Tag Archives: Guggenheim

New York Mysteries Oct. 22- Oct. 28

Sunday afternoon The Frick Music Room exploded with the music of Boris Andrianov and Dimitri Illarionov. The cellist, Mr. Andrianov, was making his second appearance at the Frick. The guitarist, Mr. Illarionov, was new to the Frick and left most of the talking to his comrade. They enchanted the packed room with various transcriptions from Manuel de Falla and Igor Stravinsky. We heard the world premiere of Nikita Koshkin’s Waltz for Cello and Guitar. It was a wonderful two hours.

 

Some Virtual Russian Champagne for Messieurs Andrianov and Illarionov

I stopped by the Guggenheim to see the new exhibit, Art and China After 1989 Theater of the World. It features experimental works by Chinese artists. Chinese history, modernism, and global political events are among the explored themes. I think the Guggenheim space is perfect for big, flashy pieces. Wandering up the ramp and looking across or up or down is a unique Guggenheim experience.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a new Guggenheim installation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A friend and I attended the Fine Art Print Fair at the Javits Center. Aside from the misery of getting there, it was a delightful evening. We wandered from booth to booth, looking at works as diverse as Francis Bacon and Louise Nevelson.

Matt Shlian’s prints at the Fine Art Paper Fair

Graphic Lessons: Recent thirty-five-year-old widow Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a stabbed and dying man in the school kitchen, deals with the only witness to the stabbing – a troubled nine-year-old, develops a crush on a NYPD detective and her dog dies.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears three people fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie.

Graphic Lessons: Something’s eating at NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek: a failed marriage? surviving a car bomb? his girlfriend marrying his corrupt boss? screwing up an important case? It doesn’t matter because he’s relentless.

 

 

New York City Blog June 1 – June 7

My balletomania friend and I went to American Ballet Theatre to see MANON. The music is by Massenet. I find the story very moving, especially the final scene with the lovers dying in a Louisiana swamp. The dancers were glorious: Diana Vishneva who attracts a large Russian presence, Marcello Gomes and Herman Cornejo, two of the best male dancers performing today.

A friend who helps maintain the west 40th Street Hell’s Kitchen Rooftop Garden invited me to an open house on the Metro Baptist Church’s rooftop. It’s quite a climb – at least six flights and the last one has narrow metal steps meant for tiny feet. The friend told me the ingenious ways the four year old vegetable and flower garden came into existence. The volunteers formed a bucket brigade to get the supplies to the roof. The first season they learned from bitter experience that pigeons are not fooled by balloons and owl statues. That’s why the plots, children’s wading pools, are covered by netting. An added plus is it’s in a wonderful neighborhood for foodies.
Hell's Kitchen Rooftop Kitchen at Metro Baptist Church
Hell’s Kitchen Rooftop Kitchen at Metro Baptist Church
Get thee to the Guggenheim! There’s an extensive exhibit of Italian Futurism. It’s such fun to walk up the ramp and duck into the nooks and crannies. What you miss on the way up you can catch on the way down. In spite of the crowds, the Guggenheim does not seem packed.
Italian Futurist Exhibit at the Guggenheim
Italian Futurist Exhibit at the Guggenheim
On Saturday I went on a Municipal Art Society two hour architectural walk on the Lower East Side. Saturday was one of those NYC days that goes from spring to summer temperatures in a few hours. In spite of the heat, Sylvia Laudien-Meo’s low keyed enthusiasm and knowledge kept up my interest. It’s not Steve Kulchek’s Bowery which he patrolled as a young police officer. Has it changed. Sober, expensively dressed people stream into stark, discreet art galleries. The Bowery still has a raffish quality which, please God, it doesn’t lose in spite of Keith McNally’s new restaurant.
Guillermo Kuitca's oil painting at Sperone Westwater
Guillermo Kuitca’s oil painting at Sperone Westwater