this week in art

DAN FLAVIN

Dan Flavin, “untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard),” pink and yellow light fixtures, 1972-75 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Paula Cooper Gallery
534 West 21st St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday – Saturday through October 30
Admission: free
212-255-1105
www.paulacoopergallery.com

There’s virtually never a time when a fluorescent light sculpture by Queens-born artist Dan Flavin isn’t shining somewhere in New York City — and that doesn’t include the stairway that is always aglow at the old Dia Art Foundation on West 22nd St. A fraternal twin, Flavin served in the Air Force and was a guard at MoMA and the American Museum of Natural History before holding his first solo light exhibit, at the Kaymar Gallery in 1964. For the next thirty-plus years, Flavin became famous putting together fluorescent bulbs of varying shapes and lengths into architectural sculptures that broke through spatial planes in fascinating ways. One of his key pieces, “untitled (to Barry, Mike, Chuck and Leonard),” will be on view through Saturday at Paula Cooper’s West 21st St. gallery, and it’s worth a special visit. The double-sided installation forms an eight-foot-by-eight-foot corridor that can be approached from two directions, one giving off a pink glow, the other yellow, allowing people to walk inside and meet at the center, where the vertical lights resemble a different kind of prison cell. It’s an intoxicating experience as well as a lot of fun. Also on display are several smaller works including a crosslike corner piece in another room.

EAR TO THE EARTH 2010: WATER AND THE WORLD

Charles Lindsay and David Rothenberg’s “Western Water” features the Mermaid Bar as part of the Ear to the Earth Festival (photo by Charles Lindsay)

Greenwich House Music School, 46 Barrow St., $5-$15
White Box, 329 Broome St., free-$15
Frederick Loewe Theater, 35 West Fourth St., free
Kleio Projects, 153 1/2 Stanton St., free
October 27 – November 1, Festival Pass $30
www.emfproductions.org

The Electronic Music Foundation’s fifth annual Ear to the Earth Festival of Sound, Music, and Ecology will examine water and the environment in a series of special events taking place at the Greenwich House Music School, White Box, and the Frederick Loewe Theater, including discussions, concerts, poetry, and multimedia art installations. “We are heading towards a crisis in managing the waters of the world,” explains Joel Chadabe in his curator’s statement. “To address the crisis, we need to reach an understanding of the issues we face with water. And we need to become aware of the ways we use water in the context of the physical realities of our changing environment.” Ear to the Earth begins October 27 with “An Encounter with R. Murray Schafer,” in which the Canadian composer will delve into acoustic ecology and environmental sound art, and continues on October 28 with Bernie Krause’s “Fish Rap: The Life-Affirming Soundscapes of Water” and Yolande Harris’s “Fishing for Sound.” On Friday night, Kristin Norderval presents the world premiere of her interactive “Tattooed Ghosts,” inspired by Dina Von Zweck’s FLUDD — VIRTUAL POLAR ICECAP MELTDOWN; also on the bill is Matt Rogalsky’s sound installation “Memory Like Water.” On Saturday afternoon, Sheila Callaghan, Katie Down, Leah Gelpe, and Daniella Topol collaborate on “Water (or the Secret Life of Objects),” which was developed following the Katrina disaster. Saturday night features a trio of New York Soundscapes world premieres: Miguel Frasconi’s “Inside-Out,” Aleksei Stevens’s “Standing Water: Sound Map of the Gowanus Canal, 2010,” and Paula Matthuson’s “Navigable.” Sunday includes two shows at the Frederick Loewe Theater, beginning at 5:00 with David Monacchi’s “Stati d’Acqua / States of Water,” Maggi Payne’s “Liquid Amber,” and Matther Burtner and Scott Deal’s “Auksalaq,” followed at 8:00 by Phill Niblock and Katherine Liberovskaya’s “Sound Delta,” based on sounds from the Rhine and the Danube, and Michael Fahres’s “Cetacea,” which combines Senegalese Sabar drumming with dolphin sounds. The festival concludes on November 1 with Charles Lindsay and David Rothenberg’s live multimedia “Western Water” and Andrea Polli and TJ Martinez’s documentary “Dances with Waves.” In addition, Jennifer Stock’s “At Water’s Edge” and Liz Phillips’s “Here/Hear: Manhattan Is an Island” will be on display at White Box throughout the festival, while Andrea Lockwood’s “A Sound Map of the Housatonic River” will be up at Kleio Projects, with free admission to both venues. Ear to the Earth 2010 combines science and sound, ecology and music, the environment and film, and other media to offer a fresh and innovative perspective on the world’s water crisis.

INSPIRING SPACES: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF MTA ARTS FOR TRANSIT

Arts in Transit is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary with dual exhibit looking as its past, present, and future (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

New York Transit Museum
Boerum Pl. & Schermerhorn St.
Tuesday – Sunday through February 2011, $6
718-694-1600
New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex
Grand Central Terminal
Shuttle Passage next to Station Masters’ Office
Through October 31, free
212-878-0106
www.mta.info

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of its wonderful Arts in Transit program, which has been beautifying stations in the New York City subway and on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North since 1985, with a two-part exhibit that continues through October 31 at the Gallery Annex in Grand Central Terminal and through February at the Transit Museum in Brooklyn. The show examines dozens and dozens of the more than two hundred installed works, as well as some that are in progress, including a brief history of each installation and the artist and displaying photographs, fabrication samples, proposal drawings, silkscreen studies, and models of the final pieces. The exhibit also explains the selection process and divides the works into such categories as Transformation, Tradition Renewed and Reinvented, and Monumentality. Among the projects on view at the annex are Houston Cornwill’s 1986 “Open Secret” at the 125th St. 4/5/6 station, Mark Gibian’s 1996 “Cable Crossing” at the Brooklyn Bridge City Hall 4/5/6, R. M. Fischer’s 1992 “Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Clock,” Sol Lewitt’s 2009 “Whirls and Twirls” at Columbus Circle, Michele Oka Doner’s “Radiant Site” at 34th St. Herald Square, and Ming Fay’s 2004 “Shad Crossing” and “Delancey Orchard” at the Delancey St.-Essex St. F/M/J/Z.

Exhibit focuses on such Arts in Transit installations as Al Held’s “Passing Through” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The larger Brooklyn section of the exhibit includes looks at Jacob Lawrence’s 2001 “New York in Transit” in Times Square, Tom Otterness’s “Life Underground” at the 14th St. A/C/E/L, Ingo Fast’s upcoming “On and Off the Boardwalk” at the Beach 67th St. A, Faith Ringgold’s 1996 “Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines (Downtown and Uptown)” at the 125th St. 2/3, and the 2000 “For Want of a Nail” collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History at the 81st St. B/C as well as original subway posters and a short film about the program. Other prominent artists who have participated in the project are Vito Acconci, Elizabeth Murray, Nancy Spero, Jane Dickson, Doug and Mike Starn, Jean Shin, Peter Sis, Daniel Kirk, and Roy Lichtenstein. On November 25, the museum is offering a tour of new projects on the Brighton Line, featuring works by Mary Temple, Jason Middlebrook, and Rita MacDonald ($25). We absolutely love Arts in Transit and have been documenting many of the projects on twi-ny and our Flickr site since we began in 2001. In the midst of all the maelstrom of the city’s transportation system, these installations offer a much-needed respite, like mini-galleries, on your way to where you need to be. After seeing this dual exhibit, you’ll spend more time in the future checking out these splendid works. Also on display at the museum, which is one of the gems of the city and a great place for families, are “Steel, Stone & Backbone: Building New York’s Subways 1900-1925,” “On the Streets: New York’s Trolleys,” “The Triborough Bridge: Robert Moses and the Automobile Age,” and “Moving the Millions: New York City’s Subways from Its Origins to the Present.”

JOHN DUBROW: NEW PAINTINGS

John Dubrow, “Self-Portrait,” oil on linen, 2009

Lori Bookstein Fine Art
138 Tenth Ave. between 17th & 18th Sts.
Tuesday – Saturday through October 30
Admission: free
212-750-0949
www.loribooksteinfineart.com

If you’ve seen some of John Dubrow’s previous shows at Lori Bookstein — the current one is his fifth solo presentation — you might be somewhat confused by its name, “New Paintings,” as several of the works will appear to be familiar. Indeed, Dubrow, born in Massachusetts in 1958 but based in New York City since 1983, has revisited three urban landscapes, breathing new life into them with his master brushstroke and innate sense of color. In the show’s six portraits (including poet Mark Strand, painters William Bailey, Tine Lundsfryd, and Ruth Miller, and a self-portrait), three park scenes, and one street scene, Dubrow infuses each piece with abstract spots of color that demand extended viewing as they slowly make their way to the forefront of the canvas, from the purple and gold in the lower right corner of “Bleecker Playground II” to the green tabletop in “Ruth Miller” to the yellow paper in “Mark Strand.” The combination of Dubrow’s intimate portraits of artists, done in their respective indoor work environments, and outdoor cityscapes, painted from memory and featuring blurred faces, makes for an exhilarating effect that should not be rushed through.

HIMALAYA FILM FESTIVAL

Kiran Krishna Shrestha’s BHEDAKO OON JASTO . . . IN SEARCH OF A SONG is part of first Himalaya Film Festival in New York City

Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St.
October 22-28
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.himalayafilmfestival.us

Celebrating the natural beauty and history of its region, the Himalaya Film Festival has brought its self-described “visual feast” to the Netherland, Japan, and Estonia and makes its North American debut this week at the Quad. At 12:30 on Friday afternoon, Bhutan-based Tibetan artist Tashi Norbu will kick off the festival by painting a Buddha and chanting as part of the Himalayan Spirit Expo. The festival includes more than two dozen shorts, features, and documentaries, including PEOPLE OF DARKNESS (Dorji Wangchuk), JOURNEY OF A RED FRIDGE (Lucian Muntean & Natasa Stankovic), CHILDREN OF GOD (Yi Seung-jun), HOLY MEN AND FOOLS (Michael Yorke), and A ROUGH CUT ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LACHUMAN MAGAR (Dinesh Deokota), offering adventurous filmgoers “the chance to experience the Himalayan region, to travel beyond the image of the region as it is presented in regular movies, and meet the intriguing diversity and uniqueness of the Himalayas.”

GREGORY CREWDSON: SANCTUARY

Gregory Crewdson, “Untitled (17),” pigmented inkjet print, 2009

Gagosian Gallery
980 Madison Ave. between 76th & 77th Sts.
Tuesday – Saturday through October 30
Admission: free
212-744-2313
www.gagosian.com

Brooklyn native Gregory Crewdson makes a dramatic turn in his latest series of photographs, on view at the uptown Madison Ave. Gagosian Gallery through October 30. For years, Crewdson has been taking pictures of carefully arranged tableaux vivants that look like scenes from a never-made movie, filled with mystery and intrigue. For “Sanctuary,” Crewdson went to the famous Cinecittà Studios in Rome, a place where Italian and international directors have gone for decades to make the kind of films that Crewdson has alluded to in his previous work. But in this new series, the first he has done outside America, Crewdson shoots the bare bones of Cinecittà, the vacant streets and backlots, with no people present, just stark architecture overgrown with weeds and rusted scaffolding. Crewdson has returned to black and white for the first time in nearly fifteen years, giving the photos, taken either at sunrise or sunset, a haunting quality; in some ways they are a natural progression for the artist, as if they represent what is left after he completes his staged color photographs, leaving behind empty sets filled with similar mystery and intrigue. Many of the photos feature doorways and other openings and entrances (or exits) that serve as additional frames within the pictures; one even resembles a white movie screen. “As with much of my work,” Crewdson says about the series, “I looked at the blurred lines between reality and fiction, nature and artifice, and beauty and decay.” The result is another mesmerizing collection from one of the country’s most inventive photographers. (While at Gagosian, be sure to also check out “Dike Blair: Sculptures and Paintings,” in which the New York-based artist transforms the wooden crates that paintings and sculptures are shipped in into works of art themselves.)

HENRY DARGER

Henry Darger, “Young Striped Blengen Female, Boy King Islands,” watercolor and pencil on paper (image copyright Kiyoko Lerner)

Andrew Edlin Gallery, 134 Tenth Ave., through October 23, free, 212-206-9723
American Folk Art Museum, 45 West 53rd St., Tuesday – Sunday through October 24, $8-$12 (free Fridays after 5:30), 212-265-1040
www.edlingallery.com
www.folkartmuseum.org

We’ve seen numerous Henry Darger exhibits and documentaries over the last ten years or so, but we were shocked when we encountered the latest show at the Andrew Edlin Gallery in Chelsea. Curator Valérie Rousseau has put together a small but rousing collection of early collages and drawings by the reclusive outsider artist who created the wildly bizarre fifteen-thousand-page illustrated manuscript THE STORY OF THE VIVIAN GIRLS, IN WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, OF THE GLANDECO-ANGELINNIAN WAR STORM, CAUSED BY THE CHILD SLAVE REBELLION. While several large, horizontal paintings of the Vivian Girls — young female warriors with little penises — might be familiar to Darger enthusiasts, portraits of such military leaders as General Jack Ambrose and General Great Heart, watercolors on paper amateurly mounted on carboard (or painted directly on cardboard), are more likely to be new and quite surprising, as is a picture of a Dr. Doolittle-like horned animal called a young striped Blengen female and the human-plant creatures that populate “At Jennie Richee though storm rages on they steal towards Manley Headquarters. “The exhibit also features Western images of men with rifles on horseback and various structures either in the background or right up front. A number of character positions are repeated or reversed from picture to picture, indicating Darger’s usage of found images that he traced, primarily from newspapers and magazine ads.

Henry Darger, Untitled (“In Times Like These…”), crayon, coloring book page, and collage on Kodak board, midtwentieth century (gift of Kiyoko Lerner)

The show at Andrew Edlin is a must-see for Darger fanatics; another treat is “The Private Collection of Henry Darger,” which has been extended through October 24 at the American Folk Art Museum. Darger filled his Chicago apartment with myriad clippings and pages from all sorts of sources, putting them up anywhere and everywhere he could, immersing himself in this pseudo-world he created in his mind. He made collages out of many of these pieces of paper, painting over them and even placing stamps around them like borders. As always, Darger’s work and the pictures he collected walk a fine line between art and perversion; his collection of images of young girls can be equally disturbing and fascinating.