this week in art

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE & THE NOSE

The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center
Between West 62nd & 65th Sts. and Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.
March 5-25, $15 standing room – $375
212-362-6000
www.metoperafamily.org

In spring 2007, William Kentridge’s magical production of Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE dazzled audiences at BAM. Now, as part of numerous events across the city celebrating the multifaceted career of the South African artist, his highly anticipated adaptation of Shostakovich’s version of Gogol’s 1836 short story THE NOSE will have six performances at the Metropolitan Opera this month. The multimedia presentation, conducted by Valery Gergiev and featuring baritone Paulo Szot as Kovalyov and tenors Andrei Popov as the police inspector and Gordon Gietz as the Nose, was designed by Kentridge with Sabine Theunissen. Tickets are going fast in the lower-priced sections, so act quickly if you’d rather pay $150 or less rather than as much as $375. In addition, Kentridge’s NOSE-related drawings and collages are on view at the Gallery Met, his limited edition SHEETS OF EVIDENCE book is on display at Dieu Donné through April 24, he will be in conversation with Paul Goldberger discussing “Learning from the Absurd” at the New York Public Library on March 12, “Sounds from the Black Box: The Music of Philip Miller for the Films of William Kentridge” screens at the World Financial Center, with live music by Ensemble Pi, March 21-22, and the major retrospective “William Kentridge: Five Themes” runs at MoMA through May 17.

CHELSEA ART WALK: MARCH 2010

Shaq is a little too big to squeeze into Maurizio Cattelan’s elevators, which are less than a foot tall (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

SIZE DOES MATTER
FLAG Art Foundation
545 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Wednesday – Saturday 12 noon – 5:00 through May 27
Admission: free
212-206-0220
www.flagartfoundation.org
size does matter slideshow

Since 1992, Shaquille O’Neal has been a huge force in the NBA, using his massive 7’1 frame and 320-pound bulk to redefine the center position during his long career with the Magic, Lakers, Heat, Suns, and now Cavaliers. He has transcended the sport, also releasing music albums, starring in films (anyone remember KAZAAM?), and even being named an honorary U.S. marshal. Shaq has now turned art curator, selecting and/or commissioning all the works that make up “Size DOES Matter,” a well-organized if often obvious exhibition spread across two floors of Chelsea’s nonprofit FLAG Art Foundation. Ranging from Willard Wigan’s “Micro Shaq,” which has to be viewed through a microscope, to Robert Therrien’s enormous table and chairs that nearly burst through the ceiling, the show addresses scale and scope in fun, entertaining ways. When visitors first get off the elevator on the ninth floor, they are greeted by Maurizio Cattelan’s miniature working elevators; other stand-out selections include Ron Mueck’s desperately unhappy “Big Man,” Joe Fig’s small diorama of Jasper Johns at work, Tomoaki Suzuki’s tiny group of friends, Evan Penny’s elongated “Stretch #2,” and Ivan Witenstein’s “The Kiss,” in which a boy gives viewers the finger for walking in on him and his girlfriend in an intimate moment. Be sure to walk around Richard Dupont’s “Terminal Stage” and Therrien’s stacked plates to get their full effect.

Also in Chelsea

Olafur Eliassion’s “Multiple shadow house” continues at Tanya Bonakdar through March 20 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Parents and children who visit the family-friendly “Size DOES Matter” should also stop by Tanya Bonakdar, where Olafur Eliassion’s “Multiple shadow house” is on view through March 20, encouraging people of all ages to walk through its mazelike structure and create ever-changing images on screens. Over the last few years, we’ve been following the intriguing short films of Guido van der Werve, catching his existential vision at the Hirshhorn and the Aldrich as well as on Governors Island. His latest, “Nummer twaalf,” at Luhring Augustine through March 13, consists of three sections that use chess as the starting point to examine humanity’s place in the universe, with van der Werve traveling to Mount St. Helens and the San Andreas Fault and getting lost in gorgeous landscapes as his original music composition and continuing chess moves link the set pieces. Erwin Loaf’s “Hotel & Dawn/Dusk,” at Hasted Hunt Kraeutler through March 20, equates a black world with a white one in his dual-screen projection, along with a compelling series of photographs of lonely women in hotel rooms. Horror movie fans should get a kick out of Gary Simmons’s “Midnight Matinee” at Metro Pictures through March 20, a collection of black-on-black pieces featuring the houses from THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, BURNT OFFERINGS, PSYCHO, and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

DAN GRAHAM: WORK BETWEEN ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Dan Graham, seen here last year at the Whitney, will discuss art and architecture March 7 at the Cooper Union (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The Great Hall at the Cooper Union
7 East Seventh St.
Sunday, March 7, free, 6:00
www.cooper.edu

Last year the Whitney celebrated the career of iconoclastic, influential artist Dan Graham with a superb career retrospective that we called “a comprehensive survey that includes film and video, photographs, writings, a sound piece, and Graham’s complex architectural installations that play with perception and reality. Graham was an early conceptualist involved in performance art, examining mechanical reproduction and suburban repetition while expanding the relationship between artist and viewer.” Graham will be making a very special appearance at the Cooper Union tonight, discussing the intersection of art and architecture in his wide-ranging work. Graham is a quirky, quixotic speaker who can get very excited about his topics, so this should be a fascinating, unique event, even better because it’s free.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: SITE FEST ’10

sitefest2

Multiple locations in Bushwick
March 6-7, 1:00 – 9:00 (music continues past midnight)
Suggested donation for certain events $5, day pass $10, weekend pass $20
www.artsinbushwick.wordpress.com

For something a little different during Armory Arts Week, head out to Brooklyn for two days of open studios, gallery openings, live performances, and more at the second annual SITE Fest. Organized by Arts in Bushwick, the festival has three primary theater, dance, and performance art hubs — 3rd Ward on Morgan Ave., Chez Bushwick on Boerum St., and the Grace Exhibition Space on Broadway — while Goodbye Blue Monday will be home base for much of the live music, curated by ionSOUND. Among the performers scheduled to appear are Kung Fu Crimewave, Larkin Grimm, Meng-Hsuan Wu, Homunculus Mask Theater, Yoo & Dancers, Jenny Vogel, Synthesis Dance Project, HoverBound, the Movement Farm, Ling-Fen Chien, and the Omen Project. There will also be site-specific installations, interactive performances, artist talks, film screenings, sketch comedy, and panel discussions at such satellite sites as the Bushwick Starr, English Kills Gallery, the Petri Space, Bushwick Music Studios, House of Yes, Brooklyn Fireproof Gallery, and many others.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: THE INDEPENDENT

Be sure to take a page from Michael Dean as part of “The Floor Is the Object” (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

548 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
March 4-7, free
www.independentnewyork.com

Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook have joined forces to bring the free Independent art fair to Chelsea during Armory Arts Week, examining the way art shows are curated and viewed. The fair will take over the West 22nd St. space previously occupied by Dia and then the X Initiative, featuring work from more than forty galleries along with special installations, including Claire Fontaine’s neon “Please God Make Tomorrow Better,” which will be project on the outside doors. There will also be book signings, panel discussions, film screenings, and a live performance Saturday night by Dirty Mirrors.

UPDATE: The Independent is an extremely well organized fair, with plenty to see and do. Feel free to play Ping-Pong on Rirkrit Tiravanija’s “The Future Will Be Chrome” installation, accept a torn page from Michael Dean’s “The Floor Is the Object,” take a seat in the cage in Ryan Trecartin’s “P.opular S.ky (section ish),” create your own dialogue while investigating the artistic dialogues created by moss and Westreich-Wagner, and enjoy the milk-filled soda bottles marching their way through Jordan Wolfson’s twenty-minute CON LECHE film, but don’t enter Eve Sussman’s meticulous re-creation of Yuri Gagarin’s office.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: SCOPE ART SHOW

Ukrainian artist Victor Sydorenko goes red at Mironova Gallery at Scope (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Lincoln Center Damrosch Park
62nd St. at Amsterdam Ave.
March 4-7, $20
www.scope-art.com

Some fifty international galleries will be exhibiting at this year’s edition of SCOPE, being held once again under a big tent in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park. In addition, the fashionable Markt will be back, with displays by such designers as Chicks on Speed, Graham Tabor & Miguel Villalobos, and Shari Pierce. Special cinematic events include Martha Colburn’s “Political Revolution in My Basement” on March 4, “A Shaded View on Fashion Film” on March 5, Zach Layton’s “d.i.y. sci-fi” on March 6 (with a live performance by the Fair Use Trio at 4:00), and Columbia University’s “The Interruption” multimedia installation on March 7. And if you need a shuttle to the Armory Show or Pulse, you can hop aboard Pratima Naithani’s “The Sweet Shop” mobile project.

UPDATE: SCOPE is more manageable than it’s been in past years, with a better selection of artwork as well. We particularly recommend EVOL’s cardboard pieces at Anonymous, Noelle K. Tan’s dark photographs at Civilian Art Projects, the one-dollar art gumball machine at jackie paper, Noh Ju Hwam’s typeset sculpture at Kwanhoon, Daniel Glaser and Magdalena Kunz’s talking cinematographic sculptures at Gagliardi Art System, Victor Sydorenko’s red Levitation series at Mironova, Asako Shimizu’s beautiful “On Her Skin” series at Wada Garou, and just about everything at Galeria Christopher Paschall.

ARMORY ARTS WEEK: FOUNTAIN ART FAIR

The Frying Pan will once again serve as the unusual location for the Fountain Art Fair (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Pier 66, the Frying Pan
West 26th St. at the Hudson River
March 5-7, $10 (March 4 VIP preview $25)
www.fountainexhibit.com

The Fountain Art Fair might just be our favorite of all the fairs held during Armory Arts Week, and certainly the most anarchistic and unusual. The fourth annual event once again takes place aboard the Frying Pan, where twenty exhibitors will be displaying their works in various odd places throughout the historic lightship, which was built in 1929 and purportedly once spent three years underwater before being rescued. It’s almost like a ghost ship, but harboring art instead of the walking dead, especially in the downstairs Murder Lounge. (Consider yourself warned.) Thursday’s all-day VIP preview, which costs only twenty-five bucks, benefits the Museum of Arts and Design, while Friday night will feature a party with live performances by Detroit’s ADULT and Brooklyn’s Depreciation Guild (including members of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart), and Saturday night will be highlighted by celebrity guest DJ Marky Ramone. Among the galleries exhibiting at the fair are ArtSlant, Boltax, Galerie Zeitgeist, Leo Kesting, and Open Ground, with such special projects as the Idea for the Here and Now group show curated by the Christina Ray Gallery. Nuala Clarke has nabbed the coveted Lackawanna Caboose, where she will install “One of One Thousand Words.” Last year Allison Berkoy filled the caboose with her video sculptures; she’ll be back this year as well, displaying such work as “Breakfast” in another part of the fair. Expect the unexpected and be ready for anything….