this week in art

GEORGE BELLOWS

George Bellows, “Stag at Sharkey’s,” oil on canvas, 1909 (The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection)

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, Gallery 999
1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd St.
Through February 18, $25 adults, children under twelve free
212-535-7710
www.metmuseum.org

This is the last weekend to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s career-redefining exhibition on painter George Bellows. Simply titled “George Bellows,” the show explores the surprising diversity displayed by the Columbus, Ohio-born Ashcan artist who died too early, suffering a ruptured appendix and passing away from peritonitis in January 1925 at the age of forty-two. Bellows is best known for his spectacular boxing paintings, canvases that come alive with action and fury. In “Stag at Sharkey’s,” made during a period when boxing was illegal — Sharkey’s was a fight club across the street from Bellows’s studio on Broadway and 66th St. — every muscle and sinew bursts forth on the boxers’ bodies as they lunge at each other, the referee providing a visual counterbalance as the rapt crowd looks on. But Bellows, who moved to New York in 1904, was much more than a one-genre wonder. “Paddy Flanagan” is a striking portrait of a street kid, the palette and pose evoking the Old Masters. The darkness of “Forty-two Kids,” in which naked boys go for a dip on a ratty peer in the East River, stands in stark contrast to the bright, sunny “Beach at Coney Island.” Bellows’s creative process is examined in a series of sketches, drawings, and watercolors that result in the tour-de-force “The Cliff Dwellers,” which focuses on a busy, crowded street on the Lower East Side.

George Bellows, “Cliff Dwellers,” oil on canvas, 1913 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Fund)

Bellows echoed Winslow Homer in such sea paintings as “Churn and Break” and “The Big Dory” and Pierre-Auguste Renoir in the family portrait “Emma and Her Children,” captured unique views of the Hudson River in “Pennsylvania Excavation” and “Rain on the River,” depicted high-end, grassy sports in “Polo at Lakewood” and “Tennis at Newport,” and detailed the horrors of war in general, and WWI specifically, in a controversial Goya-esque series featuring acts of violence that were later disputed. The show concludes with Bellows’s 1924 work “Dempsey and Firpo,” with Luis Ángel Firpo knocking heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey through the ropes and out of the ring at the Polo Grounds; the canvas is painted in a much more flat, graphic style than his previous boxing canvases made fifteen years earlier. A baseball player in college, Bellows learned about art primarily by visiting museums, including the Met itself, which served as a major influence on his work, so it is only appropriate that the Met is home to this must-see show, the first major career retrospective of the extremely talented, underrated artist since the mid-1960s and one that reveals him to be a masterful chronicler of life in early-twentieth-century America.

LOVE

Robert Indiana’s “Love” sculpture continues to attract attention on Sixth Ave. in Midtown (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

LOVE by Robert Indiana
Southeast corner of 55th St. & Sixth Ave.
www.robertindiana.com

Pop artist and Warhol protege Robert Indiana, who was born Robert Clark but changed his last name to the state where he was born, has work in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Whitney, and other prestigious locales, but the self-described “American painter of signs” is most famous for a single four-letter word. His iconic Midtown depiction of the word “Love,” which rests on two levels, in red letters with a tilted “O,” continues to attract tourist photos and people looking for a place to sit on their lunch hour. Dating from 1966, the statue, which has a smaller sibling in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, evokes a “so-what” attitude from many native New Yorkers, but it’s hard to pass by and not be enamored with the bold splash of color it brings to an otherwise gray corner. The big red letters with blue interiors brashly proclaim a word so many people are afraid to say, except perhaps at this time of year, when Valentine’s Day brings out the romantic in us all, for completely artificial reasons.

BOOK LAUNCH: LOUISE LAWLER

Louise Lawler, “Still Life (Candle),” digital cibachrome on aluminum museum box, 2003

Metro Pictures
519 West 24th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Thursday, February 14, free, 6:00 – 7:30
212-206-7100
www.metropicturesgallery.com

For more than forty years, Pictures Generation artist Louise Lawler has been appropriating works through installation and photography, recontextualizing art and the art market in shots of paintings taken in auction house, in collectors’ homes, and before shows are hung, taking them out of their element, where they are usually seen on walls in galleries and museums. Now sixty-five, the New York-born conceptualist will be at Metro Pictures on Valentine’s Day, where she has shown since 1982, to celebrate the release of Louise Lawler: October Files (MIT Press, February 8, $35) as well as last year’s Louise Lawler and/or Gerhard Richter (Schirmer/Mosel, June 2012, $59.95). She will be joined by Helen Molesworth, editor of the former tome, and Tim Griffin, who contributed an essay for the latter. While at Metro Pictures, be sure to go upstairs to see some early works by Lawler, in addition to the main-floor exhibition featuring Trevor Paglen, which continues through March 9.

LUNCH HOUR NYC

The Automat played a major role in the development of lunch in New York City (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwartzman Building
D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall
Daily through February 17, free
917-275-6975
www.nypl.org

While there might not be any such thing as a free lunch, there is a tasty free lunch exhibit at the New York Public Library, continuing through February 17. “Lunch Hour NYC” looks at the history of the midday meal, from the etymology of the word “lunch” itself to the many ways it has been served and eaten in the Big Apple over the years. The display, in the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall, explores the development of such iconic lunchtime fare as pretzels, pizza, pastrami, hot dogs oysters, and Chinese takeout and delivery; the need for speed, as workers ate their lunch on the run, heading quickly back to the office; saving money by going home for lunch; the beginning of the school lunch program; and the power lunch, where businessmen met in such lofty establishments as Sardi’s, Delmonico’s, and the Algonquin to talk politics and economics while eating fancy meals. The exhibit has special focuses on the Automat, including a portion of the famous serving machine, with recipe cards inside instead of food; personal stories from immigrants; an interview with Ed Beller, one of the creators of the stainless-steel hot-dog cart; the onset of the women’s power lunch, led by such clubs and gatherings as Sorosis and Heterodoxy; a chart of luncheonette slang, such as “Put a stretch on it” meaning a sandwich to go; and selections from the library’s own extensive collection of menus that go back more than a century. Among the other objects on view are a wooden oyster cart that traces the price of oysters back to the 1820s; an old Heinz soups display; dozens of lunch boxes; a delivery bicycle; and caricatures from the walls of Sardi’s. “Eating is done in the Metropolis with the haste of Americans intensified,” journalist Junius Henri Browne said in 1868. “Everybody talks at once; everybody eats at once; and everybody seems anxious to pay at once.” This exhibit shows that not a whole lot has changed in the nearly 150 years since. As an added bonus, different food truck will be parked on the 40th St. side of the library at Fifth Ave. from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm: Mexicue on Monday, Milk Truck on Tuesday, Nuchas on Wednesday, Chinese Mirch on Thursday, and Souvlaki GR on Friday, with the Treats Truck on Tuesday from 4:00 to 7:00 and Coolhaus the same time on Friday.

THE ART OF SCENT 1889-2012

Fragrant exhibition at Museum of Arts and Design take visitors on an olfactory tour of the history of perfume (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Museum of Arts and Design
2 Columbus Circle at 58th St. & Broadway
Through March 3
800-838-3006
www.madmuseum.org

A rather unique exhibit at the Museum of Arts & Design in Columbus Circle, one that truly “stinks,” has been extended through March 3. “The Art of Scent 1889-2012” collects twelve of the world’s most beloved, influential, and (in)famous perfumes, displaying them as if they were sculptures or paintings, firmly establishing them as individual works of art. Designed by the architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the exhibition, the first major museum retrospective to elevate perfume in such a way, consists of a dozen stations along a wall, indentations where visitors put their head in and breathe in the fragrances, accompanied by an illuminated paragraph that appears then disappears, like the smells themselves, detailing the scent’s creator and development. Curated by Chandler Burr, the fragrances are arranged chronologically, following the changing trends in the industry, including the implementation of synthetic materials and modern technology. First up on the aromatic tour is Aimé Guerlain’s 1889 scent Jicky, which combines the terpene alcohol linalool, the chemical compound coumarin, and the flavorant ethyl vanillin; the text explains, “Though subtle in effect, the synthetics were both disorienting and liberating. By freeing olfactory artists from an exclusively natural palette, they turned scent into an artistic medium, and made Jicky one of the first true works of olfactory art.” Museumgoers will react differently to each scent as they get whiffs of Enest Beaux’s Chanel N°5, Pierre Wargnye’s Drakkar Noir, Annie Buzantian and Albert Morillas’s pleasures, Jean-Claude Ellena’s Osmanthe Yunnan, and Daniela Andrier’s disturbing Untitled, lent by such parfumeries as Hermès, Prada, L’Oréal, Clarins, Estée Lauder, Clinique, Guerlain, and other cosmetic companies. A second room delves into further detail about the creation of perfume with video interviews, a multipart evolution of one particular scent, and a table where visitors can dip strips into the actual liquid products and sample the real thing. The deluxe catalog ($285) includes eleven of the perfumes in printed glass vials — only Chanel chose not to participate — with each scent assigned to a different artistic discipline: Francis Fabron’s L’Interdit is considered abstract expressionism, Olivier Cresp’s Angel surrealism, Jacques Cavallier’s L’Eau d’issey minimalism, and Untitled post-brutalism. On February 13, MAD will host the special program “Technology and Innovation in Fine Fragrance,” with Burr and Rochas house perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez leading an interactive discussion in which attendees will be able to sniff-sample raw materials and complex fragrances.

LEO VILLAREAL: BUCKYBALL / HIVE

“Buckyball”: Mad. Sq. Art, Madison Square Park, through February 15
“Hive (Bleecker Street),” Bleecker St. 6 / Lafayette St. F interchange, permanent
www.villareal.net

Since the late 1990s, Leo Villareal has been creating eye-catching LED artworks using intricate computer programs. Born in New Mexico and based in New York City, where he graduated from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, Villareal has created site-specific projects for MoMA PS1, the Tampa Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and BAM, where his five-part “Stars” continue to dance on the building’s facade. He currently has two more works dazzling New Yorkers, one aboveground, the other in the subway. In Madison Square Park, “Buckyball” is a thirty-foot-tall geodesic dome, containing a smaller dome, that uses math and geometry to produce a whirlwind of light and color. On view through February 15, “Buckyball,” inspired by and named for architect Buckminster Fuller, consists of 180 LED tubes that display 16 million pixelated colors shooting through them in endless random designs developed by Villareal’s unique software programming. “Buckyball” evokes the synapses of the brain as well as a slow-motion gyroscope, with very different effects as day turns into night. Be sure to recline on the special zero-gravity benches that proved the best angle for experiencing the meditative, mind-expanding piece.

Villareal used a honeycomb as inspiration for “Hive (Bleecker Street),” an LED sculpture commissioned by the MTA for the Bleecker St./Lafayette St. subway station. On a low ceiling by the new transfer point between the F and the 6, colored lights fill hexagonal tubes, almost like a living, breathing subway map with its own unique route. “Hive” was influenced by British mathematician John Horton Conway’s zero-player cellular automaton Game of Life, which evolves on its own as it deals with underpopulation, overcrowding, and unpredictability, sort of like the New York City subway system itself. Be sure to ride the escalator up to see the work slowly unfurl before you. While “Buckyball” will remain on view in the park through February 15, “Hive” is a permanent work that is part of the MTA’s Arts for Transit and Urban Design program.

CULTUREMART 2013

Bora Yoon collaborates with Adam Larsen and R. Luke DuBois in surreal WEIGHTS AND BALANCES (photo by James Chung)

HERE
145 Sixth Ave. at Dominick St.
Through February 10, $10 in advance, $15 within twenty-four hours of show
212-647-0202
www.here.org

The HERE Artist Residency Program, known as HARP, is now in the second week of its annual Culturemart festival, consisting of unique, experimental works, often in double features, from emerging presenters in such disciplines as dance, theater, music, visual arts, and puppetry as well as a melding of several of them. On February 4-5, Mei-Yin Ng’s Lost Property Unit explores loneliness and solitude in the digital age, referencing television and movies through dance, live and prerecorded music, and robot sculptures, while in Hai-Ting Chinn’s Science Fair the mezzo-soprano combines opera with science in a multimedia performance. On February 6-7, Robin Frohardt’s The Pigeoning uses music and puppets to look at the end of the world, while Joseph Silovsky’s Send for the Million Men is a solo piece that reexamines the Sacco and Vanzettti case with puppets and handmade projectors. Also on February 6-7, Bora Yoon’s Weights and Balances is a surreal opera featuring an interactive performance design by R. Luke DuBois. On February 8-9, Stein / Holum Projects’ The Wholehearted is a work in progress about a woman boxer looking back at her glory days. On February 9 at 2:00, there will be a free performance of David T. Little’s opera-theater piece Artaud in the Black Lodge, which links Antonin Artaud, William S. Burroughs, and David Lynch through a libretto by Anne Waldman. The festival, which also celebrates HERE’s twentieth anniversary, concludes February 9-10 with HERE artistic director Kristin Marting and David Morris’s Trade Practices, a live, interactive market in which audience members become participants in the event.