand Prize-winning installation “Truth and Consequences”

ARTIST TALK: NANCY GROSSMAN, MARILYN MINTER, BETTY TOMPKINS, LAURIE SIMMONS

Betty Tompkins. Artistgirl, 2013. Acrylic on canvas, 6 x 12 x 1 1/2 inches. Private Collection. Image courtesy the artist.

Betty Tompkins, “Artistgirl,” acrylic on canvas, 2013 (private collection / image courtesy the artist)

Who: Nancy Grossman, Marilyn Minter, Betty Tompkins, Laurie Simmons, and Glenn Fuhrman
What: Artist talk
Where: The FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., ninth floor, 212-206-0220
When: Tuesday, May 10, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: In case you haven’t been paying attention, FLAG founder Glenn Fuhrman has been hosting a series of conversations at his Chelsea gallery with some pretty big-time players and up-and-comers, including Jeff Koons, Sean Scully, and Awol Erizku. On May 10, he’ll be convening with a terrifically impressive quartet of artists, Nancy Grossman, Marilyn Minter, Betty Tompkins, and Laurie Simmons, to discuss Tompkins’s exhibition “WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories: 1,000 Paintings by Betty Tompkins,” which continues at FLAG through May 14. The exhibition consists of one thousand small-scale, hand-painted acrylic on canvas works that feature words and phrases used to describe women, including “Total Babe,” “Epic Bitch,” “Girly Girl,” “Arm Candy,” “Put a Bag over Her Head,” and “Will She Ever Shut Up?” (In her request for words and phrases from others, Tompkins explained, “They can be affectionate [honey], pejorative [bitch], slang, descriptive, etc.”) You better watch out, because this should be one exciting, illuminating evening.