this week in art

TWI-NY TALK: ANAT LITWIN

Anat Litwin, “Sweet Epiphanies #4: The Leap,” paper cutout, 2009

SWEET EPIPHANIES
Colson Patisserie
374 Ninth St. at Sixth Ave., Brooklyn
Through February 10
Admission: free
718-965-6400
www.anatlitwin.com
www.colsonpastries.com

The Epiphany might be held on different days in January depending on where you live in the world and what part of Christianity you follow, but the holiday is continuing into February in a popular Brooklyn pastry shop. “Sweet Epiphanies” is a site-specific display at Colson Patisserie by Brooklyn-based Israeli-American artist and curator Anat Litwin, the founder and artistic director of the HomeBase Project and a senior fellow at LABA at the 14th St. Y. Litwin addresses the word “epiphany” in both its religious and literary contexts, incorporating the January celebration of the manifestation of Christ with Joseph Campbell’s theory of the heroic monomyth, which he borrowed from James Joyce. The exhibit, which features a series of colorful paper cutouts displaying silhouetted figures and crowns and evoking self-realization, is joined by the patisserie’s La Galette des Rois, the Cake of Kings, a traditional puff pastry that involves children becoming a king or queen for a day and receiving a lucky charm baked into the filling. Run by French pastry chef Yonatan Israel, who opened the patisserie in 2006, the eatery is the brainchild of Belgian pastry chef, psychotherapist, and cookbook author Hubert Colson. The engaging, enthusiastic Litwin participated in an exclusive twi-ny talk, discussing her work as well as her own epiphanies, one of which is hanging out at the shop and gauging people’s reactions to the show. “Since it’s been up,” she notes, “I’ve become addicted to sitting in the café and hearing how people from the neighborhood and guests respond to the artwork and reflect on it over cake and coffee. I would never had such lively, meaningful conversations in a gallery.”

twi-ny: How did you and Colson come together for this show?

AL: Yonatan Israel, the owner of Colson, and Ronit, his wife, are close friends. We’ve collaborated together in the past on several art projects, including a benefit for the HomeBase Project. I am familiar with the creative spirit and talent and professional approach and deep dedication that goes into the baking at Colson and was intrigued to create an art series for the patisserie that somehow responds to the place and to the world of French baking. When Yonatan and Hubert Colson, the main chef, told me about the Galette de Rois celebrating the Epiphany and about the traditional French game of becoming a king for the day, I was inspired. I loved the idea of the fantastic childlike immediate empowerment as king or queen and decided to give that an artistic interpretation and explore what kingly-hood really means in folklore and myth.

Anat Litwin, “Sweet Epiphanies #1: Red Royal Path Calling,” paper cutout, 2009

Would you mind sharing one of your own personal or professional epiphanies?

Professional epiphanies and personal epiphanies are somehow connected in the studio. But the nice thing in being an artist is that often an idea or inspiration comes to mind before you realize what it really means — the creative process is somehow a few steps before you, and on good days of inspiration you spend time chasing after your own muse / ideas, trying to discover and understand your inspiration through realizing it in form. One recent epiphany came to me after finishing the “Sweet Epiphanies” series. It became clear to me that as an artist and person I am totally interested in the fantastic transgression from the everyday to the sublime and back again. I believe in the possibility of the human to undergo salvation, and I pursue that through creating images and actions. I am a believer that way. This registered through the work on the series that uses the monomyth of Joseph Campbell as a key model.

What’s your favorite treat that Colson Patisserie makes?

I’m completely addicted now to the Galette de Rois and find myself with cravings for that almond-based butter dough at different times of the day. I am fearful that it soon will be out of season, then the coffee cake (which is remarkable) will have to replace it.

ECSTATIC PEACE POETRY JOURNAL

Tenth anniversary of Thurston Moore poetry journal is celebrated at White Columns

White Columns
320 West 13th St. between Hudson & West Fourth Sts.
Exhibition runs through February 27
Admission: free
212-924-4212
www.whitecolumns.org

White Columns is celebrating the tenth issue of the Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal, produced and edited by Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore, with an expanded exhibition dedicated to the art and writings in the publication and other poetry collected by Moore, along with readings and live performances. Pages from the journal’s history adorn the walls, featuring work by an eclectic group that includes Dennis Cooper, Gus van Sant, Kim Gordon, Rick Moody, Kathleen Hanna, Gerard Malanga, and Chan Marshall. Moore himself will be playing live during the January 23 reading by John Giorno and Byron Coley, the February 5 reading by Edmund Berrigan and Anselm Berrigan, and the February 19 reading by Richard Hell and Dorothea Lasky, and he will be reading with Anne Waldman on February 25, with live music by Ambrose Bye and Devin Waldman.

TWI-NY TALK: KELSEY BENNETT

Kelsey Bennett, “Apple,” C-print, 2009

KELSEY BENNETT: HYPNAGOGIA
Christopher Henry Gallery
127 Elizabeth St. between Broome & Grand Sts.
Wednesday – Sunday through February 7, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: free
212-244-6004
www.christopherhenrygallery.com

In her first solo exhibition in New York, Kelsey Bennett reveals an intriguing eye for the offbeat in “Hypnagogia,” a collection of nine dazzling photographs at the Christopher Henry Gallery. Her bright, colorful portraits depict intriguing scenes steeped in childhood visions. In “Runaway Bunny,” a young woman channeling Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita is surrounded by copies of a classic Margaret Wise Brown kids book. In “Eyeballs,” a young boy stares directly in to the camera while dipping a spoon into his bowl of milk and eyeballs. And in “Hypnagogia,” a woman sits in a crib, a crow balanced next to her, evoking several Hitchcock films. Bennett, who is twenty-five (and a singer-songwriter as well), shows creative instincts beyond her years, perhaps since she comes from a rather artistic family: her grandmother is a photographer, her sister Remy is an actress (and regular model for Kelsey), and her grandfather, Tony, is a painter. (Oh, he’s a pretty famous singer as well.) Bennett generously offered to participate in an exclusive twi-ny talk about her work.

twi-ny: The photographs in this show are very cinematic, with both direct and indirect references. Are you influenced by any specific genres or filmmakers?

KB: I am very influenced by film. The two filmmakers I am most influenced by and draw from for my work are John Waters and David Lynch. Through film, John Waters shows the humor in what some may see as dark or tragic, and Lynch captures the beauty in darkness. I relate to this and I think my work does as well. When I am shooting I have no intention of capturing my image like a film still, but when I look at my photographs later on I see that quality in them.

Kelsey Bennett, “Runaway Bunny,” C-print, 2009

Most of the photos involve elements of childhood, from golden eggs to a crib to a Margaret Wise Brown book. You’ve been taking photos since you were twelve; do you think this has anything to do with the subject matter, or are there other aspects of your childhood that have made their way into these works?

In fairy tales and mythology, symbolism is a prominent tool used in telling the story. I remember understanding things in a symbolic way as a child. I remember looking at a color and really feeling it opposed to just seeing it. The reason why my photographs incorporate themes from childhood is because I like to revisit a time when life was more mysterious.

You found one of your models on the street and offered her a hundred dollars to shave her head and pose for you [for “Your Name Here”]. Are there any other offbeat ways you find your models?

Most of my models are either family or friends. One photograph featured in the show is called “Cat Lady.” I have a friend named Sunny Rose, she is an astrologer in her sixties who has traveled all around the world. She used to read my Tarot in exchange for rides to see her ninety-seven-year-old mother. On a particular visit, me and Sunny’s mom played dress up. We went through her closet and jewelry box. I put a flower in her hair and did her makeup. I had her pose by the fireplace. She pointed to a stone cat and told me she had painted it. The cat is white but low lighted in black from the soot of the fireplace. I asked her to hold the cat on her lap and there was the cat lady.

(“Hypnagogia” continues at the Christopher Henry Gallery through February 7. The gallery also has some works left in their upstairs space from their previous exhibit, “The Map as Art,” including terrific pieces by Doug Beube and Heidi Whitman.)

ZIJI VISUAL ARTS CLASS

Visual arts workshop will be taught by Nuala Clarke at the ID Project

The Interdependence Project
302 Bowery, third floor
Saturdays through February 20, 4:00
Four-week preregistration: $70 ($45 for the unemployed)
Arts Retreat with Sokuzan Bob Brown: $100
www.theidproject.org
www.nualaclarke.com

Irish-born, New York City-based artist Nuala Clarke will be teaching a four-week visual arts workshop at the Interdependence Project, a nonprofit organization “for folks interested in exploring their minds on the meditation cushion and applying the insights, clarity, and wisdom developed by meditation techniques to a variety of applications in the world of arts, ecology, activism, and community service.” Clarke, who will have a solo show later this year at Blank Space in Chelsea, is an experienced mentor, teacher, and FOT (friend of twi-ny) who is absolutely charming and engaging — and a damn fine artist to boot. Although preregistration for the course is suggested, drop-ins are welcome for the classes, which will integrate “mindfulness, awareness, and embodiment” into everyday creativity, incorporating meditation, reflection, and discussion. Although you don’t have to attend all four classes, it is encouraged. The series will wrap up with a daylong art retreat on February 27 with Sokuzan Bob Brown.

ART AUCTION FOR HAITI

Nuala Clarke, “An Droichead (The Bridge),” acrylic on canvas, 2008

Norwood
241 West 14th St.
Thursday, January 28, 6:30
RSVP: frontdesk@norwoodclub.com
www.boltaxgallery.com
www.norwoodclub.com

New York City’s artistic community has come together to raise funds for Haitian emergency relief through hundreds of concerts, comedy shows, art auctions, and other gatherings. On January 28, Shelter Island’s boltax.gallery will be holding a benefit at the exclusive Norwood Club, with all proceeds going to Partners in Health. More than two dozen artists, including Mary Larsen, Edouard Steinhauer, Charlotta Janssen, Juan Torcoletti, Sylvia Hommert, Andrew Nash, and Pilar Olaverri, will be selling their work, which is also available in an online auction through 3:00 prior to Thursday’s event, which begins at 6:30 with cocktails and a preview, followed by the live auction at 7:45 held in the historic Chelsea building that dates from 1847. Even if you can’t make it, you can buy a paddle for $100 to donate to the cause. Among our favorite pieces are Monica Rezman’s photograph “Child’s Play,” John Abrams’s “Guggenheim,” Louise Crandall’s “Infrared,” and Nuala Clarke’s “An Droichead (The Bridge),” all part of a collection of work that the gallery hopes will raise upwards of $100,000 for the devastated country.

TIM BURTON: SWEENEY TODD

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter hide a dark secret in SWEENEY TODD

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (Tim Burton, 2007)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, January 27, 8:00
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
www.sweeneytoddmovie.com

Oh yes, there will be blood. Tim Burton’s adaptation of the hit Broadway musical SWEENEY TODD is bloody good fun. After being sent to prison for fifteen years by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who had designs on his wife (Laura Michelle Kelly), innocent barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to nineteenth-century London, reborn as Sweeney Todd, now a dark, ominous figure dead set on gaining his dastardly revenge. He gets back his coveted silver razors, which he considers an extension of his arm, and sets up shop in his old place, above the store where Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) sells meat pies crawling with cockroaches. When Todd begins slicing throats with expert precision, Lovett has a novel way of doing away with the bodies — while increasing business. Burton and screenwriter John Logan (THE AVIATOR, THE LAST SAMURAI) have done a terrific job translating the show onto the big screen, as Depp, Bonham Carter, and the rest of the cast — including Sacha Baron Cohen as a magical elixir salesman, Timothy Spall as the judge’s wingman, and Jayne Wisener as Todd’s daughter, who is doomed to marry the judge — do a wonderful job with such Stephen Sondheim songs as “No Place Like London,” “Poor Thing,” “My Friends,” “Pretty Women,” and “Not While I’m Around.” Depp is marvelous as the demon barber of Fleet Street, wearing a fright wig with a shocking streak of white, singing most of his dialogue with a gentle devilishness, enhanced by his haunting, penetrating eyes. The goth opera not only sounds good but looks even better, courtesy of cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, production designer Dante Ferretti, and costume designer Colleen Atwood. Burton and Depp, who have previously collaborated on EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, SLEEPY HOLLOW, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and CORPSE BRIDE, have another winner on their hands.

German Expressionist classic is part of Tim Burton influences film fest

The film is screening at MoMA in conjunction with the wonderful, expansive Tim Burton retrospective, which runs through April 26; also on the schedule are CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (January 27 & February 1), BATMAN RETURNS (January 28), BEETLEJUICE (January 31), BATMAN (February 3), VINCENT and ED WOOD (February 4), EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (February 5), FRANKENWEENIE and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (February 7), and PLANET OF THE APES (February 7). In addition, “Tim Burton and the Lurid Beauty of Monsters” features works that influenced Burton; coming up are Harold Young’s THE MUMMY’S TOMB (January 28 & February 6), Lew Landers’s THE RAVEN (January 29), Roger Corman’s PIT AND THE PENDULUM (January 29), Jack Arnold’s THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (January 30), Arnold’s REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (January 30 & February 5), Val Guest’s WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH (January 30 & February 1), Robert Wiene’s THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (February 4), and Christy Cabanne’s THEMUMMY’S HAND (February 6).

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE / RONI HORN / ALICE GUY BLACHÉ / OMER FAST

Roni Horn, “Becoming a Landscape,” detail, twenty chromogenic prints, 1999–2001 / © Roni Horn

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th St.
Wednesday – Sunday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Admission: $18 (Pay-what-you-wish Fridays 6:00 – 9:00)
212-570-3600
www.whitney.org

This might be the last weekend to catch “Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction,” an examination of the painter’s development from dark abstract works to her more familiar, repetitive flowery canvases that often feature a palette tailor-made for warm-weather living rooms (however, be sure not to miss the room of intimate photographs of O’Keeffe taken by her longtime lover, Alfred Stieglitz), but there’s a little more time to see the far more interesting and rewarding “Roni Horn AKA Roni Horn,” which runs through January 24. In this wide-ranging midcareer retrospective, Horn searches for the nature of identity in photography, sculpture, drawing, and installation, incorporating images of landscape and language while playing with perception and duality. Horn forces the viewer to question their own place in an ever-changing world in such works as “You are the weather,” comprising one hundred photos of the same woman in Iceland gazing into the camera, her mood shifting based on how hot or cold she is; “Becoming a Landscape,” in which Horn places side by side pairs of photographs taken an instant apart, with only the barest hint of difference evident; “This Is me, This is you,” two large grids of multiple pictures taken of her niece over a few years, consisting of pairs of shots that seem like duplicates but are not; and “Dead Owl,” two pictures of the title subject that are indeed the same. Spread over two floors, “Roni Horn AKA Roni Horn” offers a unique and fascinating perspective on both art and reality.

Alice Guy Blaché, A HOUSE DIVIDED, 1913 (courtesy of the Library of Congress MBRS Division / photograph by George Willeman)

Also continuing through January 24 is “Alice Guy Blaché: Cinema Pioneer,” screenings of the little-seen films of the first woman director and studio owner, a series of shorts and longer works that are worth sitting down and spending time with in the Kaufman Astoria Studios Film & Video & Video Galleries, while “Omer Fast: Nostalgia,” in the first-floor Anne & Joel Ehrenkranz Gallery through February 14, displays Fast’s three-part film that investigates fact vs. fiction, reality vs. invention. (Fast fans can also check out his new exhibit at Postmasters in Chelsea, which includes the videos TAKE A DEEP BREATH and DE GROTE BOODSCHAP.)