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SUMMERNIGHTS 2012

Howard Fishman and the Biting Fish Brass Band will kick off SummerNights at the Jewish Museum on July 12 (photo by Nisha Sondhe)

The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Thursday, July 12, 19, 26, $15, 7:30
212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org/summernights

“Performance is a religious activity to me,” Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and composer Howard Fishman wrote in March on the Huffington Post. “I don’t proselytize. The faith that I have is personal. I don’t believe that there is one right way to live, or that any group of people that has organized themselves under the name of a particular brand of religion has all the answers. But my experience tells me that we can make ourselves available to many of life’s mysteries by listening to a sort of inner voice, whatever we want to call it.” Fishman will share his inner voice and more as he opens the Jewish Museum’s SummerNights 2012 series on July 12, backed by his Biting Fish Brass Band, which includes trombone, trumpet, tuba, and drums. SummerNights continues on July 19 with local Balkan soul gypsy funk favorites Slavic Soul Party! and concludes on July 26 with One Ring Zero, the Brooklyn experimental klezmer outfit whose Author Project consists of songs with lyrics by such writers as Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Dave Eggers, and Paul Auster. There will also be free Chozen ice cream available and an open bar, and the galleries will remain open until 8:00 so you can check out such exhibitions as Kehinde Wiley’s “The World Stage: Israel” and “Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940.”

KEHINDE WILEY IN CONVERSATION WITH LOLA OGUNNAIKE

THE WORLD STAGE: ISRAEL
Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Thursday, March 15, $15, 6:30
Exhibition continues through July 29
212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org
www.kehindewiley.com

Born in Los Angeles and based in New York City, painter Kehinde Wiley has been traveling the global diaspora for his “World Stage” series, taking portraits of men of color in Brazil, China, Nigeria, India and Sri Lanka, and Lagos and Dakar. The Jewish Museum has just opened “The World Stage: Israel,” fourteen large-scale works that feature young men standing in front of elaborate backgrounds, staring directly at the viewer. The decorative background patterns, based on Jewish ceremonial art, include plants and animals that also twist and climb in the foreground, entwining the subject. Each work is shown in a black hand-carved frame topped by a pair of Judean lions surrounding tablets containing either the Ten Commandments (for Jewish men, several of Ethiopian descent) or the Rodney King plea “Can we all get along?” (for Arab men) in Hebrew. Some of the men take distinctly homoerotic poses, confronting the viewer with their gaze; all stand in familiar “heroic” poses representative of European portraiture. The paintings are accompanied by Torah ark curtains, bed covers, Ketubahs (elaborately designed wedding certificates), and papercuts selected by Wiley from the museum’s permanent collection that work in dialogue with Wiley’s backgrounds, placing them in artistic and historical context. The exhibition also includes a short film in which Wiley discusses his process and meets with some of his subjects. “I think there is a strong correlation between being on the margins of society as a person of color in America,” Wiley says in the film, “and that which we see in the streets of Israel.” Portrait subject Solomon Mashash adds, “It’s very hard to live your daily life as a black person here in Israel. When somebody tells you you’re not worth something, if you believe him, your mind believes him. If you change your mind, he cannot do anything to you.” Wiley’s paintings seek to reassert the identity of diverse cultures, empowering individuals to present themselves with pride. You can hear more from Wiley when he takes part in a conversation with culture reporter Lola Ogunnaike at the Jewish Museum on March 15 at 6:30.

SEE THE LIGHT(S): HANUKKAH AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM

Maurice Sendak has gathered together menorahs for the Jewish Museum exhibition “An Artist Remembers” (photo of final illustration of GRANDPA’S HOUSE courtesy the Maurice Sendak Collection, Rosenbach Museum & Library)

Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
December 15-27, free – $20
212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org

What better place to celebrate Hanukkah than at the Jewish Museum? The stately Fifth Ave. institution will be partying up for the Festival of Lights with a series of programs and exhibitions over the next two weeks. On Thursday night, December 15 ($12-$15, 8:00-11:00), “Cheryl Does Chanukah” will feature techno dreidels, sweet sufganiot, a one-hour open bar, a dance party hosted by DJ Nick, and a live performance by Brooklyn-based quartet Cheryl. On Saturdays, admission to the museum is free, so be sure to check out the special exhibition “An Artist Remembers: Hanukkah Lamps Selected by Maurice Sendak,” a group of lamps chosen by the children’s book legend from the Jewish Museum’s permanent collection. Sunday is Hanukkah Family Day, with a menorah workshop for children three and up and live music by Ben Rudnick and Friends. On Monday (free with museum admission, 12 noon – 3:00), there will be a tour of “An Artist Remembers,” followed by Hanukkah-themed tours of the permanent exhibition, “Culture and Continuity,” at 1:15 on December 22, 23, 26, and 27. The Macaroons will perform three holiday shows on Sunday ($15-$20, 11:00, 1:00, 3:00); look for such seasonal favorites as “Dreidel Bird” and “Hurry Up and Light the Candles.” And Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Band Allstars will say goodbye to Hanukkah by rocking out on December 27 ($45, 7:30) with their inspiring brand of Jewish roots music.

MUSEUM MILE FESTIVAL

Multiple locations on Fifth Ave. between 82nd & 105th Sts.
Tuesday, June 14, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Admission: free
www.museummilefestival.org

Once again, many of the city’s finest art institutions will open their doors for free for the thirty-third annual Museum Mile Festival, from 6:00 to 9:00 on Tuesday night, June 14. The participating museums (with one of their current shows listed here) include El Museo del Barrio (“El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 2011”), the Museum of the City of New York (“Joel Grey / A New York Life”), the Jewish Museum (“Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore”), the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (“Color Moves: Art & Fashion by Sonia Delaunay”), the Guggenheim (“The Hugo Boss Prize 2010: Hans-Peter Feldmann”), the Neue Galerie (“Vienna 1900: Style and Identity”), and the Met (“Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective”), along with the Goethe-Institut (which has moved downtown), Museum for African Art (which is opening later this year), and the National Academy (which is currently undergoing renovation). Fifth Ave. will be closed to vehicular traffic and instead will be filled with art activities (chalk drawing with De La Vega, live model drawing), street performances (clowns, jugglers, magicians), and live music and dance featuring P-STAR: the ABAKUÁ Afro-Latin Dance Company, the Folkloric Ballet of New York: Estampas Negras, Johnny Colón and His Orchestra, Paul Labarbera and Rockbeat Music Group, Quarteto Rodriguez Cuban Jewish Allstars, Kim Smith, and the Hayes Greenfield Jazz Duo. Don’t try to do too much; just pick one or two exhibitions in one or two museums and enjoy.

NEW YORK JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL 2011

Lou Reed will participate in a discussion following a screening of his documentary RED SHIRLEY, about his hundred-year-old activist cousin

Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
January 12-27, $12
212-721-6500
www.filmlinc.com
www.thejewishmuseum.org

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum will be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the New York Jewish Film Festival with nearly three dozen shorts, documentaries, and narrative features, many of which will be followed by discussions with members of the cast and/or crew. The festivities begin January 12 with Percy and Felix Adlon’s MAHLER ON THE COUCH, which details the great composer’s sessions with Sigmund Freud while his wife dallies around with architect Walter Gropius. Festival veteran Daniel Burman (EMPTY NEST, WAITING FOR THE MESSIAH) returns with 36 RIGHTEOUS MEN, a documentary examining an Orthodox pilgrimage to the tomb of the Baal Shem Tov. Lily Rivlin looks at the great writer in GRACE PALEY: COLLECTED SHORTS, Jonathan Gruber examines Jewish Americans who fought in the Civil War in JEWISH SOLDIERS IN BLUE AND GRAY, Erik Greenberg Anjou profiles the popular band in THE KLEZMATICS: ON HOLY GROUND, Eve Annenberg incorporates Hasidism and the Kabbalah into the Yiddish mumblecore picture ROMEO AND JULIET IN YIDDISH, klezmer hip-hop artist Socalled will perform with Katie Moore after a screening of Garry Beitel’s THE “SOCALLED” MOVIE, and a special showing of George Marshall’s 1953 biopic, HOUDINI, pays tribute to its late star, Tony Curtis, and will be followed by a magic performance by Josh Rand. The festival concludes on January 27 with Avi Nesher’s drama THE MATCHMAKER, which was nominated for seven Israeli Academy Awards.

SHIFTING THE GAZE: GALLERY TALKS

Deborah Kass, “Double Red Yentl, Split, from My Elvis,” screen print and acrylic on canvas, 1993

PAINTING AND FEMINISM
Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Select days at 1:00 from October 4 through November 8
Free with museum admission of $12
212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org

The Jewish Museum will be hosting a series of exciting talks and discussions in conjunction with its latest exhibit, “Shifting the Gaze: Painting and Feminism,” which runs through January 30. The series begins October 4 with Joyce Kozloff, whose “Naming II (or Who’s Jewish?)” is in the exhibition, followed by Judy Chicago (“Sky Flesh”) on October 5, Mira Schor (“Silence”) on October 11, a tour with curator Daniel Belasco on October 18, Deborah Kass (“Double Red Yentl, Split”) on October 25, Robert Kushner (“Blue Flounce”) on November 1, and Elisabeth Subrin (“Shulie: Film and Stills by Elisabeth Subrin”) on November 8, with all talks free with museum admission. In addition, the Jewish Museum will be presenting a three-part lecture series by CUNY art history professor Dr. Nanette Salomon, “Shifting Crossroads: Feminism, Art, Modernity, and Difference,” at 11:30 am on October 4 (“The Prequel: Women Painters in Early Modern Europe”), October 11 (“Impressionism and the Moment of Modernism: Women, Jews, and Other ‘Others’”), and October 18 (“Women Painters and the Jewish Museum 2010”); each lecture is $20, or you can get a series ticket for all three for $45.

SUMMERNIGHTS

Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys have added a second night to annual Jewish Museum series after selling out opener

Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd St.
Thursday nights in July, $15, 7:30
212-423-3337
www.thejewishmuseum.org

The Jewish Museum’s annual summer evening music series is off to a hot start, with July 1’s opening concert, featuring Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, already sold out, but they’ve just added a second night, with the band returning for an encore performance on July 29. The Sexteto Rodriguez Cuban-Jewish All Stars have also sold out their July 15 show, so you better hurry if you want to see Ansambi Mastika on July 8 or Rana Santacruz on July 22. The galleries remain open until 8:00 on SummerNights; current exhibitions include “Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey,” “Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber and Gottlieb,” “South African Photographs: David Goldblatt,” “The Monayer Family: Three Videos by Dor Guest,” and “South African Projections: Films by William Kentridge.”