It’s been so hot here in NYC that it’s hard to think about Art, except to say – let’s be inside to do Art – or be Art, and maybe, swim in it.

I’ve gone to a lot of openings of late but haven’t written about them including Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield at the Whitney.  This was truly a fantastic show and I didn’t realize how prolific or influential Burchfield was.   Of course, the room with one of the wall paper designs he created that was also juxtaposing his paintings from the period might have been a little to busy.  Nevertheless, the Whitney has had some first class stuff going on lately, including a bit of performance art that I actually liked (and I don’t tend to like performance art that much).

Charles Burchfield, An April Mood, 1946–55. Watercolor and charcoal on joined paper, 40 × 54 in. (101.6 × 137.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with partial funds from Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman  55.39.

There’s a lot of good stuff I’ve seen lately but haven’t written about – catching up now – have to feed the Art Beast, after all.

Did you know there’s a new Art Establishment in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn?  I didn’t – till I strolled in by accident about 2 weeks ago - it’s called The Invisible Dog – and is kitty corned next to the Coney Island bound Bergen Street F train stop.  I happened to walk in on a film screening – but what caught my eye was a large sculpture of the inside of an egg made from aluminum foil – as it turned out.     Here’s more information about the Invisible Dog:

The Invisible Dog, a new three-story art center in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, is an exuberant example of the integration of forward thinking and care for the past. The art center, admittedly, had a leg up: its home came equipped with an irresistable history. Built in the late nineteenth century, the 20,000 square-foot factory went through a number of industrial incarnations before its owners struck gold in the 1970s with the invisible dog trick: a stiff lease and collar surrounding the empty space where a dog would be. A mixture of party-hearty silliness and tongue-in-cheek trompe l’oeil, the trick became an icon of its era. But eventually public taste moved on; meanwhile, over the years, the Brooklyn neighborhood was changing. The factory closed its doors in the late 1990s; the boarded-up building was a blight on its quiet Brooklyn block.

There was also a store on premises where much of the art work could be purchased.  Nice!

Recently, I was on a romp at the Metropolitan Museum with a friend viewing An Italian Journey: Drawings from the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo and the drawing show/collection  was quite impressive.  The Met describes the show this way:

Over the past twenty years, Julie and David Tobey have assembled one of the preeminent collections of Italian Old Master drawings in private hands. Ranging across the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, this exhibition, consisting of approximately seventy drawings, covers all the principal centers of Italian art—Florence, Rome, Naples, Bologna, Parma, Venice, Genoa, Milan—and features masterpieces by a distinguished roster of great draftsmen, among them Correggio, Bernini, Guercino, Guido Reni, Canaletto, and Tiepolo. Impressive in its variety, the gamut of subject matter includes figure studies, historical and mythological narratives, landscapes, vedute, botanical drawings, motifs copied from or inspired by classical antiquity, and designs for painted compositions.

Here’s what I think (if all my blogs were is a collection of press releases that people want me to mouth off on – I’d have nothing original to say – but that’s not who I am – and you’ll get my opinion and insights herein).

What’s interesting to me about the Italian Journey show is that it’s a collection created by an artist who is also well known for what he does – magazine illustrations – and in fact, many of David M. Tobey’s works are included in the show – and they are often as good as the masters’ he collected – amazing!

To be honest – I wonder h0w even David Tobey could afford to collect what he has – the selection is magnificent – the best drawings by pretty much – the best artists who drew well over the last 500 years or so.   This is a show to be returned to a few times.

Recently I was also at the Tamarind Art Gallery in Murray Hill for an opening called “His Story” that is running till July 24th, 2010.  According to the gallery notes:

Tamarind Art is proud to present “His Story” showcasing artist Hindol Brahmbhatt’s ‘painterly installations.’ Moving away from the narrative space of conventional realism (where time, space and subjects inhabiting pictorial space form a congruous whole); Hindol’s mixed media paintings can bring together in one frame, not only different times and spaces, but also elements from different cultures which have nothing in common with each other. To express this incongruity and chaos is actually an aim and significant formal device used in his story telling. To achieve this expression, artist incorporates a variety of mediums including digital photographs, torched wooden planks, etched plexiglass, japan ink, and acrylic on canvas. He takes inspiration from Renaissance art to pop culture to Asian pictorial traditions into his paintings giving viewers a new understanding about contemporary life and times. Beyond the visual appeal, the subject matter depicting the portraits of historical figures convey the idea that history has become a product, something to be displayed.

Was trying to decide just how much I liked/did not like this approach of mixing two types of materials together that normally don’t mech.   First of all, the paintings I’m told take a year to do each and part of it has to do with the woodworking – which I felt could have/should have been done via painting rather than adding the wood panels.

There is also a Plexiglas series of layers that do now show up in the photos of this Indian Artist.  Overall, I liked what I saw but I questioned the approach – the very thing I’m not allowed to question – as each artist is in control of what their approach is.

Finally, yesterday, July 1st, 2010 – there were a number of interesting openings including an exhibition that also featured the Astro Twins (who I briefly spoke with – as I sipped two glasses of Champagne) see SUMMER STARS WITH YOKO FURUSHO & THE ASTRO TWINS

- the Astro Twins were selling their dating book for woman looking to classify men based on their sign along with a summer forecast for each sign of the Zodiac – but they also overshadowed the art – while also driving a well attended and packed opening.   Actually, I had no real opinion about the art since I’m not up on Japanese stylization but I did feel the work had an audience here in NYC, I just wasn’t plugged into it – and probably did not want to be.

I also attended a show on the London Underground on Broadway that opened last night too which just happened to be live streamed to London – see http://www.ustream.tv/channel/underground-on-broadway

http://labellabling.com/2010/07/02/underground-on-broadway-soho/

I did not have much of an opinion on this show, and I wasn’t really aware of the London connection when I walked in – I think I would have liked it if that were a little more explicitly shown.  In fact, there was a second show of drawings on Pop-Up New York that I liked better – I think the drawing below will tell why:

Pop-Up NY

July 1st – 15th, 2010

I don’ pretend to understand why this show is happening – I don’t – but I really like the drawings – they are marvelous – even if I don’t understand all they are saying.

Finally – yes finally -here’s a drawing of mine from my last trip to London, Bath, Stonehenge and Torquay last spring – it’s a good friend of mine who goes under the identity of “Zee West” though that’s not her real name.

Yes, I’m still painting – just not as often.

I was at the Dream Hotel Penthouse on W.55th street for a private party and really liked what I saw.

The whole thing was arranged though a company called VIP Talent Connect that has been operating for the last 3 years as a conduit of aspiring actors, models, dancers and playwrights and Hollywood.

Got a surprise chance to listen to a Rock Concert featuring the son of Mick Jaguar – I took a few videos and put this one up, can’t say it’s the best as I didn’t hear anything all great last night but then again, my videos taken with the iPhone, was picking up a delay loop of a few microseconds that was throwing the sound off even more.

There’s also several art openings I’ve been to lately but haven’t had a chance to write about (yet).

I was at the Whitney Biennial earlier today an with the exception of a few works – I didn’t get much out of the experience.

I liked Pae White’s large mural/rug the best – and it was beautiful to look at close up as well as at a distance.  Here’s more information about the work above.

BORN 1963 IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
LIVES AND WORKS IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Ignoring traditional boundaries between the applied and fine arts, Pae White encourages viewers to take a deeper look at familiar encounters and ordinary objects. In 2006, White began creating tapestries with photographic images of crumpled aluminum foil and plumes of smoke. Still, Untitled, one of her most recent smoke tapestries, stages what White describes as the cotton’s “dream of becoming something other than itself” by contrasting an image of something immaterial with the physicality of fabric. This vision of an ephemeral moment suspended in space—the slight and fleeting unfurling of smoke monumentality in the heroic tradition of tapestries—transforms an everyday image into a seductive evocation of transience and longing.

I find the problem I often have with modern work is that it demands my attention yet often fails to give me a convincing reason why I should grant it.

The other problem with the Whitney Biennial work I saw today was the lack of any context or suggested way of viewing the works – on one hand – all this work is demanded of the viewer – to understand what is often not much more than scribblings of the artist – meanwhile – there’s no suggested approach to viewing the works, in general.

On another note Robert Scoble wrote a post today on how the iPad is changing Art and Music.   While the iPad painting application still aren’t as good as I’d like them to be, I would consider buying an iPad just for a sketchpad – see the movie below

I’m at an Art/Design opening tonight at 40 Walker Street in Tribecca as part of Design Week NYC – I stumbled upon this opening almost by accident, but am quite enjoying the choices of lighting and posters chosen.

O.Pad is at Opad.com and you can email Chris@opad.com or call 212-485-6190 if you want you want to see more.

Meanwhile – here’s some photos I took tonight at O.Pad’s opening.

Was at a private art opening of Laurent Dauptain tonight and had a really nice time meeting with the publicist and artist.

One of the things that strikes me in doing figurative work is that it is very hard to be original and fresh, especially with so many hundreds of years of portraits both seen and unseen.

Laurent managed to keep his work fresh and interesting when it could just as easily not been.

I felt really good being in frount of his work even as I wondered if anything might still be missing. Sipping some wine I flashed back to all the times I painted the familar and got stuck.

Usually I could work through bordum… But Laurant seems to have bypassed bordum all together – making his Paris street scenes look familar, yet fresh, new brushstrokes.

The self portraits bespeak someone who wanted a model, couldn’t find one, and chose himself, over and over.

Even as I stood there, sipping red wine, talking a nice publicist who was facinated with social media, I saw a painting being sold right before my eyes – it was a self portrait.

Laurent Dauptain’s show will run through May 29th
Axelle Fine Arts Galerie
535 W 25th St

A few months ago I did a post on New York Art when Sea Levels rise and mentioned MOMA’s show Rising Currents which is now showing.   Last night I was at the Museum of Modern Art and stumbled onto Rising Currents – turned out the it was near closing time but I managed to get a few minutes of this show on video as I walked around it.

As  I mentioned – the historical importance of this Rising Current show is probably not fully recognized now – but it’s one of the first truly relevant shows I’ve seen a modern museum, or for that matter, any museum put on lately.

I intended to go to a different event but thanks to the power of Social Media and FourSquare specifically – I ended up at the TASCHEN store in soho for the Roadside America booksigning – didn’t meet John Margolies, sorry to say.

I really enjoyed looking at John Margolies photo, they must have been taken right from the road, and over the last 25 years.

The book has 400 color photos of main street signs, gas stations, movie theaters, etc – all of it is captivating, and I found myself chuckling quite a lot as I looked, and looked … The drink I was given helped too.

Was thinking how different TACHEN is from PHIDON, they’re both art bookstores and located nearby each other.

Last week I was on the other side of the pond, spending 3 days in London, then traveling to Bath for a day (went to Stonehenge and Laycock on a tour), then off to Torquey and Exeter last weekend (with a visit to Cockington Manner in Torquey, along with a lot of local color that I took videos and photos of).

Figured I post some of what I saw – was sorry to miss John Evens, who actually publishes this New York City Art Blog (in Exeter, no less!) but we can only play with the cards we have – and I happened to be in Exeter on Easter Weekend, which included a  bank holiday – getting together with people you don’t often see (or not ever met) is often harder on bank holidays than other times.

Still I wanted to capture some of the local flavor of my very successful trip last week here.

The first two videos are the last I took – me and a few friends in a balloon above the bay of Torquay exactly a week ago.

The next video is the River Avon in Bath, UK, as I was passing over it – I got something in my eye that stopped me from filming more of it but like what I captured anyway.

I found Bath to be a nice place to stay and I wish I had more time there – well, maybe next trip – who knows.

The next 3 videos are  of  my trip to Stonehenge – which was quite special- see for yourself – but the sound is choppy as the wind was hitting my iphone and making it hard to hear what I was saying – it was special visiting this sacred place.

I will have more videos to put up shortly and I haven’t yet seen the footage from my conference sessions at Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp in London earlier last week – plus videos and pictures of Big Ben, the Tate, various other places I visited and things I was doing in Exeter and Torquay – I’ll get to that in a few days at time permits.

I may be attending this opening on Sustainability in a World of Consumption but in any case want to highlight the event.  I often get contacted by groups and artists telling me of their openings and I have been remiss in posting them often enough.  I had an excuse lately – traveling and being extremely busy with Social Media Analytics.  In fact, I was in Exeter, UK just last weekend, the very place this blog is hosted from – but missed connecting with the publisher of ArtNewYorkCity.com while I was there.

Sustainability in a World of Consumptionis  first exhibit claiming to explore the presence of excess exists in our day-to-day lives, but often hides behind masks of disposal systems, social acceptance, and misinformation.

You can also help  raise money for this organization by buying it’s art.

Art for Global Justice group seeks to use the power of art to create social change both locally and globally. Youth workshops, art exhibits, and an art exchange program will facilitate this movement towards seeing other perspectives and creating a more just world.

Information about  Excess and Environment: Sustainability in a World of Consumption

The presence of excess exists in our day-to-day lives, but often hides behind masks of disposal systems, social acceptance, and misinformation. This exhibit explores the idea of the impact of excess on our natural environment both visually and theoretically.

The art involved will relate to the effect of mass consumption and waste on the environment. All sales of art will benefit the non-profit organization, Art for Global Justice.

Opening:

Friday, April 16th 2010  7:00 pm to 11:00 pm  AE Studios LIC, 39-06 Crescent Street (off the corner of 39th Ave.) Long Island City, Queens, NY 11101 7, E, V, N, R, or W trains to Queensboro Plaza

Exhibit will be open by appointment from April 16th – April 23rd Free admission

Contact 212-537-5869 artforglobaljustice@gmail.com artforglobaljustice.org for more information

Artists showing work include Chris Jordan, Eve Mosher, Walter “Tinho” Nomura, Justin Gignac, Akirash, Mikal Hameed, Erwin Timmers, Paul Villinski, Joseph Heidecker, Tyrome Tripoli, Michael Yinger, Austin Shull, Olek, Chanika Svetvilas, Chris Sollars, Miles Wickham, Beau Stanton, Destroy and Rebuild, Christina Chobot, Laura Larocca, Trash Track, and more.

I went to see BARDO -  Tibetan Art of the Afterlife at the Rubin Museum of Art on a rainy Friday evening and really enjoyed the exhibition.   I suppose, since we’re all going to die eventually (hopefully not to soon) looking at the 6 states of consciousness or awareness had a meaning to me – as I expect, it could to many who view wonderful show.

.   Buddhists work to embrace impermanence throughout life. By familiarizing themselves with all forms of illusion during life, they can more easily overcome the death visions.

Bardo: Tibetan Art of the Afterlife will present about fifty works of art that illustrate the bardo experiences that confront one upon death. These works from throughout the Himalayan region include paintings and sculptures depicting peaceful and wrathful deities; initiation cards; illuminated manuscripts; a three-dimensional mandala inhabited by afterlife deities; and two shrine room models. Audio-visual devices will allow visitors to view Tibetan death-related ceremonies and rituals.

Every time I visit the Rubin Museum, which is fairly often these days, I’m puzzled by the names of deities and Buddhas that I can’t relate to or even translate into my daily existence – I think that the symbolism is both familiar and alien to me – but then something  popped into my head and it made more sense.

Here’s what I think it all means – at least – as much as I can contain now.

Buddhists believe we have several lives – and each is a manifestation of us – but in each life we are different yet alike – in other words, we are a different manifestation of the same essence and while the forms change – the essence is unchangeable – and beyond human understanding.   Every manifestation of the Buddha or Tara is another way to get to know them.

But why stop there?    Every day – and even in parts of our day – we are different people – we are all made up of many sides, some are seen more often and some are rarely or ever seen – aren’t these also “incarnations of us”.

What the Buddhist approach does  is enable us to contain all the different parts of us – into one container.

Now I understand how the Buddha can have so many aspects and names – they are all incarnations of the same principle – but different, as each incarnation is unique – just like each part of us – and each movement – has a uniqueness of it’s own.

I was at a book signing briefly tonight and, between the nice French soda and a few interesting photo books, spent longer than I planned.

A fun evening, about to leave now

I’m at Dr. Sketchy’s event @Roger Smith Solorium and quite enjoying the crowd and company.

There’s a party for SMartCamp, an all weekend Art and Technology event in NYC that I’m at right now.

I don’t write to ArtNewYorkCity enough – there are so many great events I’m invited to, but lately, I’ve focused on my Analytics work – and yet, at the source of Webmetricsguru.com is an artist.

Why? All the technology I review and use is meaningless without feeling – and in my own analytics work – I seek feeling, release and transformation- that’s Art.

Anyway, I’ll be attenting SmartCamp on Sunday to listen to a social media metrics panel – and I’ll write about it here.

I’m at an art opening tonight where I know one of the artists Lisa Lebofsky from a previous opening at BAG a few years ago.

Her work has evolved, take a look:

I’ve been busy and haven’t posted here as much as I should or want to – there’s so much going on in NYC with Art, but if anything, my focus lately has been on the analytics of Art.

Likely, I’ll be attending SmartCamp or as it is called, Social Media Art Camp the weekend after next at the Roger Smith Hotel here in NYC though I’m not sure I’ll attend all of it.

I suppose you can say, where does the Social Media and Web Analytics part end, and the Art begin – that’s a complicated question – but if you read my Webmetricsguru.com blog I’m combining information and synthesizing it in a way that is unique to me – and I consider that Art, as well.

As far as painting, I haven’t been – but do sketch, from time to time.  I’ll be posting a lot more here, shortly.

Was just at the Met a few days ago – but I had no idea as I passed by the Picasso’s that one of the Metropolitan’s  Picasso paintings was damaged last week by accident – appearently, this happens more often than one would have thought – and there is an article I linked to from the New York Times that describes what the museums do when this happens.

From left, Tullio Lombardo’s “Adam” before it was damaged and virtual images of restoration and of degrees of stress.

Based on all the information we’re hearing about Ice Glaciers melting in this century it’s a no brainer that eventually most of New York City will be underwater – perhaps, by the year 2100, if not before.

A four-foot rise in sea levels would cover more than 80 percent of the Northwest Palisade Bay/Hudson River area in the New Jersey area, including Liberty Park/Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, with water during high tide.

While I can understand that it is nightmare, politically speaking, to build dams around New York City, and lets face it, New Jersey and Connecticut will also be largely underwater – hardly anyone really wants to talk about the future – but that’s not exactly true – in fact, Artists and Architects are thinking about it and they have Re-Envisioned New York to Combat Sea-Level Rise

One team’s vision of a “New Aqueous City.” Image credit: nArchitects

The New York art institutions MoMA and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center are looking on the bright side of the down economy: “As in past economic recessions, construction has slowed dramatically in New York, and much of the city’s remarkable pool of architectural talent is available to focus on innovation.”

Too bad it’s going to take another 20 years before anyone takes all of this seriously – but if you wanted to take stimulus money and spend in on infrastructure – this would be a very good way to do it.

The problem is the sea level isn’t high enough yet to justify this kind of expenditure – but here’s what will likely happen when the sea level goes up by 4 feet or more this century – I guess “stuff happens”.

Map of project zones. Image credit: Guy Nordenson and Associates, Catherine Seavitt Studio, and Architecture Research Office with Lizzie Hodges, Marianne Koch, James Smith, and Michael Tantala

I’ll go and see this show when it opens as it’s of interest to me – sure, it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, most likely, but if your alive in 50 years or so – well …. you might need to think about where to live next.

I need to post more -  especially here -and as more people contact me to let me know about exciting things that are happening here in NYC in the Arts and Technology, I need to pass them on.

Well, here’s one that just came up recently called NYC Nights (at the Museum) – but not the haunted type that come alive at night – more like the types of places I like to go and often do go to on a weekday night – usually Fridays.

Here’s the list from the NYC Arts Website and my favorites are the Rubin Museum of Tibetan Art – I often go there and it’s a really fun place to hang out – especially on a Friday night.   Some of the other places listed on the NYC Arts page aren’t places I regularly go – but I might consider trying some them for a change, like One Step Beyond at the Museum of Natural History and Get Weird: Experimental and Freaky Jams at the New Museum.

However, I’ll say that I like the Metropolitan Museum and Rubin Museums the best to hang out and if you had to place a bet on where you’d find me on a Friday or Saturday night – and I’m at a Museum instead of somewhere else – it’d probably be one of those two places.

Of course, there are plenty of gallery openings as well – and sometimes, those are more fun, because your not sure what your actually going to end up seeing whereas, in a Museum, you usually know what you get – at least, I do.

1

MoMA Nights

Museum of Modern Art

ManhattanThurs, Jan 7, 2010 – Thurs, June 3, 2010

The museum stays open late on the first Thursday of each month. Visitors can stop by after hours to enjoy full access to the galleries and theaters, a DJ spinning dance tracks, a prix fixe dinner and cash bar, and more.  More

2

Free Fridays

Rubin Museum of Art

ManhattanOngoing

Every Friday evening, the museum offers free admission to its galleries as well as a full bar in the K2 Lounge (happy hour is 6-7 pm), ticketed soul and jazz music performances, and access to a classic film screening with any $7 purchase at the bar. More

3

First Fridays

Bronx Museum of the Arts

BronxOngoing

On the first Friday of every month, the museum offers free admission to a night of film, art, performance, music and other special programming. Previous First Fridays have featured local artists performing spoken word and hip-hop music, and dancing for all. More

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First Saturdays

Brooklyn Museum

BrooklynOngoing

A party atmosphere reigns on the first Saturday of the month at one of the country’s oldest and largest art museums. Patrons of all ages can view the world-renowned permanent collections and special exhibits or attend the evening’s events, which include films, performances and a dance party. More

5

One Step Beyond

American Museum of Natural History

ManhattanFri, Jan 8, 2010 – Fri, June 11, 2010

Not that the museum isn’t cool every day, but on one particular day—the second Friday of every month—natural history gives itself over to some highly-evolved partying. This after-hours event features music from live bands and guest DJs, dancing and, of course, cocktails. More

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Super Sábado! Target Free Third Saturdays

El Museo del Barrio

ManhattanOngoing

Once a month, El Museo opens its doors to everyone interested in exploring Latino culture. Through free concerts, exhibitions, gallery tours, art making workshops, walking tours, film screenings and spoken word recitals, Super Sábado showcases traditions, cultural expressions and the latest in Latino art. More

7

Get Weird: Experimental and Freaky Jams

New Museum of Contemporary Art

ManhattanOngoing

This monthly performance series features experimental music—anything from dusted-off salsa to psychedelic harmonies—performed on the third Thursday of every month by both unknown legends and young-gun mavericks. More

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Dancing with Darcy

Morgan Library & Museum

ManhattanFri, March 12, 2010

Museum goers are invited to travel back to Regency England for an evening of English country music and dancing in the Morgan’s Gilbert Court. More