this week in art

ALICIA GRULLÓN: FILIBUSTER

Alicia Grullón will reenact Wendy Davis’s eleven-hour filibuster of Texas Senate Bill 5 in its entirety on April 13 at BRIC House

Who: Alicia Grullón
What: Special performance as part of “Whisper or Shout: Artists in the Social Sphere”
Where: BRIC Arts | Media House, stoop, 647 Fulton St., 718-683-5600
When: Wednesday, April 13, free, 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Why: On June 25, 2013, Texas state senator Wendy Davis, in pink sneakers, held the floor for eleven hours, filibustering against Senate Bill 5, which “[related] to the regulation of abortion procedures, providers, and facilities; providing penalties.” Davis became an instant media superstar; however, the bill pass passed in a special session held in July. On April 13, performance artist Alicia Grullón, with Davis’s blessing, will reenact the eleven-hour filibuster at the BRIC House Stoop in Fort Greene. Yes, she will be wearing pink sneakers. Admission is free, and people can come and go as they please. “Senator Davis’s filibuster fell along the lines of these other events where moments of protest or tragedy highlight the impact of imbalanced history and policies on the social sphere and on the body of other[s],” Grullón said in a statement. “Her filibuster on women’s healthcare highlighted and reignited the necessity for an equitable feminist history and a call for younger women of color to take the lead since many of the women affected by the closing of clinics are poor and/or of color.” Previously, Grullón has covered her face in newsprint while trying to sell such staples as rice, flour, and beans for between $1000 and $5000 per pound to bring attention to food riots in Haiti (“Revealing New York: The Disappearance of Other”); spent four hours standing in the snow in Van Cortlandt Park to let people know about an undocumented worker who froze to death in a Long Island forest, his body found days later (“Illegal Death”); and led a one-person boycott of the closed Stella D’Oro factory in the Bronx (“No Cookies”). “Filibuster,” which is being held in conjunction with the BRIC House exhibition “Whisper or Shout: Artists in the Social Sphere,” will be streamed live here; you can also tweet questions to Grullón (#BRICfilibuster) and follow the event on Periscope.

WORDPLAY: MATTHIAS BUCHINGER’S DRAWINGS FROM THE COLLECTION OF RICKY JAY

Matthias Buchinger, “Ten Commandments, personalized to John Thomson and family, merchant of Edinburgh,” ink on vellum, 1723 (collection of Ricky Jay)

The Met Fifth Avenue
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Gallery, Gallery 690, second floor
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Daily through April 11, recommended admission $12-$25
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org
www.rickyjay.com

Amid all the excitement over the opening of the Met Breuer in the old Whitney space, it was possible to overlook what was going on at the museum’s longtime home base, now known as the Met Fifth Avenue. But it would be a shame if you missed “Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger’s Drawings from the Collection of Ricky Jay,” on view through April 11. In fact, you might have missed it even if you’ve been to the Met since January 8, when it opened in the long hallway gallery on the second floor. Magician, actor, curator, writer, consultant, television host, and conjurer Ricky Jay has been collecting works by the extraordinary German artist and performer Matthias Buchinger (1674–1739) for decades; nineteen pieces by Buchinger are included in the exhibition, alongside drawings, engravings, lithographs, etchings, books, and prints by Jasper Johns, Louise Bourgeois, Glenn Ligon, Cy Twombly, and various seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artists, placing Buchinger’s oeuvre in historical, artistic, and thematic context. Known as the Greatest German Living and the Little Man of Nuremberg, Buchinger was born in 1674 without hands, feet, or thighs, as he often noted on his works along with his signature. He reached only twenty-nine inches tall but led quite a life, marrying four times and having at least fourteen children by eight women before his death in 1739. Using the stumps of his arms, he created amazingly intricate drawings, from coats of arms to family trees to depictions of the Ten Commandments to portraits, incorporating calligraphy and micography, the latter an exquisitely detailed writing form in which tiny lines are actually made up of words. The Met provides magnifying glasses so you can fully experience such intricate works as “Ten Commandments, personalized to John Thomson and family, merchant of Edinburgh,” “Buchinger Family Tree,” “Coat of Arms, Norwich,” and the breathtaking pen and ink on vellum “Portrait of Queen Anne,” containing text from the Book of Kings, written even in the curls of her hair.

Anonymous, “Portrait of Matthias Buchinger,” engraving, 1707 (collection of Ricky Jay)

A relentless self-promoter, Buchinger described himself thusly: “This Little Man performs such wonders as have never been done by any but himself. He plays on various sorts of music to admiration, [such] as the hautboy, [a] strange flute in consort with the bagpipe, dulcimer and trumpet; and designs to make machines to play on almost all sorts of music. He is no less eminent for writing, drawing of coats of arms, and pictures to the life, with a pen; he also plays at cards and dice, performs tricks with cups and balls, corn and live birds; and plays at skittles or nine-pins to a great nicety, with several other performances, to the general satisfaction of all spectators.” The exhibition’s centerpiece is a gorgeous 1705 portrait of Buchinger, dressed in regal clothing, standing next to a writing desk and a rifle, a window behind him looking into the vast world beyond. Another highlight is Elias Baeck’s 1710 “Portrait of Matthias Buchinger Surrounded by Thirteen Vignettes,” celebrating all the different entertainments he performed. The show reveals that he was not alone; there are also portraits of several other artists from around the same time period who did not have arms or legs, including Thomas Inglefield, Johanna Sophia Liebschern, and Johannes Wynistorff, in addition to printed announcements of the skills of Miss Beffin and Martha Anne Honeywell. Even the title of the catalog, by Jay, is a treat: Matthias Buchinger: “The Greatest German Living”: By Ricky Jay, Whose Peregrinations in Search of the “Little Man of Nuremberg” are herein Revealed. A far-too-early 1722 elegy written for Buchinger states: “Buckinger’s gone, and quit this earthly Stage, / Who was the only Wonder of this Age; / This little Worthy, inwardly compleat, / His Soul inspired with celestial Heat, / Perform’d his Wonders with such artful Grace, / You’d judge him one of more than humane Race.” This exhibition displays his wonder and grace, as well as his fascinating humanity.

FREE TICKET ALERT — DUKE RILEY: FLY BY NIGHT

Duke Riley brings his pigeons to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for special weekend performances from May 7 to June 12 (photo by Will Star)

Who: Creative Time and Duke Riley
What: “Fly by Night”
Where: Brooklyn Navy Yard, Sands St. at Navy St.
When: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, May 7 – June 12, free but advance tickets required, 7:00 or 7:30
Why: In his winter 2013–14 exhibition at Magnan Metz in Chelsea, “See You at the Finish Line,” the Boston-born, Brooklyn-based artist Duke Riley documented in astounding detail his use of camera-carrying homing pigeons he sent between Cuba and Key West. Riley has now teamed up with nonprofit arts organization Creative Time, whose previous projects include Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby” at the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg and “Drifting in Daylight” in Central Park, for “Fly by Night,” in which thousands of pigeons will emerge from a former naval aircraft carrier docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on weekend nights at dusk in May and June and put on a performance in the sky involving LED lights with special messages. “With the keen timing of a conductor, this winged symphony weaves together the narrative threads of overlapping histories — a forgotten waterfront island, a creature we see daily in our landscape but rarely look at, and an artist who stands on a rooftop linking his past to his present in a swirling crescendo,” curator Meredith Johnson explains in a statement. “Like the birds themselves, no two performances are the same. Lacing together old New York and new, ‘Fly by Night’ asks us to stop, watch, listen, and revere this extraordinary creature that has shared the triumphs and tragedies of the human experience — uniting individuals, cultures, and generations of fanciers in a tale of both the ancient and modern city.” Admission to the performances are free but must be reserved in advance here. In addition, the project is seeking volunteers to help engage the public, ensure safety, and assist with tech issues; you can find out more about those opportunities and benefits here.

MODERN MONDAYS: AN EVENING WITH CAO FEI

Cao Fei’s HAZE AND FOG is part of Modern Mondays presentation at MoMA on April 4

Who: Cao Fei, Klaus Biesenbach
What: Modern Mondays presentation of films and conversation
Where: MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves., 212-708-9400
When: Monday, April 4, $8-$12, 7:00
Why: As an appetizer to her first U.S. solo museum show, opening April 20 at MoMA PS1, Beijing-based Chinese artist Cao Fei will be at MoMA in Midtown on April 4 for the Modern Mondays presentation “An Evening with Cao Fei.” The program features excerpts from several of her films, including 2004’s Cosplayers, 2006’s Whose Utopia?, 2007-11’s RMB City, 2013’s Haze and Fog, and 2014’s La Town. In addition, Fei will sit down with MoMA PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach, who organized the exhibition, for a conversation about her work, which is part of a young generation of Chinese artists concerned with contemporary sociocultural and economic challenges in a rapidly changing China. “I try to find different ways to connect and interact with society,” the thirty-seven-year-old multimedia artist has said. “At the same time, I am trying to construct a new model of society.” The Modern Mondays series continues April 11 with Rosa Barba, April 18 with Tony Conrad, and April 25 with Lynette Wallworth.

FIRST SATURDAY: A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

Maya Azucena will perform for free at Brooklyn Museum First Saturday program on April 1

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway at Washington St.
Saturday, April 1, free, 5:00 – 11:00
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

The Brooklyn Museum celebrates spring with the April edition of its free First Saturday multidisciplinary program. There will be live music by Falu, the Brown Rice Family, and Maya Azucena; a dance performance and workshop by Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance; poetry readings by Desiree Bailey and Laura Lamb Brown; screenings of Guy Reid’s Planetary, followed by a talkback, and Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon’s BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, followed by a talkback with Gordon and Imani Uzuri; an art workshop led by Steven and William Ladd for a community mural project in City Point; a dance break hosted by WNYC’s Death, Sex & Money podcast; and pop-up gallery talks. In addition, the galleries are open late so you can check out such exhibitions as “Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (to a Seagull),’” “This Place,” and “Agitprop!”

TICKET GIVEAWAY: LEONARD NIMOY’S VINCENT

vincent

LEONARD NIMOY’S VINCENT
Theatre at St. Clement’s
423 West 46th St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Wednesday – Sunday through June 5, $59-$89
starrynighttheater.com/vincent

Leonard Nimoy lived long and prospered before passing away last February at the age of eighty-three, leaving behind a legacy that includes two children, two marriages of more than twenty years, major roles on and off Broadway (Equus, Fiddler on the Roof, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest), and this little television and movie franchise known as Star Trek. But one of his most important personal projects was a one-man show called Vincent, which he adapted from Phillip Stephens’s Van Gogh and toured in beginning in 1981. In the play, Vincent’s younger brother, Theo, talks about life with his older sibling, an artist whose talent and innovation was only recognized after his death. The thoroughly researched text is based on hundreds of letters between the brothers; Nimoy also traveled to Arles, Saint-Rémy, and Auvers while preparing the show. The play is now being revived by the Starry Night Theatre Co. starting April 1 at the Theatre at St. Clement’s. Company artistic director James Briggs plays Theo, with Dr. Brant Pope directing. “Last week when we buried my brother, there was so much I wanted to say, I couldn’t do it,” Theo says at the start. “You see, I simply couldn’t speak. I didn’t express myself. It’s been a burden on my soul . . . what I wanted to say and I couldn’t . . . what I needed to say, what you need to hear. So I thank you for this second opportunity.”

James Briggs stars as Theo van Gogh in revival of Leonard Nimoy’s VINCENT at the Theatre at St. Clement’s

James Briggs stars as Theo van Gogh in revival of Leonard Nimoy’s VINCENT, coming to the Theatre at St. Clement’s

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Vincent begins previews April 1 and opens April 7 at Theatre at St. Clement’s, and twi-ny has three pairs of tickets to give away for free. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and favorite van Gogh painting to contest@twi-ny.com by Wednesday, March 30, at 3:00 to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; three winners will be selected at random.

RELATION: A PERFORMANCE RESIDENCY BY VIJAY IYER

Resident artist Vijay Iyer inaugurates the Met Breuer with “Relation” (photo by Paula Lobo)

The Met Breuer
Tony and Amie James Gallery, lobby
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Tuesday – Sunday through March 31, free with suggested museum admission of $12-$25
212-731-1675
www.metmuseum.org
vijay-iyer.com

Jazz musician and native New Yorker Vijay Iyer continues his stint as the Met Breuer’s inaugural resident artist with one more week of specially curated events, through March 31. Iyer, a pianist and composer who has released such albums as Tragicomic, Historicity, and Mutations, has put together a wide range of artists who will perform with him or present their own works all day in the lobby gallery. “Relation” also features the sound installation “Fit (The Battle of Jericho)” by Mendi + Keith Obadike, which is activated in between live performances. For the final week, Iyer will perform with Heems (Himanshu Suri), Rafiq Bhatia, and Kassa Overall (THUMS UP) on March 25 at 2:00 and 3:15 and Prasanna and Nitin Mitta (Tirtha) at 6:30, with Liberty Ellman and HPrizm on March 26 in the morning and Grégoire Maret and Okkyung Lee in the afternoon, with Marcus Gilmore and Matt Brewer (Trioing) on March 27 in the morning and Gilmore, Brewer, Elena Pinderhughes, and Adam O’Farrill in the afternoon, and with Craig Taborn (Radically Unfinished) on March 29. Other performers include Courtney Bryan, Brandee Younger, and Fieldwork with Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Lehman. In addition, Prashant Bhargava’s captivating thirty-five-minute film, Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi, will be shown every day. Bhargava and Craig Marsden, armed with DSLR cameras, capture the Indian festival of spring known as Holi, celebrated with bonfires, dancing, and wild crowds dousing each other with vividly colored powdered dyes and water. The film was commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts in honor of the centennial of Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” so Iyer asked Bhargava to collaborate on a work about the Hindu ritual, built in twelve arcs that alternate between footage of the real Holi taking place in Mathura and a fictional imagining of the myth of Radha and Krishna, in which actress Anna George portrays an erotically charged version of Princess Radha, waiting to make love with Krishna. Divided into sections called “Adoration” and “Transcendence,” the film, which gets its title from a traditional Hindu greeting, is a visual and aural delight, with a beautiful score by Iyer. Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi screens daily at 12:45 and 4:00 in the gallery, which is arranged with two rows of chairs on three sides of a narrow horizontal space; the setup works well for the music, but some of the seats do not offer prime viewing for the film.