FREE! Do not miss David Smith at Gagosian Gallery

DOG STAR caught that small David Smith show at MoMA last year and was reminded of how simple and beautiful and artful his sculptural constructions can be.


Gagosian Gallery presents a limited show of David Smith's sculptures at their space on 555 West 24th Street.


Sometimes when I start a sculpture, I begin with only a realized part, the rest is travel to be unfolded much in the order of a dream. The conflict for realization is what makes art not its certainty, nor its technique or material.
--David Smith

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of monumental sculptures by David Smith made between 1962-1964.


Sculpture and art fans looking to expand the eye and enrich your perspective will make this a must some Saturday afternoon or a quick trip after school (except on Mondays when they're closed!)



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Here for Gagosian Gallery


Here for more on David Smith at Wikipedia


Here for David Smith Estate website

VERY FUNNY! Racism at the Bus Stop (Reckless Tortuga)

Shakespeare All Over Town! Many productions of the Bard - ask for student discounts!

DOG STAR noticed a few productions of Shakespeare's plays happening around NYC.  Anybody who wants to explore for the first time or the tenth will enjoy checking out one of these shows.  Shakespeare is ALWAYS best when the play is up on stage - merely reading it is often difficult and not a joy (sorry, Ms. Alcala!).

If any of these shows interest DOG STAR readers, ask for a student discount!  Most will make a deal to see the show!  Some of the theaters already offer student tickets!


Love is My Sin is based on Shakespeare's sonnets at the Duke Theater on 42nd Street (here).  The Duke offers $10 student tickets for most of their shows with a special code (you'll find it on the website when you click on the link).  This production is directed by Peter Brook - one of the most famous artists working in theater in the world.

As You Like It presented by Aquilla Theater (here) - One night only March 31st at Skirball Center at NYU

The Tempest at The Access Theater (here)

The Taming of the Shrew at The American Actors Theater (here) in Midtown

And, although not Shakespeare, this comedia de l'arte production The Servant of Two Masters is one Bard fans might enjoy.  DOG STAR was in a production of it in high school, even!  At The Access Theater (here)

FREE! Open now! See R. Crumb's graphic interpretation of The Book of Genesis in Hundreds of Drawings

DOG STAR remembers R. Crumb's comic books and enjoyed a walk through the David Zwirner Gallery for an illustrated tour of The Book of Genesis.


Crumb's project is not a disrespectful take on the sacred Bible text.  He is highly respectful and finds fresh ways to show various scenes and well-known stories from the Bible.


Comic and graphic novel fans will want to check it out for the HIGH QUALITY art and the curious will find it a rewarding hour at the gallery!





David Zwirner presents "The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis", the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. These drawings – 207 extraordinary individual works of pen and ink on paper – were produced for his now landmark The Book of Genesis Illustrated.


Five years in the making and released to instant critical acclaim, the eagerly awaited book topped many bestseller lists, including #1 on the New York Times Graphic Books list. On exhibition through 24 April, 2010.

From Creation to the death of Joseph, Crumb chronicles all fifty chapters of Genesis in an astonishing tapestry of masterly detail and storytelling, rendered frame by frame in meticulous comic book fashion.


With a literal interpretation primarily assembled from translations of Robert Alter and the King James Bible, Crumb reintroduces us to the bountiful tree lined garden of Adam and Eve, the massive ark of Noah with beasts of every kind, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by brimstone and fire that rained from the heavens, and the Egypt of the Pharaoh, where Joseph’s embalmed body is carried in a coffin, in a scene as elegiac as any in Genesis.


Using clues from the text and peeling away the theological and scholarly versions that have often obscured the Bible’s most dramatic stories, Crumb fleshes out a parade of Biblical originals: from the serpent in Eden, as a humanoid reptile; to Abraham’s wife Sarah, more fetching than most woman at 90; to God himself, patriarchal and white-bearded.


rCumb’s first exhibition at David Zwirner was in May 2007, soon after the artist joined the gallery, and featured close to sixty figurative works spanning from 1965 to 2005.

Robert Crumb (born 1943, Philadelphia) began drawing comics as a young boy. In the late 1960s he emerged as the leading figure in the underground comic movement.


Since then, his influence has been immeasurable, from the first issue of Zap Comix in 1968; to his most recognized comic, Keep on Truckin’, which became a widely distributed fixture of pop culture in the late 1970s; from the adventures of his notorious characters Devil Girl, Fritz the Cat, and Mr. Natural; to being the subject of Terry Zwigoff’s 1995 documentary, Crumb.


The artist currently lives in the south of France with his wife, Aline Kominsky Crumb, the American comic book artist known for her autobiographical stories.

Crumb was recently the focus of a touring solo exhibition, R. Crumb’s Underground, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2007), which then traveled to the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (both 2008), the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, and the Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, California (both 2009). Crumb has had one-man exhibitions at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2005) and the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany (2004).


The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis was recently on view at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California, and following David Zwirner it will travel to the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon (June - September 2010). 


Here for David Zwirner Gallery

FREE! This Weekend! Meet writers at Dweck Center in Brooklyn!

DOG STAR knows readers like to meet writers and hear their voices and stories live and in person.  These two events are great opportunities to discover great writers in a beautiful setting!


Dweck Center is a new performance space with plenty of seating in the ground floor of the central library of Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.

	Saturday, March 20, 4:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center Cosmopolis: Immigrant Writers in NYC: Andre Aciman Egyptian-born Aciman reads from his new novel Eight White Nights, a story about the fears, longings and tensions that accompany new romance. Aciman is the author of the novel Call Me by Your Name, of the memoir Out of Egypt and of False Papers: Essays on Exile and Memory. He has co-authored and edited The Proust Project and Letters of Transit. WNYC's Leonard Lopate hosts.
	Sunday, March 21, 1:30PM Central Library, Dweck Center Author Talk with Tayari Jones Jones is the author of The Untelling, a novel about personal history and individual and familial myth-making, and Leaving Atlanta, a coming of age story set during the city's infamous child murders of 1979-81.

FREE! Open Now! See South African artist William Kentridge at MoMA

DOG STAR finds William Kentridge to be unique today:  he does old-fashion things like actually draw his work by hand and explores deeply personal and political issues in thoughtful ways.  Nothing slick and no sugar filling here!


Museum of Modern Art presents "William Kentridge:  Five Themes" until May 17, 2010.


ALWAYS FREE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS


Here for more on the show at MoMA




Watch a Kentridge animation called "Automatic Writing"

New Korean film "Mother" blends genres in comedy / murder mystery / family drama

DOG STAR readers who appreciate the little film gem in addition to the giant Hollywood blockbuster will rush to IFC Film Center to see Bong's "Mother."


Bong’s follow up to the international sensation The Host starts as a comedic portrait of an insanely doting mother, but takes a sharp turn when the woman’s simple minded son is railroaded into prison for the murder of a schoolgirl.  Convinced that he’s been falsely convicted, she throws herself body and soul into proving his innocence.


TimeOut London review:

"A thoughtful, challenging Hitchcockian thriller… Gorgeously photographed, flawlessly acted and structured like a steel trap, MOTHER is one of the year’s best."

IFC Film Center is EASY TO REACH:  Trains to West 4th Street station in the Village, theater is above the station on Sixth Avenue 


Here for IFC Film Center  

Rihanna's Video "Rude Boy" Makes Multiple Pop Art References

DOG STAR found this recent Rihanna on James Danziger's blog (here) with the comment, "It was fun to turn on the t.v. and find a pop video that makes so many references to contemporary art. See how many you can count."


We wish James had included a bit more about what he identifies in the video - James is a long-time art dealer and gallery owner and his knowledge of art is light years ahead of little 'ol DOG STAR.  


BEFORE you watch the video, here's a tip sheet from DOG STAR office mates:


Robert Rauschenberg (collage effects, 
Andy Warhol (day-glo 80s colors, disembodied mouth)
Keith Haring (portion of video with white lines and graphic waves on the back wall and on Rihanna's body, animated characters and figures)
Roy Lichtenstein (comic book forms, graphic style and words like BOOM)
Stephen Sprouse (day-glo 80s colors)
Jasper Johns (general collage effects)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (African references; lion, crown, collage effects)

OPENS Today! Make it a day trip to see great art! Botero, Dubuffet, Miro & Basquiat all at Nassau County Museum of Art - just 30 minutes on Long Island Railroad

DOG STAR likes an adventure and day trips to culture spots can be fun if you have the right crew with you!


Nassau County Museum of Art opens a wild show of work by Spanish artist Joan Miro, American (Puerto Rican / Haitian) Jean-Michel Basquiat and French artist Dubuffet.


Consider this day trip to Nassau County to see great art!


Here for Nassau County Museum of Art

Check out new music from positive hip hop group 3 Titans! Three fifth graders from Brooklyn!

DOG STAR found this group through the Daptone Record site (here) and want to sahre the 3 Titans with you!


Some will be reminded of hip hop style from the 90s.  Others will be reminded of Nas and Talib Kweli and others who have made positive, consciousness-raising records.

FREE! Open now! VICTOR DEMARCHELIER at Clic Gallery on Broome Street

DOG STAR is excited about Victor's "Creating Images" show at Clic Gallery at 424 Broome Street.  The photos are beautiful and do remind us of some Irving Penn images.


From the Clic website:


VICTOR DEMARCHELIER’S meticulous still lives and elegant figure studies are concerned with the abstract interplay of lines and shapes, of empty and filled space. These black-and-white photographs are small masterpieces, reminiscent of the studio work of Irving Penn.


CREATING IMAGES, a mix of his work from fashion shoots and personal projects, includes several pieces from Demarchelier’s photographic collaborations with model Caroline Trentini.

At only 25, VICTOR DEMARCHELIER is at the beginning of what is sure to be an impressive career. His photographs have been published in  Vogue and Paris Vogue. In 2008 he held his solo debut at the Karl Hutter Gallery in Los Angeles and in 2009 he participated in a group show at the Mina Gallery in New York. 


Here for Clic Gallery

FREE! Open now! Three photography legends in show at New York Public Library

DOG STAR is excited about this photography show and the chance to see this Helen Levitt photos from 1940 up close.  These three women made powerful and enduring photographic work and this show is a must for anyone looking to improve their "eye" for appreciating photography.


The New York Public Library celebrates the life and work of three distinguished women photographers (all of whom passed away last year) with an exhibition showcasing a sampling of their insightful, exceptional photographs. 


In Passing: Evelyn Hofer, Helen Levitt and Lilo Raymond is on view February 22 through May 23, 2010 in the Stokes Gallery (3rd floor) of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Admission is free.

The show features three dozen images selected by Stephen C. Pinson, the curator of the Library’s Photography Collection, from which the exhibition is drawn.


Helen Levitt’s widely recognized compositions from the streets of New York suggest a concrete city at once unflappable, mischievous, and enigmatic; in one such unsettling image, young children stand on a doorstep in eerie masks.


Also on view are Evelyn Hofer’s portraits: diligent inquiries into people and spaces; her consummate technique is evident in every finely composed photograph.


Lilo Raymond’s tranquil studies of interiors reveal her acute understanding of texture, light and space.

Though lesser known than male contemporaries such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, and Walker Evans, Hofer, Levitt, and Raymond each bestow a legacy as singular and influential.


This exhibition, presented in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project (coordinator of the annual celebration of Women’s History Month in March), justly honors their contributions.

Evelyn Hofer was born in Marburg, Germany in 1922, and came to New York in 1946. She taught innumerable photographers who were drawn to her technical expertise and masterful use of the large-format view camera.

Helen Levitt was born in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1913. Her work in “street photography” made her the unofficial visual poet laureate of New York City. She worked for nearly 70 years as a photographer. Most of her images on view here are from the now-classic photobook A Way of Seeing.

Lilo Raymond was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1922, and came to New York in 1939. She taught for several years at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, studied with David Vestal, and published her first book of photographs, Revealing Light (in which all of the photographs on display in this exhibition appeared), in 1989. 

See modern masters in "Paris & the Avant-Garde" at the Guggenheim Museum

DOG STAR is a big fan of Picasso and we especially like the painting above  "Mandolin and Guitar" from 1924.  Picasso painted it after moving to the South of France.  The painting is in the Cubist style - a form of painting and sculpture he created with his fellow artist and friend George Braque.


Fortunately, this painting and others by Picasso and his friends are now on view in a new show at the Guggenheim called "Paris & the Avant Garde."


During the first decades of the twentieth century, numerous painters and sculptors migrated to Paris, which had become the international nexus for vanguard art.


Bringing with them their diverse customs, these artists absorbed and contributed to the latest creative developments, often fusing novel formal elements with aspects from their respective local traditions. 


Although these artists did not adhere to a fixed style typical of a school, they were united in their defiance of academicism.


Paris and the Avant-Garde: Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Collection will feature some thirty paintings from the Guggenheim Collection by such artists as Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy, among others, as well as showcase a significant group of sculpture by Constantin Brancusi and Alexander Calder.

Guggenheim is EASY TO REACH:

MUSEUM HOURS

Sunday–Wednesday: 10 am–5:45 pm
Friday: 10 am–5:45 pm
Saturday: 10 am–7:45 pm
Pay What You Wish: Saturdays from 5:45 pm to 7:45 pm 
Please note: From January 29 through March 10, Pay What You Wish admission to the museum will be limited
Closed: Thursdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day

Here for Guggenheim Museum

FREE! Tomorrow - Tuesday, March 9! Get involved in animal action at Animal Haven!

DOG STAR strongly urges teens to attend tomorrow's meeting at Animal Haven for the After-school Launch Event for CARING KIDS PROGRAM.

A free after-school event to celebrate the launch of Animal Haven's Caring Kids Program.  Through hands-on activities with our cats and dogs at teh shelter, participants learn the importance of treating animals humanely, as they make a noticeable impact on the lives of the animals they encounter.

Animal Haven is EASY TO REACH at 251 Centre Street, just three blocks north of Canal and east of Broadway from 4-6pm

Teens are encouraged to RSVP to KendraM@ah-nyc.org

Here for Animal Haven website

Discover great new writing from Peter Akinti

DOG STAR enjoys discovering new writers and Peter Akinti will appeal to teens looking for something urban, intelligent and free of vampires (LOL!).


Peter's debut novel "Forest Gate" is set in an East London housing project called Forest Gate.  In Britain, public housing is called "council flats" and the lives of the people who live in Forest Gate collide with unexpected personal and political realities.


Peter Akinti was a seventies child, born of Nigerian ancestry, in London. He read Law at a London University. He has written for the Guardian, and worked for four years at HM Treasury Chambers before founding and editing Untold Magazine for five years.


Untold was the first independent British magazine for black men and had a wealth of gifted contributors from all over the diaspora.


Peter spent eighteen months in Nigeria, running a restaurant, beer parlour and cinema in Ondo Town, Southwest Nigeria. 


He currently lives in Brooklyn. Forest Gate is his first novel.


Here to read an interview with Peter Akinti

OPEN NOW! Whitney Biennial Shows What's Happening in American Art Today

DOG STAR has been going to the Whitney Biennial for a few years and happily discovered some of our favorite artists.  We're excited about his edition of the survey of contemporary American art scene, especially for the videos and Robert Williams.

We included a selection of art from the show above.  We especially like the first pic:  Installation view of "Baby" by Thomas Houseago.  This is just the kind of show you'll want to grab a feew friends and explore:  stand in front of "Baby" and try to guess which of you friends the sculpture resembles.  Debate whether or not some of the work should even be IN THE SHOW.  Watch some of the video and laugh and enjoy them with your friends.  Make connections between different pieces and artists and imagine placing them together in your own show.

Whitney Museum IS ALWAYS FREE FOR TEENS!


Here for Whitney Museum of Art

Whitney Museum is EASY TO REACH at Madison Avenue & 75th Street, closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
General Information: (212) 570-3600
info@whitney.org

How to get here:
Subway: 6 Train to 77th Street
Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4 to 74th Street
Car: Two parking garages offer
discounts with Whitney ticket
validation.

The New York Times - February 26, 2010

ART REVIEW | WHITNEY BIENNIAL

At a Biennial on a Budget, Tweaking and Provoking

By HOLLAND COTTER

In what felt like a pre-emptive effort at damage control, the Whitney Museum of American Art did everything to underpitch its 2010 Biennial. With 55 artists, we were advised, it would be half the size of the 2006 show. Unlike the 2008 version, which spilled over into the Park Avenue Armory, this one would be confined to the museum’s premises. No frills.   More here...

Here  for review of Brucennial

FREE! Opens today! 31 Women in Art Photography Show at Midtown Gallery

Photo above:  Cave by Ann Woo, 2007


DOG STAR enjoys discovering fresh, new visions on photography.  This well-curated show presents 31 omen in art photography to the public.  We especially like Ann Woo's photo "Cave," above, for its other-worldly scene - it is Mars?, is it Avatar? - and signs of recognizable terrain - a beach?  A mouth in the rock?

Exhibition on view: Saturday, March 6 – Saturday, April 10, 2010

Location
Affirmation Arts
523 W. 37th Street
New York, NY 10018
(212) 925.0092


affirmationarts.com

Gallery hours: Tues – Fri, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sat 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.Directions: A/C/E to 34th Street and 8th Avenue

January 18, 2010 – In March 2010, in honor of Women’s History Month, Humble Arts Foundation in association with Affirmation Arts will present its second edition of 31 Women in Art Photography, a five-week exhibition celebrating 31 of the most innovative women in new art photography. The exhibition, curated by Charlotte Cotton and Jon Feinstein, will present an eclectic mix of new talent, culled from open submissions. 31opens at Affirmation Arts in New York City on Saturday, March 6 during The Armory Show 2010.

The exhibition includes photographs by Erica Allen, Amelia Bauer, Claire Beckett, Gilda Davidian, Jessica Eaton, Naomi Harris, Carmen von Kende, Anna Krachey, Yvonne Lacet, Erika Larsen, Jessica Mallios, Alison Malone, S. Billie Mandle, Paula McCartney, Rachelle Mozman, Yamini Nayar, Sarah Palmer, Kristine Potter, Heather Rasmussen, Justine Reyes, Lisa Robinson, Irina Rozovsky, Sasha Rudensky, Victoria Sambunaris, Robin Schwartz, Emily Shur, Brea Souders, Rachel Sussman, Kirsten Kay Thoen, Carson Fisk-Vittori, and Ann Woo.

Here for 31 Women in Art Photography

In Memoriam: A Tribute to Lucille Clifton

DOG STAR knows Lucille Clifton and she will remain one of the most affective and moving poetic voices in contemporary American literature for a very long time.  The poem "Sorrows," was once read at a memorial service for one of our friends.  Everyone clamored for a copy of the poem.

It isn't a sad time right now - grief, yes, for the loss of Lucille, who passed February 13, but a time now, too, to celebrate her life and poetry and her enormous gift to us all.

In this post we've included links to the celebration on the website of the Academy of American Poets including a tribute (below) by poet Sharon Olds.  

Here is a video of Lucille Clifton reading the poems "What Haunts Him" and the poem "Sorrows":

Rita Dove said, "Lucille's laugh is like her spirit—large and full, warm and open. And her poems, for all their surface compactness, burst at the seams with this generous spirit." 

Read the rest of Dove's essay exploring her relationship to Clifton and her poetry, along with a new, dedicatory poem by Sharon Olds, a remembrance by Gerald Stern, as well as newly added poems and audio recordings.  

More on Lucille Clifton on the web

Voices
by Sharon Olds
(for Lucille) Our voices race to the towers, and up beyond the atmosphere, to the satellite, slowly turning, then back down to another tower, and cell. Quincy, Toi, Honoree, Sarah, Dorianne, Galway. When Athena Elizalex calls, I tell her I'm missing Lucille's dresses, and her shoes, and Elizabeth says "And she would say, "Damn! I do look good!'" After we hang up, her phone calls me again from inside her jacket, in the grocery store with her elder son, eleven, I cannot hear the words, just part of the matter of the dialogue, it's about sugar, I am in her pocket like a spirit. Then I dream it — looking at an illuminated city from a hill, at night, and suddenly the lights go out — like all the stars gone out. "Well, if there is great sex in heaven," we used to say, "or even just sex, or one kiss, what's wrong with that?!" Then I'm dreaming a map of the globe, with bright pinpoints all over it — in the States, the Caribbean, Latin America, in Europe, and in Africa — everywhere a poem of hers is being read. Small comfort. Not small to the girl who curled against the wall around the core of her soul, keeping it alive, with long labor, then unfolded into the hard truths, the lucid beauty, of her song.

This Saturday! Meet writers and celebrate author E. Lynn Harris

DOG STAR encourages book lovers to attend this special event at the Brooklyn Public Library.  E. Lynn Harris died recently and this celebration of his life and work will draw many writers and fans.


E. Lynn Harris wrote novels that explored the complex lives of black men who may feel trapped and compelled to make difficult choices.  One DOG STAR reader told us recently that he found the courage to come out to his family after reading a Harris novel titled "Just As I Am."

Tribute to E. Lynn Harris Saturday, March 6, 4:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center Brooklyn Public Library Authors discuss the literary legacy of the late novelist, Harris, whose books exposed readers to characters rarely depicted in literature: black, affluent gay men who were masculine and complex. In books like "Invisible Life," "A Love of My Own," and his best-selling memoir, "What Becomes the Brokenhearted," Harris virtually invented a new genre. Speakers include Victoria Christopher Murray, Karen E. Quinones Miller, Karen Hunter, Donna Hill, Terrance Dean, Stanley Bennett Clay, and James Earl Hardy.

FREE! This Friday! Battle of the Boros for NYC's Best Talent!

DOG STAR is excited about this new performance space sponsored by NYC's public radio station, WNYC.  The Greene Space in SoHo is easy to reach and great location for teens looking for other things to do places to eat after a show.  Get there by 6:30 for the 7pm show!


This Friday, The Greene Space hosts Battle of the Boroughs:  A talent competition to find NYC's future singers, spoken word artists and performers.  A showdown series designed to bring out the best undiscovered bands and ensembles of all genres, instrumentalists, singers, DJs, spoken word artists and performance artists in the five boroughs. Audience members will vote for the best performance of the night. This Friday, artists from Brooklyn battle it out. 


The first Friday of each month will feature a different borough:

March 5: Selected artists from Brooklyn

April 2: Selected artists from Manhattan

April 30: Selected artists from the Bronx

May 7: Selected artists from Staten Island

June 4: Selected artists from Queens

The deadline  has passed to sign up to perform but it's still going to be fun to show up and root for your favorite borough!

The Greene Space is EASY TO REACH: 

Just south of Houston Street, near the West Village, SoHo and Chinatown!

1 to Houston Street or Canal Street; C/E to Spring Street.

Click here for an interactive New York Subway Map

Here for the Battle of the Boroughs

Here for The Greene Space