this week in art

MATISSE: THE RED STUDIO

MATISSE: THE RED STUDIO
MoMA, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Through September 10, $14-$25 (sixteen and under free)
212-708-9400
www.moma.org

“It’s always been sort of a very mysterious painting,” MoMA senior paintings conservator Anny Aviram says in a short video (see below) about Henri Matisse’s The Red Studio. “He leaves clues, but at the same time he confuses you.” The 1911 masterpiece, a painting of the artist’s studio in the Parisian suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux that includes miniature versions of other works and objects, is explored in extraordinary detail in “Matisse: The Red Studio,” on view at MoMA through September 10.

The exhibition is divided into two parts; one looks at the history behind the creation and presentation of the work, while the other gathers all the extant pieces that are depicted on the canvas. Thus, on one side, you’ll find detailed information about the construction of the studio itself; correspondence between Matisse and collector Sergei Shchukin, who is also seen in a charcoal sketch; photographs of Matisse and his family; a letter from David Tennant and Harry Rowan Walker to Matisse confirming their purchase of the painting for £806 for the Gargoyle Club; Roger Fry’s A Room at the Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition, in which a significant portion of The Red Studio can be seen on the back wall; Matisse’s lovely, claustrophobic The Studio under the Eaves; the marvelous The Studio, quai Saint-Michel, another interior with dramatic lines and canvases that mimic windows; and other ephemera.

In the other room, The Red Studio is surrounded by eleven of the works that appear in it, from paintings, sculpture, and a ceramic plate to drawings of one canvas that has been lost, in addition to tables, chairs, flowers, and design elements that can be found in works in the previous room. The painting wasn’t originally all Venetian red; as the above video reveals, tiny bits of the original colors are still visible, along with a few stray paintbrush bristles. Among the works are the bold sculpture Jeannette IV, the daring Nude with a White Scarf, the entrancing Le luxe (II), the intriguing Young Sailor II, and the rare Impressionistic landscape Corsica, the Old Mill. This is the first time the works have been together since they were in the studio when Matisse painted them, and the reunion is utterly thrilling.

Be sure to listen to the audioguide, which features commentary from curator Ann Temkin along with artists Faith Ringgold and Lisa Yuskavage, writers Siri Hustvedt and Claire Messud, and professor Mehammed Mack. “What we really wanted to do was bring visitors into Matisse’s world, first of all, into the studio that’s the subject of the painting, into the other artworks that are in the painting, and then into the events and artworks that relate to this work as it went on to live its life in the decades following its making,” Temkin explains. “The outrage caused by these images, their radicality when they were produced, is something that I think is good to recover,” Hustvedt explains. “That deconstruction of color, like disassociating color from the object, is a kind of revolutionary act,” Mack adds. “Matisse is so easy to think about as the maker of beautiful, relaxing pictures. We really wanted to try to re-create what extraordinary focus and effort and leaps of imagination and daring an artist goes through in making a work of radical innovation, like The Red Studio,” Temkin continues. “That, for me, is the fascination. It’s as if we have a glimpse inside his head,” Messud concludes. It’s quite a journey.

DEANA LAWSON

Deana Lawson solo show at MoMA PS1 continues through September 5 (photo by Steven Paneccasio)

DEANA LAWSON
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave.
Through September 5, $5-$10
718-784-2084
www.momaps1.org

One of the most powerful painting exhibitions I’ve seen in the last few years was Jordan Casteel’s “Within Reach” at the New Museum, which comprised more than three dozen large-scale portraits of BIPOC men, women, and children, each made as realistically as possible from a photograph. Deana Lawson’s eponymously titled solo show at MoMA PS1 recalls Casteel’s canvases in more than fifty large-scale, carefully staged photographs of acquaintances and strangers she has met in Africa and across the African diaspora, in what the Rochester-born artist calls “a mirror of everyday life.”

Deana Lawson, Roxie and Raquel, New Orleans, Louisiana, pigment print, 2010 (courtesy the artist, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., and David Kordansky, Los Angeles / © Deana Lawson)

In Black Gold (“Earth turns to gold, in the hands of the wise,” Rumi), a man stands in a dark alley, holding out several crosses on chains, a projection of a sharecropper behind him. In Coulson Family, a mother and her two sons pose in front of a small Christmas tree, one child looking away from the camera, smiling at an unseen source. In Nation, a pair of shirtless men, one pointing at the camera, the other heavily tattooed and wearing a complex facial piercing, sit on a brown leather couch. And in Uncle Mack, a man with a scar down his stomach and holding a rifle stands in the corner of a room, under a picture of his family. Meanwhile, in a corner at PS1, Lawson has arranged more than a hundred small, unframed photographs. She has also placed crystal assemblages throughout the space.

Deana Lawson adds special bonuses in many of the corners of MoMA PS1 solo show (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent,” Lawson has said, depicting “the majesty of Black life, a nuanced Black life, one that is by far more complex, deep, beautiful, celebratory, tragic, weird, strange.” It’s a stunning show, on view through September 5.

LIMITLESS AI / FLIGHT / SÉANCE

Limitless AI immerses audiences in a barrage of digital imagery (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

LIMITLESS AI
ArtsDistrict Brooklyn (AD/BK)
25 Franklin St., Brooklyn
Thursday – Sunday through November 20, $44.50 – $49.50
artsdistrict.live
online slideshow

There’s a big-time new artist in town, but it’s not a human being.

Apps such as DALL-E 2, Craiyon, Artbreeder, and Deep Dream offer anyone the opportunity to create a virtual masterpiece by feeding descriptive text into an artificial intelligence generator that then uses an algorithm to output a digital image. The app Midjourney recently found itself in the news when a user named #postpoopzoomies made a series of works in which Emmy-winning Last Week Tonight host John Oliver married a cabbage.

Meanwhile, immersive art experiences have taken off around the world, large-scale, Instagram-friendly installations in which canvases come to life, filling massive rooms with pieces by van Gogh, Magritte, Klimt, and other international favorites.

Turkish artists Ferdi Alici and Eylul Alici of Istanbul’s Ouchhh Studio take both to the next level with Limitless AI, the centerpiece of the new ArtsDistrict Brooklyn (AD/BK) in Greenpoint. The twenty-five-thousand-square-foot space on Franklin St. features three immersive experiences along with a café and an outdoor bar; the cofounders and executive producers of the NYC destination are the Toronto-based David Galpern and Charles Roy.

Limitless AI is a sixty-minute experience divided into five sections; visitors can sit on benches or movable chairs or wander around the ten-thousand-square-foot room, where an ever-changing panoply of spectacular images are splashed onto walls, pillars, and the floor by more than sixty 4K laser projectors. There’s also a mezzanine with a nifty view. Be sure to walk to the various corners to enjoy different perspectives, but be warned that if you look down at the floor as you proceed, you might get a little dizzy, but in a good way.

The show begins with “Poetic AI,” consisting of a barrage of words, letters, and phrases from Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and others, in black-and-white. “Data is the paint. Algorithm is the brush. Architecture is the canvas,” a robotic voice announces. “Twenty million lines of visionary text, unspooled into data, processed by a mechanical mind.”

“Leonardo da Vinci: Wisdom of AI Light,” set to an original score by beloved Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi and multidisciplinary Turkish-Canadian musician, composer, and DJ Mercan Dede, celebrates the genius of Leonardo and such other Renaissance artists as Michelangelo and Caravaggio with digital re-creations, using billions of pieces of data from the paintings, of some of their most famous works, from the Mona Lisa to the Pietà to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel; here, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, in which the fingers of God and the first man nearly touch, evoke the future of artificial intelligence, as if the Supreme Being is passing the torch.

Classic Renaissance paintings are re-created through AI algorithms for immersive Brooklyn installation (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“Data Gate” repurposes millions of images taken by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, while “Dark Machine” uses data compiled by the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The voice asks, “What goes through the mind of an atom when it explodes? Maybe this.”

Limitless AI concludes with “Superstrings,” which adds a human component. A wide column opens up to reveal a three-piece band performing live; one of the instrumentalists is wearing a headset that monitors her real-time EEG brainwaves, while the algorithm is also picking up information from the people in the crowd, resulting in what the voice describes as “the flickering waves of human consciousness, transformed into light.” The finale is unique for every show.

As with the dueling immersive van Gogh presentations, I find it a strange way to experience classic art; even in the age of Instagram and TikTok, there’s still nothing quite like seeing the originals up close and personal in museums and churches. But the non-art sections of Limitless AI don’t have the same restrictions, letting loose with the unexpected.

It’s sort of like the old days of Laser Floyd and Laser Zeppelin, psychedelically grooving out at planetariums, but replacing rock and roll with visual and mathematical data as the baseline for the imagery. It can be ultracool and beautiful as well as repetitive and head-scratchingly bizarre; it’s best not to get too caught up in taking photos and videos and let the sound and images waft over you, literally.

There are two other immersive installations at AD/BK, set in a pair of side-by-side forty-foot-long white shipping containers in the outdoor back patio. Created by London’s Darkfield, Flight and Séance each takes place in complete darkness, with the audience wearing binaural headphones that make it seem like characters and events are actually present in the real space around you. The twenty-five-minute Flight is reminiscent of Martín Bondone’s Odd Man Out, in which the seated, blindfolded audience goes on a mock plane trip narrated by an Argentine guitarist returning home from America, as well as Simon Stephens’s Blindness, a postapocalyptic tale about strangers trying to survive after an epidemic robs most people of their sight.

Digital images flash on walls and floors in Limitless AI (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Flight involves a meticulously constructed replica of a plane interior. The setup is definitely economy class, right down to the uncomfortably small distance between seats, but the production values are first class, with a series of sounds and videos that all-too-convincingly simulate a sketchy airline and life-changing outcome. Musings about Schrödinger’s cat and the nature of reality make for an enjoyable if puzzling ride.

For the twenty-minute Séance, the audience is arranged on two sides of a long, narrow table, with chandeliers hanging from above and lots of red velvet. Everyone has gathered to attempt to contact spirits; a medium guides the Victorian story as creepy things start to occur, and not just through your headphones. Be sure to sit near the end of the room if you think you might need to suddenly run out.

So, what’s the future of AI art? In 2019, the US Copyright Office ruled that AI art cannot be copyrighted because it “lacks the human authorship necessary to support a copyright claim.” Attorney Ryan Abbott, representing AI pioneer and Imagination Engines president and CEO Stephen L. Thaler in his request for a new hearing, recently told Artnet News, “We disagree with the Copyright Office’s decision and plan to appeal. . . . AI is able to make functionally creative output in the absence of a traditional human author, and protecting AI-generated works with copyright is vital to promoting the production of socially valuable content.”

If the flurry of immersive art presentations have proved anything, it’s that these experiences are all about socially valuable content, particularly when it comes to marrying a Brassica oleracea or other species of wild vegetable.

CONEY ISLAND SAND SCULPTING CONTEST 2022

Twenty-fifth annual Sand Sculpting Contest takes place in Coney Island on Saturday (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Thirtieth annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest should feature some wild creations on Saturday (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

CONEY ISLAND SAND SCULPTING CONTEST
Coney Island
Boardwalk between West Tenth & Twelfth Sts.
Saturday, August 13, free, noon – 5:00 pm
www.coneyisland.com
www.allianceforconeyisland.org

The twice-Covid-postponed thirtieth annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest finally comes to the People’s Playground on August 13, as amateurs, semiprofessionals, and professionals will create masterpieces in the Brooklyn sand, many with a nautical theme. It’s a blast watching the constructions rise from nothing into some extremely elaborate works of temporary art. The event, which features cash prizes, is hosted by the Alliance for Coney Island and features four categories: Adult Group, Family, Individual, and People’s Choice. There are always a few architectural ringers who design sophisticated castles, along with a handful of gentlemen building, well, sexy mermaids. You can register as late as eleven o’clock Saturday to participate. While visiting Coney Island on August 13, you should also check out the Coney Island Museum, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, Puppets Come Home!’s Body Slam, and the fully restored New York Aquarium in addition to riding the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel.

ART TALK: CYNTHIA DAIGNAULT ON CRISTINA IGLESIAS

Cristina Iglesias’s Landscape and Memory consists of five bronze pools flowing along the Oval Lawn in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Cynthia Daignault
What: Free art talk in conjunction with Cristina Iglesias’s Landscape and Memory
Where: Oval Lawn, Madison Square Park
When: Wednesday, August 3, free, 6:00
Why: Mad. Sq. Art concludes its free summer talk series with American painter Cynthia Daignault discussing monuments, memory, and the natural world as it relates to her work and Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias’s Landscape and Memory, which is on view in the park through December 4. Daignault’s canvases feature lush mountain valleys, black-and-white trees, words barely visible on black backgrounds, objects such as skulls and food, and figures such as JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Barack Obama, Malcolm X, and Divine. Iglesias’s public interventions include water-based works in England, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, and Norway in addition to gates and passages, entwined murals, rooms and mazes, screens, suspended pavilions, and other conceptual and architectural projects. On August 3 at 6:00, Daignault will be on the oval lawn in Madison Square Park to share her thoughts on Iglesias’s captivating piece, a stream that winds through the grass in five bronze sculptural pools, referencing Cedar Creek and Minetta Brook, which once upon a time flowed across the park, heading for the East or Hudson River.

Each pool offers its own calming respite, with water gently babbling against rocks. “I started being interested in the use of water as an element of movement and change in this culture and also in the city, a way to show how nothing if we look carefully is always the same,” Iglesias explained in a 2021 virtual discussion for Whitechapel Gallery. “And I think water somehow makes that more visible.” It’s as if Iglesias, the daughter of a scientist, has uncovered a slice of the geographic history of Madison Square Park, now bubbling to the surface. (The park has also been home to a potter’s field, a parade ground / arsenal, and a reform school.) The title pays tribute to Simon Schama’s 1995 treatise Landscape and Memory, which explores the Western world’s interaction with nature. “Landscapes are culture before they are nature; constructs of the imagination projected onto wood and water and rock,” Schama writes. “Once a certain idea of landscape, a myth, a vision, establishes itself in an actual place, it has a peculiar way of muddling categories, of making metaphors more real than their referents; of becoming, in fact, part of the scenery.” Following the informal talk, the public is invited to continue the dialogue directly with Daignault.

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: KING PLEASURE

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Ernok), acrylic and oil stick on canvas mounted on tied wood supports, 1982 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: KING PLEASURE
Starrett-Lehigh Building
601 West Twenty-Sixth St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Daily through January 1, $27-$65
Family Day: Saturday, August 27, $15 advance tickets for children thirteen and under
kingpleasure.basquiat.com

At this point, Jean-Michael Basquiat has been dead longer than he was alive; he died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at the untimely age of twenty-seven. Since then his life has become legend, and his legacy has ballooned to epic proportions, although he was justifiably famous even before he passed away. When one hears the Brooklyn native’s name, thoughts instantly emerge of his mentor, Andy Warhol; such films as Downtown 81 (in which he played himself) and Basquiat (in which he was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, and David Bowie played Warhol) and the documentaries The Radiant Child and Rags to Riches; sex and drug abuse; his 1985 appearance on the cover of the New York Times magazine; blockbuster exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney, and the Brant Foundation; and, of course, the enormous amounts his works sell for at auction, including an untitled 1982 painting that sold at Sotheby’s for $110.5 million in 2017 and another that went for $85 million at Phillips this past May.

His family recently decided to turn the focus on Basquiat the human being and his art, eschewing all the meta, resulting in the exhibition “King Pleasure,” curated by his sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux and his stepmother, Nora Fitzpatrick, now extended at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea through January 1. It’s an expensive ticket — $45 for adults, or $65 to skip the line, with pricy merch in the shop — but the show, consisting of works held by his estate and rarely displayed to the public, offers a fascinating look at who Basquiat was away from all the fame and (mis)fortune.

“The decision to curate an exhibition and write this catalogue devoted to Jean-Michel’s artwork from the family’s collection did not come easily,” Jeanine writes in the catalog. “The impetus to do this stemmed from conversations we had that his works needed to be seen and not hidden away in a warehouse. This is not meant to be a scholarly exhibition and book on Jean-Michel but a fresh perspective told from our family’s point of view. Creating the themes, choosing the works, and revisiting our childhood memories and family stories has been joyful and profoundly healing for my sister Lisane, our stepmother Nora, and me. Carefully going through what he left behind — books, hundreds of VHS movies, his collections of African sculpture, toys, and other objects, and his many sketchbooks and notes — has afforded us an even richer understanding of our brother now as adults.”

Lisane adds, “What you hold in your hands is a celebration of the life, legacy, and voice of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and I want to open it with a note of gratitude: thank you for seeing him.”

Designed by British architect Sir David Adjaye and named for a 1987 Basquiat painting inspired by jazz vocalist King Pleasure, the show features more than two hundred objects spread across twelve thousand square feet, divided into such sections as “Blue Ribbon,” “Ideal,” “Royalty,” “Those Who Dress Better Can Receive Christ,” and “Irony of Negro Policeman.” The path takes visitors through childhood and teen drawings, family photos and home movies, notebooks, a re-creation of the family dining room and living room (with video projections) and Basquiat’s Great Jones St. studio, his actual bicycle, his birth announcement, video reminiscences, and a generous amount of his paintings and drawings. Told chronologically, the story introduces us to Basquiat the person, beginning with drawings of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Gumby and Pokey, and Captain America and Dr. Radium. His combination of colorful images with hand-scribbled text was evident from an early age, transforming into more magisterial works as he started using acrylic and oil stick and incorporating what would become his trademark crown and striking faces, working on such materials as found wood, doors, canvas, and paper. Longtime Basquiat fans will not be disappointed by the breadth and quality of the art.

Untitled (Love) from 1984 features the word “LOVE” painted on an old refrigerator door covered in racing stickers. A series of 1984 paintings on wooden slotted fences and 1982 works on wood supports stand out for their bold freshness. An untitled 1982 painting centered by a red skull and a 1983–84 piece with a green-faced head surrounded by architecturally arranged writing and buildings seem to be alive. Such societal ills as incarceration, debt, corruption, inequity in housing, and police brutality occasionally show up in his work. Jailbirds depicts two policemen beating a young person with their batons.

Basquiat pays tribute to boxing legends Ezzard Charles and Sugar Ray Robinson, such art historical figures as Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens, and Gerard ter Borch, and, most dramatically, jazz great Charlie Parker, who gets his own room. The exhibit also includes silkscreens Warhol made of Jeanine and their parents, Gerard (who would often watch boxing with the kids on Saturday nights) and Matilde; a rare cityscape from 1981–82; and a 1977 drawing that contains only the phrase “the conveyor belt of life” in small letters, as if Basquiat already knew what he would be in for.

Personal exhibition immerses visitors into the world of Jean-Michel Basquiat (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

His re-created studio features dozens of original works, a record cover he designed, books and VHS tapes he owned, and tools he used. Items he collected (dolls, toys, masks, small sculptures from the Ivory Coast, cameras) are lined up in rows behind glass. Much of the music you hear throughout the exhibition has been compiled as a special Spotify playlist with songs by Parker, John Coltrane, George Michael, UB40, the Who, Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, and others; Basquiat himself was part of an experimental band called Gray. And yes, there are photos of Basquiat hanging out with the glitterati, but they are not as interesting as everything else. The show concludes with a pair of murals he made for the Michael Todd VIP Room at the Palladium, highlighted by the phenomenal forty-one-foot-long Nu Nile.

“Jean-Michel’s success was a double-edged sword. He felt quite a bit of pressure. He was so ahead of his time, and he was also very young,” Lisane writes in the catalog. “In spite of that success, though, he was still seen as ‘the other’ by the art world establishment; he didn’t fit in anywhere, really. Being put into a position of having to constantly correct how people saw him deeply annoyed Jean-Michel. . . . It frustrated him to defend himself against people’s prejudices, stereotypes, and assumptions. Jean-Michel was on a journey to figure out where he belonged and what he was going to do with his particular set of circumstances.” (To find out more, check out “Forum Basquiat,” a panel discussion with Lisane Basquiat, Jeanine Heriveaux, and Sir David Adjaye, moderated by Ileen Gallagher, that was held on July 10.)

His family has done him a great service with this deeply personal exhibition, which gives visitors a different kind of understanding of who Jean-Michel was and where he came from.

BETWEEN WORLDS — MOKUHANGA

“Between Worlds” explores the specialized ancient art of mokuhanga (photo courtesy Kentler International Drawing Space)

BETWEEN WORLDS — MOKUHANGA
Kentler International Drawing Space
353 Van Brunt St., Red Hook
Thursday – Sunday through July 31, free, from 12:00 – 5:00
Tour and flute performance July 24, free, 1:00
kentlergallery.org
mokuhangasisters.com

After meeting at the Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory in Kawaguchi-ko, Japan, during shared residencies from 2017 to 2019, nine woman artists formed the Mokuhanga Sisters, a collective dedicated to the centuries-old ukiyo-e woodblock printing technique known as mokuhanga. The Mokuhanga Sisters — Katie Baldwin, Patty Hudak, Mariko Jesse, Kate MacDonagh, Yoonmi Nam, Natasha Norman, Mia O, Lucy May Schofield, and Melissa Schulenberg — are showing modern examples of the art form in the lovely exhibition “Between Worlds – Mokuhanga,” on view through July 31 at the Kentler International Drawing Space in Red Hook. In addition, each artist has invited either a teacher or a student of theirs or a community member (Matthew Willie Garcia, Hidehiko Gotou, Kyoko Hirai, Shoichi Kitamura, Terry McKenna, Brendan Reilly, Louise Rouse, Ayao Shiokawa, Chihiro Taki, Katsutoshi Yuasa) to show work as well, making it an intergenerational, multigender show.

In their curatorial statement, the Mokuhanga Sisters explain, “‘Between Worlds’ explores the technical innovations of mokuhanga and contemporary themes of identity, place, environment, and gender from artists working around the world. As a medium, mokuhanga is versatile and sustainable. Its subtle applications of color and the tactile surfaces create space for contemplation. Its connection to the past and its potential for innovation give it continued relevance for international art making in the twenty-first century.”

Katie Baldwin, Meeting Place (Garden), mokuhanga, 2021 (photo courtesy Kentler International Drawing Space)

The centerpiece of the exhibit is the more than twelve-foot-long scroll Borderless, comprising panels by eight of the Sisters. On the walls surrounding the scroll are more than four dozen individual works on paper in black-and-white and multiple colors, featuring various geometric shapes and patterns and landscapes. McKenna’s Water from Heaven and Linden Falls use the same blocks but are printed in very different hues; similarly, Yuasa’s VR Tokaido series boasts three versions of its scene of Mt. Fuji. Several artists incorporate gradations of an alluring blue, including Baldwin (Meeting Place [Garden]), Gotou (Blue Breath), Schofield (The Way You Look at Me), Norman (Woven Water), and MacDonagh (Diptych).

Circles play a prominent role in works by Hudak, Mia O, Ayao Shiokawa, and Norman. Baldwin’s Tornado Shelter (Practice Evacuation) evokes Edvard Munch’s In the Brain of Man and On the Waves of Love, a white face drawing attention in an otherwise dark outdoor scene. Yuasa’s Making your own paper, printing by hand, and seeing through the light recalls several oil paintings of woods by Paul Cezanne. Hudak’s stunning Two Trees hangs over the gallery’s inner entrance; it was inspired by W. B. Yeats’s poem “The Two Trees” (“Beloved, gaze in thine own heart, / The holy tree is growing there; / From joy the holy branches start, / And all the trembling flowers they bear”) and the forest canopy behind her home.

On July 24 at 1:00, Hudak will be leading a tour of the show, followed at 2:00 by a Japanese flute performance. Don’t miss the tour if you can help it: Hudak’s deep love for and knowledge of the form and its history, stretching back to the seventh century, were delivered with a light touch and engaging enthusiasm on the tour we went on a few weeks ago, and her information about the particular papers, inks, wood carving, and inking techniques of mokuhanga added immeasurably to our understanding and appreciation of the works. While there, be sure to check out “Focus on the Flatfiles: Between Worlds,” a cabinet of affordable prints by Annie Bissett, Takuji Hamanaka, Keiko Hara, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Florence Neal, Yasu Shibata, and April Vollmer.