this week in art

SARAH MORRIS: BEIJING

Sarah Morris shows a very different side of China and the Olympics in hypnotic doc

Friedrich Petzel Gallery
535-537 West 22nd St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday, November 24, and Wednesday, November 25
Admission: free
212-680-9467
www.petzel.com

Three years ago, New York- and London-based artist Sarah Morris paid tribute to Hollywood screenwriter Robert Towne by covering the ceiling of Lever House, both inside and outside, in colorful, conceptualized geometric patterns recalling city grids or L.A. freeways; she also made a documentary about the writer of CHINATOWN and SHAMPOO (among many other well-known films for which he was uncredited). Through December 5 at Friedrich Petzel Gallery, Morris will be displaying her latest show, “General Control,” which again features bold colors and patterns that re-create impossible combinations of what she calls “knots” and “clips.” But it’s her latest film, BEIJING (2008), that has people packing into the gallery’s space in the back of 535 West 22nd St. While Leni Riefenstahl’s 1938 film OLYMPIA documented the 1936 Summer Olympics, focusing on the supposed superiority of the Aryan race in a way that has caused many to categorize the two-part work as Nazi propaganda, and Bud Greenspan’s continuing series of Olympics documentaries get right to the heart and spirit of the international competition, centering on the vast athletic abilities of the contestants seeking gold, Morris takes a completely different route, resulting in a mesmerizing film you can’t take your eyes off of.

For eighty-six minutes – and it’s worth seeing every second, so plan your visit accordingly – Morris and her camera crew, which were given unlimited and unprecedented access by the IOC, examine the Olympic celebration in the context of Beijing itself. When Morris shows divers, swimmers, gymnasts, hurdlers, and archers, it doesn’t matter who wins and who loses; in fact, sometimes she doesn’t even show the competitors’ faces or shoots from an angle at which it is difficult to tell exactly what is happening. She shoots the athletes in much the same way that she shoots the people of Beijing walking through the city on their way to work or going shopping or employees scrubbing a floor in a mall. She sweeps over the extravagant opening ceremonies just as she photographs Beijing’s buildings and cityscape. She follows an argument between a man and a woman in the subway no differently from the way she shows Michael Phelps reaching for the wall and victory. While her filmmaking style is not cold and dispassionate, neither does it try to make political points about the many controversies surrounding China over the last few decades. Liam Gillick’s repetitive, hypnotic electronic score continues the duality evident in the gorgeous visuals, especially since there is no accompanying narration or natural sound of any kind. BEIJING is a stunning accomplishment that is not to be missed.

smART: BROOKLYN GALLERY HOP

Tracy Snelling’s “Woman on the Run” is on view at Smack Mellon, part of Brooklyn smART tour

Saturday, November 21, and Sunday, November 22, free, 1:00 – 6:00
Register at 718-802-3530 or smart@visitbrooklyn.org
www.visitbrooklyn.org

You can check out Brooklyn’s burgeoning art scene this weekend with smARt, a gallery hop with four different bus loops, taking art lovers through Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg; Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill, and Fort Greene; Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, and Red Hook; and Boerum Hill, Gowanus, and Park Slope. There’s also an off-the-beaten-path journey to Bay Ridge, Crown Heights, and Sunset Park. Docents will be present on each bus to discuss Brooklyn’s art scene and answer any questions. Among our favorite participating galleries are Smack Mellon, Momenta, Like the Spice, English Kills, and Klaus Von Nichtssagend. Seating is limited, so advance registration is strongly suggested.

SHEILA BERNARD: URBAN TIMES

Sheila Bernard's "Urban Times" is part of series in Beep's office

Office of the Manhattan Borough President
1 Centre St., 19th floor
Monday – Friday hrough November 30, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Admission: free (photo ID required)
212-669-2728
www.sheila-b.com
www.mbpo.org

Photographer Sheila Bernard has a knack for finding unusual spaces to display her work. Over the last several years, she has put on exhibits in a glassed-in wall area at Port Authority and has also held solo shows at Bloomingdale’s SoHo, the West Caldwell Public Library, the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute, Verona Town Hall, and the Barn Theatre. Through November 23, Bernard’s “Urban Series” will be on view at the Office of the Manhattan Borough President (who is Scott Stringer, in case you didn’t know), fab photos of New York City buildings taken from unusual angles and featuring reflections of other buildings on their facade. Several of the photographs look like they can’t be real, that they must have been digitally manipulated, but Sheila B. is shooting what she sees, and she has quite an eye. Try your best to identify which buildings are in each photo; sometimes the title of the picture holds an important clue.

CANSTRUCTION

Food-related sculptures made of canned goods raise hunger awareness (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

World Financial Center
200 Vesey St.
Through November 23, 7:00 am – 11:00 pm (till 5:00 pm on 11/23)
Admission: free but donations of canned food accepted for City Harvest
www.canstructionny.org
www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com
www.flickr.com

The annual Canstruction architectural competition used to be held in the New York Design Center, where visitors would take the elevator to the top, then make their way down through individual showrooms filled with elaborate structures made out of canned goods. Last year it was moved to the World Financial Center, where once again the canstructions will be spread out across the vast downtown space. Now in its seventeenth year, the event seeks to raise awareness of world hunger; all of the cans used in the structures – which are remarkably complex and a lot of fun – are donated to City Harvest, and visitors are asked to donate canned goods as well in lieu of an admission free. Even if you’re not the picture-taking type, be sure to bring a camera, because it is often easier to figure out just what each can sculpture is by looking through a camera lens than by just seeing it with a naked eye.

BLAKE IN POETRY AND SONG: AN EVENING WITH PATTI SMITH

Patti Smith will celebrate the legacy of William Blake at the Morgan Library (photo by Angelo Cricchi)

The Morgan Library & Museum
225 Madison Ave. at 36th St.
Thursday, November 19, $35, 7:30
212-685-0008
www.themorgan.org
www.pattismith.net

In 2004, Patti Smith wrote, “In my Blakean year / Such a woeful schism / The pain of our existence / Was not as I envisioned / Boots that trudged from track to track / Worn down to the sole / One road is paved in gold / One road is just a road.” On her Web site, the full lyrics to this song, “In My Blakean Year,” from her TRAMPIN’ album, link to William Blake’s poem “The Divine Image,” which includes the opening quatrain “To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love / All pray in their distress, / And to these virtues of delight / Return their lovingkindness.” The eclectic, iconic, iconoclastic Smith, joined by her daughter Jesse, will be celebrating the legacy of the British artist, writer, and anarchist in a special program of music and poetry at the Morgan Library on November 19, held in conjunction with the exhibit “William Blake’s World: ‘A New Heaven Is Begun’” (which continues through January 3).

William Blake, “Behemoth and Leviathan” (Book of Job, no. 15), pen and black and gray ink, gray wash, and watercolor, over faint indications in pencil, on paper, ca. 1805–10

More than 350 years after his birth, Blake remains a worshiped figure with a lasting influence, particularly on the Beat Generation and its descendants. Discussing “In My Blakean Year” with Rolling Stone in 2004, Smith said, “What I learned from William Blake is, don’t give up. And don’t expect anything. . . . I have a great life. I’ve seen dark times too and have had, in certain times of my life, nothing. No material things, not much prospects – except my own imagination. But if you perceive that you have a gift, you already have life.” Smith, recently named one of the 400 most influential New Yorkers by the Museum of the City of New York, has suffered great personal tragedy as well as critical and popular success throughout her career; she is not afraid to bare her soul in public, so the event at the Morgan promises to be moving and emotional in addition to celebratory. The performance begins at 7:30, with the exhibition open at 6:30 for ticket holders to get in the mood.

DESTINATION GUADELOUPE

King of Zouk Luc Leandry comes to NYC for Guadeloupe festival (photo by Saint-Prix)

Multiple venues
November 18-22
www.destination-guadeloupefestival.com/ushome.html

The French Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe, which was named by Christopher Columbus, brings its art and culture to the city for five days of special events in the second annual Destination Guadeloupe festival. On Friday, Gwo-ka drummer François Ladrezeau will perform at Zinc Bar and Jeff Joseph and Panik play S.O.B.’s; on Saturday, Kriyolio hits Zinc Bar; and on Sunday, all of those groups, along with King of Zouk Luc Leandry and the Divas of Zouk, Joëlle Ursull and Jocelyne Labylle, will come together for the festival’s main event at S.O.B.’s, with cuisine prepared by chef Georges Césarin and a special raffle. Throughout the five days, the art of Joel Nankin will be on view at Casa Frela Gallery. “The island pays a short visit with its unique music, art, and cuisine,” said one of the event’s producers, Alex Boicel, in a statement, “and we intend to make New Yorkers hungry for more.”

YVONNE JACQUETTE

Yvonne Jacquette, “Chrysler Building Flanked by High Rise Buildings, II,” woodcut on okawara paper, 2009

YVONNE JACQUETTE: THE COMPLETE WOODCUTS 1987-2009
Mary Ryan Gallery
527 West 26^th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday through Saturday through November 28
Admission: free
212-397-0669
www.maryryangallery.com

In early 2008, Yvonne Jacquette was part of a dazzling show with her late husband at the Museum of the City of New York, “Picturing New York: The Art of Yvonne Jacquette & Rudy Burckhardt,” which centered on her large-scale oils and pastels. Chelsea’s Mary Ryan Gallery is now featuring Jacquette in a solo show of her stunning woodcuts made between 1987 and 2009. Based on aerial views taken either from a helicopter or other tall buildings, the works, printed primarily on mulberry or okawara paper, come alive in both color and bold black and white, sometimes looking more like line drawings at first. In “Nightscape Woodcut,” office lights form an abstract pattern if given the primary focus of the viewer’s gaze. Color and black-and-white versions of “Veering Off” give insight into Jacquette’s working process, as does one of her original plates. While New York City is featured in such gorgeous pieces as “Tip of Manhattan,” “Chrysler Building Flanked by High Rise Buildings, II,” and “Midtown Composite” – don’t get fooled by certain perspectives, as Jacquette combines elements in composites that alter reality – the show also includes “Filaments of Light (Chicago)” and “Bridges over Cuyahoga River, Cleveland.” Jacquette, who is still working in her mid-seventies, is one of New York City’s genuine treasures who is finally getting her due over the last few years.