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.
Screenwriter Linda Woolverton and director Tim Burton reimagine Lewis Carroll’s Victorian era children’s classics, ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE, in their thrilling version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Combining elements from both stories, Woolverton (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, THE LION KING) and Burton (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, SLEEPY HOLLOW) turn Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) into a modern-thinking nineteen-year-old young woman facing a very public proposal from the wealthy but insipidly snobbish Hamish (Leo Bill). Instead of answering his question, she takes off after an odd white rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen) and falls down a hole, plummeting into a colorful but dangerous world known as Underland, where she might or might not be the same Alice who had been there years before and was destined to come back as their savior. There she encounters a slyly smiling cat (Stephen Fry), a wise, hookah-smoking blue caterpillar (Alan Rickman), a pair of goofy twins (Matt Lucas), a truly mad milliner (Johnny Depp), and other strange talking creatures and weird personalities. Alice soon finds herself in the middle of an epic battle between the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter, with an unusually large head) and her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway, with unusually red lipstick), a fight that also involves the smarmy Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover), the terrifying Bandersnatch, and the murderous Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee). Filmed in 2D and converted to 3D, ALICE IN WONDERLAND is one of Burton’s most imaginative and exciting films. Although Carroll purists might be upset by the plot tweaks, Burton manages to stay true to the spirit of the books, creating an ALICE in which viewers are continually surprised, never knowing quite what is going to happen next. And Wasikowska (IN TREATMENT) makes a terrific Alice, a confused teenager on the cusp of adulthood who is not yet ready to give up being a child.
