New Museum Exhibition

Urs Fischer + 3 floors of the New Museum =

Marguerite de Ponty

From The New York Times:

…these pieces have seemed to signal the end of installation art, like monochrome paintings sometimes seem to forewarn the end of painting. Add nothing, just use the space and the architecture, dummy. Boom.

The New Museum, seeking some heat of its own, has given Mr. Fischer the run of nearly all the exhibition space — three full floors — in its two-year-old building. It’s a smart move, even if those hoping for a sizable new aperture in one of the museum’s surfaces will be disappointed. The exhibition, titled “Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty” (the subtitle referring to a character from the Symbolist poet Mallarmé), has been supervised by Massimiliano Gioni, a New Museum curator.

In the trifecta of sculpture surveys at major New York museums this fall — expect Roni Horn at the Whitney next week and Gabriel Orozco at the Museum of Modern Art in December — Mr. Fischer’s show started in the lead, with the most anticipation. It felt premature, presumptuous and unpredictable, even though Mr. Fischer, who was born in Switzerland in 1973, descends from a line of German-speaking bad boys that includes Sigmar Polke and Martin Kippenberger and that has been one of the strongest strains of postwar art. Anything could happen, the thinking went, given Mr. Fischer’s capricious, encompassing and, at best, fearless conception of sculpture…

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Guggenheim at 50

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York is not alone in their Fiftieth  Anniversary celebration.

From the Guggenheim website:

Empire State Building Celebrates the Guggenheim

Thursday, October 22 @ 6:00 p.m.

At dusk on October 21, the Empire State Building will be lit Guggenheim red in honor of the museum’s 50th Anniversary. Also throughout October, the Empire State Building presents a dynamic time line of the building of the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Guggenheim Museum in the main entrance lobby.

Changes at The Frick

Just like any other home, historic houses and house museums require a bit of updating, home improvement, or remodeling every now and then. New York City’s Frick Collection recently completed a tedious refurbishment process for the Living Hall…which inevitably led to adjustments in the spaces around the Living Hall.

From The New York Times:

The first challenge was deciding where to hang those 1487 panels — “The Departure of the Argonauts” by Pietro del Donzello and “The Argonauts in Colchis” by Bartolomeo di Giovanni, scenes depicting the myth of Jason’s quest for the golden fleece. “It’s like a domino effect,” said Colin B. Bailey, the Frick’s chief curator, describing how he and Denise Allen, a Frick curator, moved two paintings to make room for the panels and then rethought the collection’s installation.

(…)

And that problem led to the reinstallation of works in the East Gallery, which has just undergone a gentle face-lift for the first time since 1945. Using a swatch of the room’s original wall fabric retrieved from the Frick’s archive as a reference point, researchers found a mohair wall covering that was close to the original shade of coral…

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The Asia Society and Museum

Galleries in the Asia Society and Museum, Park Ave at 70th Street

If museums followed global conomic trends, then technically the Asia Society and Museum would be the big powerhouse institution of New York, and it’d probably be lending money to the Met and MoMA. But instead, this gem of a cultural center is one of the best kept secrets on the Upper East Side, probably because it’s not exactly on museum mile (Park Ave at 70th Street).

While the Asia Society itself offers a fascinating array of programming, events, conferences etc., the museum itself offers dazzling exhibitions on the cultural heritages of countries from Afghanistan to Japan. In addition to great special exhibitions, their permanent collection hosts the Rockefeller Collection, one of the foremost collections of Asian art in the U.S., and a fairly new but still impressive contemporary art collection, including works by Nam June Paik and Shilpa Gupta, among others.

Among the exhibitions on view right now is Yang Fudong: Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest. The film is a five part series filmed over 5 years (2003-2007)–it doesn’t have a plot per se, but deals with existential questions of human relationships, existence (duh) and reality. The film received critical praise when viewed at the 2007 Venice Biennale, and this is the first time the full five parts have been screened in a U.S. museum, so take full advantage of this opportunity before it closes on September 13!

The Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum, New York (92nd Street and Fifth Avenue)

The Jewish Museum at 92nd Street and 5th Avenue is one of the most important institutions in the world devoted to the preservation and study of Jewish art, culture and history. In addition to a permanent collection of Jewish cultural artifacts that spans four millennia, the museum sets the bar for special traveling exhibitions. The current summer shows are definitely worth checking out: Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker tells the tragic yet redemptive story of a Dutch Jewish art dealer, whose large collection of Old Masterworks was stolen by the Nazis. The recovery of about two hundred works to the Goudstikker heirs in 2006 marks the largest restitution of Nazi-stolen art yet. The descriptive title of the second current show, They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust, chronicles a culturally vibrant moment in Polish Jewish history, obliterated by the events of World War II. Read Roberta Smith’s glowing review of the Mayer July show from yesterday’s New York Times.

Other reasons to check out The Jewish Museum: the French Gothic exterior to the century-old Warburg Mansion, an architectural highlight on Museum Mile, was recently renovated, liberating the beautiful facade from a year of scaffolding. The museum also recently revamped the website, including a killer online collection search engine. Check it out.

Auction Houses

In addition to gallery shows, auction houses normally have some really fantastic shows of the collection they are going to sell. I’ve seen some incredible art (completely museum quality) at these sort of shows and all for free. And this out-does a gallery show because the quality truly is museum quality – and may in fact be bought by a museum or another high quality institution. 

To check out these shows, check the websites of the major auction houses for details. If you hear of a good auction coming up – the contemporary and modern evening auctions come to mind – it’s likely that they’ll have a really excellent preview of these for-sale pieces. 

Check it out. The best art is often found in the most unexpected places.

Galleries

Just as I am beginning to run out of constructive things to say – at least until I get myself to some more museums and see some more great art – I had a brilliant ideas. People are stuck on Museums being the arbiters of great art – they are a bastion of art history, of talent, of genius. Well – how to artists become museum-artists? Of course they come by way of galleries. 

Some galleries (the really professional and big-money ones at least) have museum quality shows. Only the catch: they’re free! That’s right, if you want to see some Damien Hirst or Cecily Brown head over to Gagosian and you’ll see newer work, in great depth, than you ever will in a museum. You certainly don’t have to buy to go to the galleries shows. And if you’re really smart you’ll start hitting up the openings – where you’re likely to meet some likeminded souls and maybe score some free wine. Check the New York Times for openings and keep an eye out for the Gagosian Galleries, Paula Cooper Gallery, Mary Boone Gallery and the other big names. 

Enjoy.

The Met

The Met could a blog all to itself, so I am just going to touch on some basics that people may or may not know. The Met is located on 5th Ave at 83rd street and is a huge structure with one of the most amazing art collections in the world. It is so big that I am often very overwhelmed by the whole thing. But I’ve just discovered one very crucial detail that makes the Met manageable – it’s FREE (well there is a suggested donation, but for all intents and purposes it’s free). You can see the Egyptian section, you can see the sculpture garden, you can see the Impressionist room but you don’t have to see them all in one trip. Especially if you live on the Upper East Side, this is a great way to see one of the best art collections in the world without devoting a whole day to the endeavor. 

 

Don’t let this museum scare you away. It is so well worth it – and you can’t take a trip to NYC without stopping by. 

National Museum of the American Indian

So this is a little off topic but this is one of the best museum in NYC that no one visits: the National Museum of the American Indian. It’s located right at the tip of Manhattan in the Financial District in the old customs house. It’s a wonderfully beautiful building and a bit of history right in itself. 

It is part socio-historical museum, part art museum, and it really celebrates a crucial and oft ignored part of American History. 

It is well worth a subway ride downtown (which is really really quick – and I know because I live down there) and you’ll get a walk around Battery Park, a FREE entrance into the museum (since it is a Smithsonian institution), and a lovely glance into the financial meltdown. I would highly recommend this place and maybe we can start a trend and get people to go here more often. 

Whitney Museum

Another of the biggies in NYC. The Whitney is a museum for artists – they focus widely on very contemporary and upcoming artists. It is a place for artists to go to see the best of the best contemporary art. It is a museum for all those people who are tired of seeing lots of modernist, dada, and Warhol art. It is a museum for people who are really looking to expand their thoughts and understanding of what it means to be art. 

While I’m not always a fan of the Whitney it is certainly a “discovery” sort of place. You’ve got to be patient, be prepared to see some trippy, wild, weird, and sometimes not wholly enjoyable stuff. But its worth it when you do finally find that gem. 

Alexander Calder’s Circus has been on view for quite some time. Last chance notice for anyone looking to see it still. It closes on Feb. 15. 

MOMA

Now I know that everyone and their mother loves the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) so I was quite hesitant to write about it. MOMA certainly does not need a review from me when it gets more publicity than it can shake a stick at. But….and this is a big but…I went to MOMA this weekend. It wasn’t crowded, I didn’t want to pull my hair out, the exhibits were fair but not fantastic, and I had a really good time. 

My best suggestion for MOMA is NOT to go at 5.30 on a Friday evening. Target sponsors Free Fridays and New York City flocks to get around the hefty $20 admission fee (and this, friends, is not suggested). If you actually want to see some art and hang around the museum for a while it is worth getting up early on a Saturday morning (we were there right as it opened at 10.30) and paying the fee. There were few people around, benches were available, we could actually see the art – as opposed to jumping up and down trying to get a glance of whatever new installation is around.

I saw a great Jasper Johns exhibit of his late works on paper, a photo exhibit by Paul Graham, the Marlene Dumas exhibit of works on canvas and paint (which was painfully depressing and a bit too deep for Saturday morning). On the whole it was a lovely way to spend a weekend morning, crowd free.

Museum of Art and Design

The MAD Museum or the Museum of Art and Design opened its doors on its new building at 2 Columbus Circle in September of 2008. 

If you are feeling a bit warn out from the high intellectualism that much of contemporary art requires (which I often am), check out this place. There are pieces of furniture and design which are beautiful and a delight to see but don’t require the same sort of brain power and powers of intellectual appreciation.

Here are the opening hours:

Wed. - Sun. 11:00 am to 6:00 pm 
Thurs. 11:00 am to 9:00 pm 
Closed Mon., Tues. & Major Holidays

The Cloisters

The Cloisters are an offshoot of the Met but ALL the way up in Northern Manhattan right near the Hudson river on 190^th St. Unless you have a car (or a gentle soul who will drive you up there) it can take an hour and a half or more with all the trains, buses and walking you’ll have to do to get there. But once you get there, it is well worth it. The Met has built a reproduction of a Medieval Church in which to house their medieval art collection including altarpieces, crucifixes and other churchly adornment. I know that medieval art isn’t the first thing to do on every tourist’s list of New York City To Do’s but this museum makes it all worth it. And even if you aren’t as interested by the art and gilded painting, the view of the Hudson from way up there is well worth it. I can imagine 100 years ago or so when the upper east side was suburbia – one day we’re going to be saying the same thing about 190^th St. and the Cloisters. They will no doubt be smack in the middle of things like Mount Sinai Hospital (at 101^st St.) or Tribeca is now. 

Neue Gallerie

When I went to see this small, private museum it was still t-shirt weather in New York (i.e. it’s been a while) but I think this place warrants a post all the same. Neue Gallerie, literally the “New Gallery” in German is a wonder of a place and fully deserves the attention of any dedicated art aficionado. I’d never heard of this place before a professor of mine recommended that we go around and see it. It’s housed at 86th street right up against Central Park in a gloriously decadent mansion which once belonged to the Vanderbilts (but, really, what part of New York didn’t once belong to one of them).

The museum is the brainchild of Estee Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, who, after his good friend and gallerist Sarge Sarbarsky passed away in 1996, opened the museum of German and Austrian Expressionist art as a tribute shortly thereafter. The museum houses some of the best examples of Gustav Klimt’s work (such as the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer which was bought at auction in 2007 for 132 million dollars) and many great examples by Egon Schiele, Max Beckman, Erich Heckel and German design by Josef Hoffmann and Peter Behrens.

The show I saw was very carefully curated and the grounds and building are amazing. With any interest in Art Nouveau or architecture, I think it is well worth a visit to this museum. And perhaps most importantly to me (who tends to get very overwhelmed by the large crowds at MOMA blockbuster exhibitions), the crowds were quite tame and I was really able to get up close and personal with the paintings and other works. I find it so much more rewarding when I am able to really study the works rather than do a fly by like so many people are forced to do at the international quality museum which are so often frequented by hoards of tourists.