Monthly Archives: April 2013

Gutai at The Gugghenheim

Posted on April 30, 2013 by lb120368

The Gugghenheim museum is one of my favorite museums to visit as a result of the unusual shape and organic progression that is to look at the exhibitions curated at the museum. Although a very big museum, it is not close to the size of the Metropolitan. However, located close by, and in one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces, the Gugghenheim is so easy to explore since the attendees can walk around the spiral shape of the building either up and down and have the chance to explore the entire exhibitions without asking for directions or getting lost. In addition, every couple of floors, the museum has separate chambers where they have other special or permanent exhibitions, but the main spiral usually explores a retrospective of a specific artist or a specific theme or era throughout, which makes a cohesive experience.

Last march I visited their exhibition Gutai, devoted to the Japanese artist conglomerate that started in mid 20^th century in the western city of Ashiya. There is art in many different mediums which created a very interesting journey through the Gugghenheim. The artists explored new mediums and mixed media that were non-conventional with Japanese art customs. They lived and worked in Japan after the communist regime had just ended. A lot of their art is a political commentary in everything that happened and the results of that period. The color red can be seen through the exhibition and even some pieces are so easily related to suppression, like a giant red cube built in vinyl or plastic that the audience could come inside and feel complete segregated from the outside. Others are on-site projects that have been built at the museum, such as one igloo-like piece called “Bisexual Flower” which you enter and in the darkness stands a vinyl sculpture in neon lights and a psychedelic experience ensues.

From such major pieces, in scale, you can see how many of these pieces were meant to be shown outdoors. There were works in painting, sculpture, video, mixed media, photography of on-site projects in Japan. Quite an array belonging to close to 20 artists.

It was a really interesting, colorful, and still politically filled exhibition. These group of artists have had a large impact on western art as well as asian art, and were pioneers at breaking the geographical distance between art trends and art periods.

There are still a couple of weeks left to see this spring exhibit that is on show til May 8. You can buy tickets online and plan your visit at http://www.museumtix.com/venueinfo/venueinfo.aspx?vid=873&tab=E&pvt=srgf

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Roman Vishniac and Chim at The International Center of Photography

Posted on April 30, 2013 by lb120368

It was my second visit to the International Center of Photography, my first one a few years back left me with not such desire for their shows, back then it was a very short show on latin American photography that didn’t appeal to my senses. This time, the entire show tricked me with emotions, the photography was supers, so rich in context, and every picture represented its time and era and its political connotation in an extremely realistic and grasping way. There were two exhibitions that correlated in its time and subject, Roman Vishniac and Chim, both European photographers that lived and worked in Europe during WWI and WWII and saw jewish gentrification and the Spanish civil war amongst other major happenings of the early 20^th century.

I thought the show was phenomenal, first each artist had its own floor which made it easy to differentiate the works of both photographers. Also each piece had so much emotion it was beautiful at the same time as it was sad. You could see the misery of the people depicted in this pictures, but at the same times many of the photographics was filled with positivity, hope and faith. These people had lost everything except their eagerness to survive these horrible moments. The kids in the pictures are also such a beautiful depiction of child innocence. You can realize in their faces that they are a little unknowledgeable of what is happening, but they are still sad and see the misery of their people, but they also still have bright eyes and can utter a smile that is worth a million bucks.

Roman Vishniac had a ravishing collection from his four decades documenting jeiwish life in the interim and aftermath of both World War I and World War II, as well as the lives of the jewish population who had immigrated to the United States, mostly New York City. The compositions are extremely beautiful and the lighting induces emotion. The range of imagery from the army, to displaced families, orphan children, the camps really absorbs you to that point in time and makes you feel depressed about the occurrences of the Holocaust.

Chim’s work was a photojournalist report that span three decades of European life. He went on to photograph the happenings in Spain during the Civil War; World War II and how many countries started over after the great damages of the wars. His work is impressive in that it is very descriptive of what was happening at the moment.

Hurry up, both shows will be on display til may 5th, so anytime you find yourself around Bryant Park, see if you have one hour to check it out. You wont be dissapointed

To plan your visit, and any additional information visit the museum’s website at http://www.icp.org/visit

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Faust at Metropolitan Opera

Posted on April 8, 2013 by lb120368

I went to see Faust at the new season of the Metropolitan Opera. It was superb and worth seeing before the season is over. Outstanding voices and quite the spectacle, a beautiful alternative to any night plans.

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The Armory Show and Independent

Posted on April 8, 2013 by lb120368

During Armory Week I had the chance to visit both the Armory Show, and Independent Art Show, the biggest art fairs in New York City’s Armory week. Both shows bring together the leading and most important galleries around the world focusing on 20^th and 21^st century modern and contemporary art. The Armory Show now in its 15^th year occurred in the premises of pier 92 and pier 94, the foremost devoted to modern art, mostly from secondary markets and defunct artists, and pier 94 devoted to contemporary artists mostly living and in innovative mediums and mix media. The Independent art show is a smaller version of the Armory show, showcasing over 40 galleries from 14 different countries mostly specialized in contemporary work and new mediums.

The spectrum of art and artists that the Armory Show had this year was incredibly vast, for an attendee, it was almost overwhelming, as one can get a little saturated by the size and extent of both piers and the amount of booths there are. With that said, there is also exceptional pieces that attract your eye in many directions. From a digital dinner between a married couple who only communicates through texting and are facing each other through digital images on ipads, to a talking donut, on the contemporary side. The Modern section on pier 92 has pieces from recognized artists as Miro, small Pollocks, Picasso drawings, and modern sculpture.

Independent had very new art, fresh, creative, many images and pieces criticizing 21^st century societal ideas. It was indeed a really fun stroll. Independent being of smaller size, it was much more manageable to truly observe everything without losing focus. There was a performance piece of a guy dressed as a clown lipsynching music hits from the 90’s and 2000’s, ranging from Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, to Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Gnangnan style. It was dramatic as well as humorous. And other pieces such as dishwashing trays filled with dirty plates and knick-knacks.

It was very exciting to see both shows, and also to compare the size of them, given that the Armory has become the biggest and most important annual art show in the city, but with it has brought about hundreds of other smaller fairs and the occurrence of art openings and special exhibitions and gatherings in such week, Armory Week. Sure will not forget to visit it again next year, and see what new trends are occurring in the art world.