More so than usual, there is a whole lot of art going on these days in New York. It is coming from all corners, have you noticed? It all began a few weeks ago, when I really started to be aware of buzz around the Whitney biennial. Now it keeps coming, with Pulse, Art Show and Armory all opening as well.
the art of the back-up plan
An attempted visit to the Natural History Museum this past weekend proved to be another lesson in life: always have a back-up plan. Weekends – which are supposed to be relaxing – can often prove to be treacherous in New York. Oh, you were planning on going out to brunch but there are only 2 subway lines running and the wait for a table is an hour and a half? Time to scramble those eggs yourself.
Within a two-block radius …
You can often experience a lot of art, especially if those two blocks are in gallery-rich Chelsea or perhaps even around 57th Street. Pick any block or two and you can create your very own gallery walking tour, with as much or as little planning and customization as you want. And for added bonus, galleries are almost always free entry, and if you plan your tour around opening nights you might even get a free glass of wine out of the trip.
a rant and Man Ray
Lately, on my grand tour adventures, I have realized how much of my experience at a show is affected by factors that have nothing to do with art, such as outdoor temperature, level of tourist frenzy, or cost to enter into a particular exhibit. And, for better or worse, those really cannot be controlled by the curators. There are also mood factors: energy level, awareness level, and capacity to receive educational information at that particular time. I will admit it: I’m not always in the mood to go through an exhibit that feels like a textbook.
Kandinsky and the Guggenheim
After a whole lot of talking about going, planning on going, and two failed attempts at going – including one where I made it into the lengthy line, stayed for two minutes, then decided I just could not stand and wait – I finally did it: I saw the Kandinsky show at the Guggenheim. And? Despite the crowds, despite the madness, I am glad I finally did it (let’s be positive, it’s January). It turns out I am grateful not only to have seen Kandinsky’s works, but also for the chance to experience the works in the Guggenheim space.
if you only have one hour
… and sometimes even one hour is a lot to ask for these days (what with the very important over-eating that needs to be done), may i suggest just one show?
When Robert Frank’s “The Americans” opened at the Met a little while ago it was all over the press it seemed. I cannot remember if I ever read any of the reviews fully (some were very loooong and as previously established time is a commodity), but I know I wanted to see it. Yet it wasn’t a dire must-see-now kind of feeling, so off it went on the backburner for a moment while I explored other things.
(the) fall day in Boston
I wonder, does anyone else feel cheated by Mother Nature this year? As in, hello? Did we skip a season and go directly into this strange limbo before winter purgatory? Oh wait, no fall DID happen, just for one day, just long enough for me to take this photo. And then POOF gone goodbye.
Morgan Library & Red Hook field trip
If the two subjects of the post seem a little unrelated, I apologize but the reasoning is … there is no reasoning. My brain has been all over the place lately and so have I. Fear not, I’m going to embrace it wholeheartedly. I may or may not manage to find an appropriate transition between my two subjects BUT more importantly, with two visits so different, I’m appealing to a larger crowd. (See? I planned the whole thing.)
the glass house (kind of)
Because honesty is the best policy, and because I have a terrible conscience, I am going to say it straight away: I didn’t actually go the Glass House. People, I tried. When I was looking at going, a few weeks ago, it seemed that the tours were sold out until the end of time. They aren’t cheap ($45) and aren’t short (2 hours!) but apparently this is a bona fide hot spot. I wondered if there was a black market for these tickets somewhere. And now, I’ve revisited the site and they have opened tours in November! With some slots available on weekends! So I will resume the planning of going there.
the cloisters
It’s official: there’s no reason not to go to the Cloisters. I should know, because I had been putting it off for some time now with a babble of silly excuses. The main one being that yes, it’s a trek to get there, any way you slice it. But you know what, once you’re on the A train it’s a straight shot. Bring a book for the ride and you’re golden – honestly you won’t even notice you’re going all the way up to 190th Street.
57th Street stroll
Although as Jeff Scher put it so well recently, “September is the Monday of months,” I for one am terribly excited for what’s to come this month and this fall season. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but most galleries and museums have been somewhat sleepy lately – the big summer shows ending but the fall ones not yet begun. The arts listings at the back of New York magazine have been slim. But now, finally things have started to pick up again and there are a few shows I cannot wait for to open.
the neue galerie
I have to start by saying that the Neue Galerie, also known as the Museum for German and Austrian Art, is fantastic. I have seen several beautiful exhibits there, it houses one of my favorite paintings, has a sublime collection of Weiner Werkstatte furniture, and I do not think I could walk out of there disappointed [complete personal bias]. If this kind of specialized museum interests you, and you decide to go (which you should) let me share a few comments before I continue:
the art of the book(store)
For the sake of a more cohesive and thorough cultural experience, this week, I am branching out from the more traditional visit to museum or gallery. Instead I travel into another artistic and cultural medium: the book, and its home, the bookstore. I am going to validate this choice of topic in two ways: ONE, books are works of art, in a medium that is usually accessible to the masses; TWO (more importantly) if you can’t afford a trip to visit the Greek ruins, well, maybe you can afford a tour guide of Greece and a copy of some Greek poetry. Yes? It’s travel for the stuck-in-the-city urbanite.
National Academy Museum
Perhaps the apocalyptic weather which has been following me (also, see Spectacle post, July 31 2009) had taken all the positive energy and optimism out of me, but was finding it difficult to plan my visit for this week’s post. In my state of weather-induced lassitude, little that I was considering really interested me. I wanted something small-scale. I did not want to go somewhere I had already been. And I did not want to deal with any crowds. The gallery listings looking slim, the only museum exhibit that caught my eye in New York magazine was “Reconfiguring the Body in American Art,” at the National Academy Museum. A museum on Fifth Avenue I had never been to and which I can’t remember even ever hearing about? Sold and sold.
Musée Rodin
I hate to start a post with a disclaimer, but here it is anyway: the Musée Rodin is in Paris and therefore is not accessible via the MTA (which is fine because i think their priority right now should be a complete overhaul of the bus system, not a transatlantic venture). But if you find yourself in Paris, like I did last week, you can take a metro or bus to get there (oui oui!) so this report is at least partially relevant.
culture via public transit
Many of us learned in school about the “grand tour” of the 18th/19th centuries. The “literati”/intelligentsia would take months off to travel all over Europe in the name of cultural enrichment, visiting ancient ruins and seeing masterpieces (if you’re not familiar with the grand tour and would love further explanation, let me guide you to here.)
If you ask me, these “tourers” were living the good life and I have yet to come up with a plan to create that life for myself. So, in the interim of me winning the lottery, becoming a gold-digger (a la Kanye West), or finding a job that pays me to travel, I’m going to make my very own grand tour right here in our concrete backyard. And the more I think about it, the more it’s sounding pretty great. Who needs a private horse-drawn carriage when you’ve got a efficient yet frustrating public transport system? Clearly no contest there.