BY LANCE ESPLUNDIn an age when artists such as Elizabeth

Peyton and Marlene Dumas, painters with virtually no drawing skills, are headlining our major museums, it may seem that drawing has devolved into whatever an artist wants it to be. For many contemporary painters, the act of drawing is no longer an arena in which mind and hand—through improvisa-tion, imagination and invention—lead to the discovery of formal values. In fact, a major part of the problem now is that formal values are often maligned as academic and outmod-ed, or they are seen as just another among so many equally valid positions an artist can take. During a recent studio visit, a success-ful European painter actually told me (and I think he believed this) he could draw well if he wanted to, but drawing badly was part of his chosen style.

To walk through Peyton’s recent midca-reer retrospective of slapdash and impersonal portraits of friends, celebrities and historical fi gures at the New Museum, or that of Dumas’ painterly, hyperbolic, photo-based monstrosi-ties at MoMA, is to be told in no uncertain terms that drawing well—composing form and interrelating parts into a uniquely coher-ent and expressive whole—is not important any longer to the act of picture-making. For Peyton and Dumas, drawing, not to mention painting, has very little to do with marshaling the twin forces of conception and form, and nurturing them to fruition as a work of art. Instead, drawing is merely the dead means to dead ends—a way of alluding to, as opposed to unearthing and reinventing (drawing forth from), the world.

Two exhibitions in the city right now re-mind us of just how rich and fruitful the act of drawing can be. Raphael to Renoir: Drawings From the Collection of Jean Bonna is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Thaw Collection of Master Drawings: Acquisitions Since 2002 is at the Morgan Library & Mu-seum. Together they comprise approximately 200 works on paper, dating from the 15th

century to the present.Not every work in these shows is a

masterpiece. They refl ect the uneven, catholic tastes of two very different but deep-pocketed collectors, Jean Bonna and Eugene Thaw, respectively. At times there is a sense that

these two men are out trophy hunting. But the great drawings in these shows far outnumber the dogs.

Both drawing exhibitions are top-shelf

Theater 4

MARCH 2009

Classical Music 6

Visual Art 11

Drawing MattersTwo New York exhibitions demonstrate the essential power of drawing

A ONE-MAN SHOW AT SOHO REP THAT PACKS A PUNCH.

CELEBRATING LORIN MAAZEL AND ANDRÉ PREVIN.

JAPAN SOCIETY GOES KRAZY! FOR MANGA.

Arts Agenda 14

GALLERIES, MUSEUMS, DANCE, THEATER AND MORE.

see DRAWING on page 10

CityArtsN Y C

New York’s Review of Culture www.cityartsny.info

Matisse’s portrait of his assistant Lydia, “Grand Fisase (Lydia)”

Opera 12

THE WOOSTER GROUP INTERPRETS LA DIDONE.Sc

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2 City Arts NYC

Letter from the EditorW

HEN I SPEAK TO MY friends and colleagues around the country, they all tell me that the fi rst thing to go are the

critics, the arts journalists, the writers who have dedicated themselves to cultivating and documenting culture in their communities. We have seen the same in New York City: Many of our dailies and weeklies have fi red music critics, gallery coverage has evaporated and you might as well forget about dance. When the New York Sun folded this past September after seven years of being in print, there were mixed feelings. While detractors cheered the fact that the unpopular politics of the editorial board would no longer have a pulpit, many mourned the loss of the culture pages. The daily coverage was a boon to those working at galleries, theaters, concert halls and elsewhere who were not receiving attention they de-served for their efforts. That’s what City Arts aims to do.

I was reminded of the gift our cultural in-stitutions offer when I visited the recently ren-ovated Alice Tully Hall on the Lincoln Center campus. This cultural epicenter supports so many of the “highbrow” arts but has long been raised on its plinth, away from the chaos of the city. With the thrilling new renovation of the once bunker-like space, Lincoln Center has fi nally decided to embrace the messiness of the street and invite people to loiter, lounge and luxuriate in its wonderful mission. Architects Diller Scofi dio + Renfro have managed to cre-ate one of the sexiest spaces imaginable to hear music and see fi lm. When I toured the hall, it was nearly impossible to not rub the curves and take pleasure in its new blush (I’m being literal here since the stage now has a subtle red glow when the house lights dim). But it’s not just the grand, established institutions that deserve our support and attention. It’s the small gallery owner who struggles to pay the rent each month, while promoting exciting new painters, sculptors and conceptual artists. We mustn’t forget the jazz performers sweating as they strum uptown as well as downtown. Or the small theater that relies upon donations to pay the electric bill.

That is why we at Manhattan Media have taken the bold step of crafting a new publica-tion dedicated to the arts. City Arts has the tagline “New York’s Review of Culture,” and as such, it will supplement the excellent coverage of fi lm, popular music and perform-ing arts that are already in the New York Press, Our Town and West Side Spirit on a weekly basis. At the beginning of each month, we will offer additional coverage of classical music, galleries, museums, jazz, dance, opera and books. The publication will be available in

these three newspapers and can be found at galleries and cultural institutions throughout the boroughs. To aid us in this task, we have recruited several writers from the defunct Sun culture pages.

Our cover story for this inaugural issue is an excellent piece by former Sun writer and editor Lance Esplund, our senior art critic, that examines two drawing shows: Raphael to Renoir at the Met and The Thaw Collection of Master Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum. He confi rms why drawing matters more than ever—and why you shouldn’t feel compelled to love the over-hyped Elizabeth Peyton and Marlene Dumas. That’s followed by our senior music critic Jay Nordlinger cel-ebrating the careers of Lorin Maazel, the New York Philharmonic’s longtime music director, and conductor and composer André Previn, who is celebrating his 80th birthday with a series of concerts at Carnegie Hall. We also have a piece by Brice Brown, another former Sun writer, on KRAZY!, the Japan Society’s uncommonly rowdy show presenting anime, manga and videogames that is sure to surprise

many unsuspecting visitors who are accus-tomed to the typically tranquil space.

But our stable also includes an exciting roster of established and emerging writers as well. Jazz journalist Howard Mandel, who recently published Miles Ornette Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz, gives a roundup of his March musts in his column that includes Dee Dee Bridgewater and Philip Glass. Mark Blan-kenship checks in with Nature Theater of Oklahoma, known for epic productions, to see if its latest, the one-man Rambo Solo at Soho Rep, is an aberration or part of a larger plan for the dynamic company. And Ryan Tracy, who wants to extinguish people’s fear of opera, discusses Wooster Group’s new opera piece La Didone, which he calls “revolutionary.” With the Armory, SCOPE, Pulse and other art fairs just in town, many are wondering what the future of the art market will bring, so each month Marion Maneker will check in on the unpredictable scene with Art Market Monitor.

Next month will offer even more: expect stories by Joel Lobenthal, our senior dance

critic, on the New York City Ballet’s annual two-month spring season, and book critic Adam Kirsch will also join the fold. Plus, we’ll offer a preview of the Tribeca Film Festival and all it has to offer, along with more articles and criticism from our other exceptional writ-ers.

An undeniable “arts gap” exists in today’s media. Despite a downturn in the economy, we must not lose our commitment to support-ing musicians, artists, composers, conduc-tors, dancers, actors and, of course, writers because it is these very generators that we turn to in both fl ush and tricky times to inspire us, motivate us and remind us our incredible potential as human beings. But we’ll also need your help, so please join us and contact us at cityarts@manhattanmedia.com to let us know what else our great city has to offer.

Thanks for reading,

Jerry PortwoodEditorjportwood@manhattanmedia.com

The new Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center invites the public to come in and enjoy the space.

March 2009 3

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4 City Arts NYC

One-Act Action Downtown theater troupe Nature Theater of Oklahoma brings Rambo to the stage

BY MARK BLANKENSHIPAt fi rst, Rambo Solo sounds too normal

to be a Nature Theater of Oklahoma show. The downtown theater troupe’s latest play features one actor telling one story (the plot of the movie First Blood), and it’s only one act long. It’s even performed in a theater—Soho Rep, beginning March 19—and not at some abandoned playground.

That could shock fans of the company’s most recent New York productions. Nature Theater, whose name comes from Kafka’s novel Amerika, earned universal praise in late 2007 for No Dice, a three-and-a-half-hour blend of slapstick comedy and performance art that was staged in a former indoor playground on White Street.

The play felt massive, not only because of its hefty running time and cavernous location, but also because it demanded we recognize the poetry in everyday speech. The text was transcribed from actual phone calls, and as the actors recited countless “ums” and “y’knows,” they spoke in outré accents and used ridicu-lous gestures. By the fi nal moments, the pro-duction had proved that throwaway words can be beautiful if they’re framed the right way.

There was a similar scope to Poetics: A Ballet Brut, which ran as part of 2008’s Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater. The audience was disjointed because it sat on onstage bleachers, facing the auditorium. The seats gave a breathtaking perspective on a dance that started with just four people, then expanded to a massive group that suddenly fi lled the theater aisle. As No Dice did with throwaway phrases, Poetics changed the context of tiny movements and showed they could be grand.

So is Rambo Solo an aberration? Can a one-man show about a guy describing one of his favorite movies possibly have the same aspirations as these earlier works?

Well, yes. Rambo Solo is a thoughtfully planned extension of some of Nature Theater’s defi ning traits.

For one, it’s part of a quartet of shows that explore how we use language. As with No Dice, the script comes from a recorded phone conversation, but this time with company member Zachary Oberzan as he recites the plot of First Blood from memory. Crucially, Oberzan didn’t know beforehand what he’d be talking about. “I wanted to record his raw memory of the fi lm,” says company co-founder Pavel

Liska. “It wouldn’t have worked if he’d had time to read up.”

“Raw memories” were important because Rambo Solo examines how we internalize narratives and then change them to suit our needs. “Everyone has that kind of story that forms them, and we wanted people to think, ‘What is your story that makes you who you are?’” Liska explains. “I knew of Zack’s obses-sion with that particular story. The fact that it’s

the Rambo story is not as important as how it functions in his life.”

To that end, the script includes Oberzan’s random tangents and his many digressions from the actual plot of First Blood. Enhancing the personal element, the play was initially staged in his apartment. Most of his move-ments were blocked around his furniture, so even though the stage is mostly empty while he performs, the ghost of his home survives.

Oberzan’s apartment is a key to how Rambo Solo complicates its “one guy talking”

premise. Liska prefers to keep the de-tails private, but he does mention that sound and video elements are involved. “It multiplies the idea that stories have different versions, even when we think we know them well. It also deals with the unpredictability of live perfor-mance,” he says.

Sarah Benson, artistic director of Soho Rep, likes that Nature Theater thwarts expectations of structure and form. She says, “They’re exposing the guts of the [play], and they really em-brace the artifi ce of what we do. It lets

them create a more charged environment that helps the audience pay closer attention.

And in Rambo Solo—which is rooted in a Sly Stallone action movie, after all—she sees another critical element that sets Nature The-ater apart from so many sternly experimental downtown companies. “It’s so rigorous, but it’s also really entertaining,” she says. “They have so much fun with their work, and they invite the audience to join them in that.”

Perhaps Nature Theater shows are so much fun because Liska and co-founder Kelly Copper create them with a sense of discovery. When they started the year-plus process of shaping Rambo Solo, for instance, they only had a vague notion about wanting to make a solo show. “We always try to do something that we don’t know how to do in advance,” Copper says. “We go in having no idea, and then we use the rehearsal to discover what we’re doing. It’s a great way to work, having a lot of questions instead of a lot of answers.”

Rambo Solo, Mar. 19-April 12, Soho Rep, 46 Walker St. (betw. Broadway & Church St.), 212-352-3101; Wed.-Sat. 7:30 (no Fri. shows), 99 cents-$35.

THEATER

Zachary Oberzan in Nature Theater of Oklahoma’s Rambo Solo.

So is Rambo Solo an aberration? Can a one-man show about a

guy describing one of his favorite movies possibly have

the same aspirations as Nature Theater’s earlier works?

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March 2009 5

Maximalist to MinimalistMarch promises a lineup of jazz and more (Philip Glass with a kora master!) that shouldn’t be missed

BY HOWARD MANDEL

Engagement, excitement, enlightenment, entertainment and enrichment: That’s what we seek in musical experience.

And despite doomsayers’ implications to the contrary, New York City remains the best place on earth to fi nd that in abundant variety, night after night. The coming month offers a slew of promising performances; the following suggestions are but a few that shouldn’t be missed. A show for every taste, that’s the goal.

In an age when everyone wants to be an American idol, Dee Dee Bridgewater is the diva supreme. Less of a household name than she should be because she’s lived in Paris since 1986, Bridgewater and her band appear at Zankel Hall on March 18 as part of Honor! A Celebration of the African Ameri-can Cultural Legacy, the city-wide series of events running through March 23, curated by soprano Jessye Norman.

Bridgewater has it all: glorious voice, dramatic presence and command of broad repertoire, having debuted with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra in the 1970s, co-starring on Broadway in The Wiz and Sophisticated Ladies and covering songs of Ellington, Weill, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald in her dozen-plus albums. On her most recent CD, Red Earth—A Malian Journey, she embraces West African music as a vibrant resource. At Zankel she’ll sing that material as well as songs with a Latin tinge. I’ve heard her twice in the past six months, and she’s thrilled crowds both times, as I’m sure she will again.

On March 24 at City Winery, West Africa and modernism will strike a different balance, as composer Philip Glass performs with Mandin-go griot Foday Musa Suso. If you can’t imag-ine how the master of “repetitive structures” (aka minimalism) might sound with a cham-pion of the kora, a 21-stringed calabash harp, remember that Glass has implanted his signature melodic cells into operas, fi lm soundtracks, pop songs, symphonies and all manner of chamber music. He’s previously worked with Suso on a production of Jean Genet’s The Screens and a concert celebrating the Dalai Lama. Expect hypnotic sounds, stately, peaceful and mysteri-ous. Glass collaborates with punk-rock queen Patti Smith in homage to the late Allen Gins-berg at City Winery on April 5.

The ultimate maximalist pianist Cecil Taylor—a musician who has defi ed every

assumed limit of form, technique and tradition since the mid-1950s—performs a solo concert at Merkin Hall on March 28. As Taylor usu-ally revels in lengthy, dense improvisations, bringing the unique musical vocabulary he’s developed over decades to ever more refi ned heights, his solos are certainly the easiest in-troductions to his music, and they often prove most rewarding for afi cionados of his amazing touch and complex mind. Turning 80 this month, Taylor has recently been interspers-ing quiet, lyrical passages into his torrentially energetic outbursts. His music is challenging, no doubt about it, but the effort of listening deeply to the ideas he spins and juggles can open one’s mind and change one’s life.

In the clubs: Hank Jones and Frank Wess exude elegance at Iridium, March 11-15. Noble Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava and pianist Stefano Bollani meet drummer-of-surprises Paul Motian at Birdland, March 25-28. Alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, who conjures ephemeral abstractions of American standards, returns from his home in Koln to play at the Jazz Gallery March 11, the Harlem restaurant Creole, March 20-21 and the Vil-lage Vanguard March 31-April 5. For grittier fare, guitarist John Scofi eld brings New Orleans funkateers to B.B. King Blues Club April 5. Then it’s time to start all over again.

Read Howard Mandel’s blog at www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz

JAZZ

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Phi

lippe

Pie

rang

elli

Wednesday - Friday 10am - 5pm; Saturday & Sunday 11am - 6pm200 Eastern Parkway (adjacent to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden)

Subway: to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum, or take to Nevins St and transfer to

6 City Arts NYC

Lorin Maazel will be 80 next year, and out of the

Philharmonic, but anybody who can conduct this way should not even

think of a rocking chair.

The Wunderkind Hasn’t Wound DownCelebrating Lorin Maazel’s continued genius; André Previn prolongs his exceptional versatility as well

BY JAY NORDLINGERAt the New York Philharmonic, Lorin

Maazel is winding down his tenure as music director. He joined the orchestra in 2002, 60 years after he fi rst conducted that body. Maa-zel was 12. There are very few child prodigies who conduct, rather than, say, play the violin. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to name one other than Maazel.

Next season, he will hand the reins over to Alan Gilbert, who is in his early forties. The son of two Philharmonic violinists—one for-mer, one current—he is what they call a “good Philharmonic story.” Whether he proves a suitable conductor for this major orchestra is a different story.

The Philharmonic’s usual home is Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, but, recently, they spent two consecutive nights in a bet-ter venue: Carnegie Hall. There, Maazel conducted works with which he has long been associated. Of course, when you’ve been conducting for as long as he has—and as wide-rangingly—you’re associated with quite a few.

He is wide-ranging indeed: a man without specialty, a musician at home in all genres. He is as much a Mozart conductor as he is a Wagner conductor. In other words, he is a real—a complete—conductor. But he is per-haps especially good with Ravel. In fact, along with André Previn, he may be the best Ravel conductor we have. And his fi rst program in Carnegie Hall consisted of two works by that composer.

The fi rst was the short opera, or “lyric fantasy,” L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Spells). Ned Rorem, one of our local composers, will tell you that this is just about the greatest thing ever composed. Whatever the case, it is a clear masterpiece. And Maazel can do it brilliantly.

On this occasion, however, he was in one of his moods—a little out of sorts. He was stern, blunt and not entirely engaged. He did not commit a failure: He gave Ravel’s score some of its wacki-ness, some of its perversity. And he kept the train on the track. But he can put more fi zz and magic in L’enfant—as he proved only two seasons ago in Avery Fisher Hall.

On the second half of his Carnegie pro-gram, he conducted Daphnis et Chloé—not a suite from it, but the whole ballet. And here he was on top of his game: fully engaged, not annoyed or distracted (as he’d seemed in L’enfant). His Daphnis was taut, muscular and

sweeping. He did not try to be too “French”: The score was not self-consciously delicate or shimmering. It simply unfolded. The music was transparent where it needed to be, and more lush where that was appropriate.

And Maazel knows the value of Gallic coolness. He also knows the value of hot—sort of a cool-hot.

As for the orchestra, it was able to show its dazzling virtuosity—a virtuosity that does not show up every night. The principal horn suf-fered, and badly. But that is the lot of horns, a lot of them.

The next night, Maazel began with a piece by Samuel Barber: his Overture to The School for Scandal. This piece is not actually an overture to anything; it’s just an orchestral piece. But an excellent piece it is. And Maa-zel and the Philharmonic gave it the treatment it deserves: They were precise, fresh and yawping—all-American.

They soon got more American, with Ger-shwin’s Piano Concerto in F. For my money, Maazel is the best Gershwin conductor in the world, along with André Previn. (Unwittingly, I have developed a theme.) What qualities are highly desirable in Gershwin? For that matter, what qualities are highly desirable in Ravel? Urbanity, for one thing. And Maazel and Previn both have that in spades.

Under Maazel’s baton, the opening of the concerto had total swing. And as he contin-ued, he let the music snap and purr. At various points in the piece, he imposed his “Maa-zelisms”: that is, he overmanaged ritardandi and so on. And the second movement was a little slow and overmilked—more woozy than strictly necessary.

Still, Maazel knows his Gershwin. And he’s liable to inject some Gershwin into other scores—I mean, non-Gershwin ones. I once heard him do this in the Verdi Requiem, I swear.

Obviously, you can’t have a Concerto in F without a soloist, without a pianist—and Maazel’s was Jean-Yves Thibaudet, another

man who knows his Gershwin (and his Ravel, by the way). There has long been an affi nity between Frenchmen and jazz, and Frenchmen and Gershwin, specifi cally. You remember those recordings by Philippe Entremont? And did not Gershwin write something called An American in Paris?

Thibaudet did many admirable things in the concerto, including pearly runs. Also, he brings touches of Impressionism to this music, to satisfying effect. But, repeatedly, Thibaudet rushed. He was not just fast; he was rushing.

Not only was he out of synch with Maazel and the orchestra; he was unmusical, which is not like Thibaudet, at all.

Maazel ended this concert with Stravinsky’s shocker from 1913, The Rite of Spring. This is a conductor’s piece, and a conductor with the chops can eat it up. Maazel did. The work was exciting, suspenseful and throttling, as you would expect it to be. But it also had its dreami-ness and mystery—Maazel did not bull his way through. He conducted with both the maturity of age and the eagerness of someone simply thrilled by music.Maazel will be 80 next year, and out of the

Philharmonic, but anybody who can conduct this way should not even think of a rocking chair.

I mentioned André Previn already, and he himself is 80, and celebrating that milestone with a variety of concerts at Carnegie Hall. Ten years ago, I wrote a piece suggesting that

Previn was “the great man of music in the world today.” Why? His exceptional versatil-ity. He is a pianist, conductor and composer. But his versatility goes beyond that—because he can do just about anything in all three of those capacities.

Plus, he’s a graceful, seemingly effortless prose-writer, which is borderline unfair.

He sat down to a concert of jazz, playing the piano alongside a favorite partner, the bassist David Finck. In 2000, they made a recording called Live at the Jazz Standard. That would be the club on East 27th Street, downstairs from that wonderful restaurant, Blue Smoke. And do you own their record-ings of Kern and Arlen with Sylvia McNair (the soprano)? You will want to.

Previn has lived with this music—the American songbook, basically—for a very long time. It was with plain affection that he picked out, for example, “Lady Be Good.” When did he fi rst play this song? It was before 1940, I bet. You might ask whether Previn’s jazz has become a little autumnal. The answer is yes. But he has always been “old-souled,” which is perhaps a way of saying that he is refi ned, tasteful and knowing.

He and Finck ended their evening with a complicated yet direct “I’ve Got Rhythm.” Previn was almost the defi nition of jazzy savoir-faire. My mother e-mailed me, “André Previn’s 80? A week ago, he was 30.” Yes, he’s 80—and still just about the coolest person alive.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Lorin Maazel with members of the Philharmonic.L

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March 2009 7

8 City Arts NYC

Lensing Lost InnocenceIndian artist Sunil Gupta imagines childhood in a moving group photography exhibit

BY KRISTEN V. BROWN

It feels like someone is watching us as I sit in the living room of photographer Sunil Gupta’s South Delhi retreat. Then the realization dawns that someone (or

something) is watching. We are indeed the focal point of multiple pairs of eyes, peering out intrusively from the glossy framed photo-graphs that adorn the dimly lit walls. I squirm awkwardly, but like the stalking gaze of the Mona Lisa, the confrontation is unavoidable.

These images on Gupta’s white-walled abode are the undeniably assaulting photos from his latest body of work, Mr. Malhotra’s Party. The pictures, which immortalize the confrontational stares of the gay men and women of India’s capital, are the sort of uncomfortable works of creativity usually reserved for modern art galleries. Decidedly not the sort of mild-mannered landscape por-traits you’d expect in an otherwise modestly furnished house.

Then again, Gupta’s personal living space has evolved into a sort of art gallery-cum-dis-cussion forum. Friends describe it as the kind of place where art lovers as well as the movers and shakers of certain well-known social movements are frequently visiting.

“He doesn’t separate himself from what we call issues, but for him it is his real living space. He takes everything out on the streets, he doesn’t have a private [life],” explains

Radhika Singh. She is a long-time friend who has curated many of Gupta’s exhibitions, in-cluding his fi rst in India, where homosexual-ity was—and still is—against the law, making Gupta an accidental crusader for an Indian

gay rights movement long overdue.But Gupta’s inclusion in the Sepia Gallery

exhibition, The Intimate Line, in Chelsea steers him away from his habitual themes—gay identity and sexuality—to grapple with

AIDS, a subject familiar to his work (Gupta is also HIV positive) and another one more unfamiliar, childhood. Gupta’s works, titled Imagining Childhood, is part of a group exhibition that opened March 5 and features photographs by Elinor Carucci, Angelika Sher and a video installation by Amy Jenkins.

It also places Gupta’s work back in the context of the city where he fi rst stepped behind the lens, photographing the gay lifestyles of the West Village as a student at The New School. Since then, Gupta has become an internationally renowned chroni-cler of an otherwise underground gay India.

In Imagining Childhood, however, Gupta steps outside his realm to document the lives of children living with AIDS at the NAZ Center in New Delhi. Gupta’s images, which are innocent and personal rather than pain-ful focus on the details of childhood: toys, clothing, afternoon naps. And in many ways, the images are a continuation of the larger

trend of Gupta’s work: documenting his own personal wisdom.

“Childhood isn’t sexual; you’re not gay as a child,” says Gupta, who at 55 has a silver coif but remains youthful. “So in some ways, my own childhood… you can’t really deal with

it because it’s unspeakable. Capturing these kids, who share my disease, gave me a way of looking at my own childhood. That appeals to me.”

Gupta sees modern-day New York as the perfect context for his exhibition. “I think this particular body of work belongs in New York right now, partly because the India thing

ART

“Untitled #2” included in the Sepia Gallery exhibition, The Intimate Line.

“At a very basic level, gay men in India do not

have an image. Literally,” Sunil Gupta explains.

Untitled #8 from Gupta’s Imagining Childhood series.

March 2009 9

became fashionable over the past year and a half, and partly because the HIV-Aids thing has a great resonance in New York.”

Esa Epstein, the director of the Sepia Gallery, fi rst met Gupta 10 years ago. She says what fi rst attracted her to Gupta’s work was not just the content, but also the sheer power of his compositions.

“I think that at terms of the images, the compositions and the color are very strong,” she says of their second exhibition together. “They’re just very poignant images. ”

History, however, and not aesthetics, is what really draws Gupta to photography. Documenting history is what fi rst inspired Gupta to take photographs, as a Canadian-born, New York-educated man who couldn’t really fi nd a space for himself amongst his traditional Indian family. (Gupta says when he came out to his parents, they asked if he would still be getting married.)

There are at least 2.5 million male

homosexuals in India according to National AIDS Control Organization estimation. Yet Gupta notes that maybe 10 percent of his gay acquaintances in India are “out,” even within the gay collective he is a member of, Nagah. “That’s why you only see me and three others talking about gay issues in the media,” says Gupta. “No one else wants to publicly admit it.”

“At a very basic level, gay men in India do not have an image. Literally,” Gupta explains. “So at a very basic level photography has a big role to play in providing us with an image of ourselves. And as a maker of photographs I just see it as my role to make pictures that people can relate to.”

The Intimate Line, group exhibition of works by Elinor Carucci, Angelika Sher, Sunil Gupta and Amy Jenkins, through April 18, Sepia Gallery, 148 W. 24th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.), 212-645-9444.

Go Global, Think LocalUpper East Side Asian art dealers collaborate to introduce a new, joint exhibition series

The cancellation of the annual Inter-national Asian Art Fair, which was scheduled to take place March 11-15

at the Park Avenue Armory, didn’t stop 16 Upper East Side art dealers from banding together to exhibit their collections. Known as the Asian Art Dealers of the Upper Eastside New York (AADUENY), the galleries—including the Chinese Porce-lain Company, M. Sutherland Fine Arts, Subhash Kapoor, Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art and Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gal-lery—are working together to present the inaugural Asian Art Exhibition Series.

The event aims to present an alternative and expanded format from the cancelled event, with coordinated openings, recep-tions and artist talks. Exhibits include diverse mediums: painting, ceramics, photography, calligraphy, metalwork, lacquer, tile, textiles, prints and sculpture with works spanning more than 4,000 years, from ancient to contemporary.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for sophisticated and new collectors alike, as well as general art enthusiasts to visit and learn from many of the world’s top dealers in Asian art in a more intimate setting,” said Joan Mirviss and Jiyoung Koo, the co-organizers of AADEUNY.

The open house takes place March 14 from noon to 8 p.m., and organizers guarantee “museum-level” art exhibitions. These exhibitions are on view in the affi liated galleries as well as in other locations throughout the Upper East Side during Asia Week in March.

As opposed to frenzied and more hectic auctions and fairs, the AADUENY hopes to offer a more intimate environment without timing pressures. Each of the dealers involved is experienced with Asian art, with expertise ranging from Chinese, Indian, Himalayan, Southeast Asian, Japanese, Korean and Middle Eastern art.

“Despite the current economic climate,” says Koo, “the Asian art market remains strong and vital on the global stage.”

— Stephanie LeeFor complete details visit www.aadueny.com

“Standards of Beauty” by Yang Mian, one of M. Sutherland Fine Arts contri-butions to the exhibition series.

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Stephanie and Fred Shuman Fund for Encores!

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Gallery Selections Celebrating Ten YearsMarch 14 - May 1

Chang-an Street by Zhang Jian (79 x 51”) Oil on canvas

10 City Arts NYC

showcases arranged chronologically. They include portraits, mythological and religious scenes, landscapes, animals, botanicals and, at the Morgan, a beautiful yin-yang abstraction by Ellsworth Kelly, in which an arcing black triangle torques against a triangle of white.

Raphael to Renoir, organized by George Goldner, chairman of the Met’s drawings and prints department, hits its crescendo with a ghostly, black conté crayon drawing of a standing woman by Georges Seurat, and a grouping of Odilon Redon charcoals and pastels. Here, as well as at the Morgan, Redon treats drawing as a way to delve deeper into the mystery of his subjects: Spring, with hair of leaves and branches, personifi ed; a child with ethereal skin and piercing, sapphire-blue eyes; a sailing boat under a fl ower garden-colored sky. At the Morgan, Redon is represented by the charcoal drawing “Reading Centaur,” in which the open book is the drawing’s light source, and in which the book’s contents have seemingly

stopped the centaur, whose hind legs are still at a full gallop, dead in his tracks. For Redon, drawing is a form of incantation—an act of prayer. In these works, it’s as if he had sum-moned to the page both light and form.

At the Morgan, we experience a similar journey taken by Joseph Cornell, in the small collage “Untitled” (c. 1958-60), in which a

Victorian interior collides with a mountain view. In it, a porcelain Cupid, standing on a marble mantelpiece, welcomes incoming birds. Looking at the collage, which is dominated by a gorgeous range of deep blues, is like being submerged in a dream.

The Met’s show, containing 120 European works, is not only larger than the Morgan’s ex-hibit—which is part of a promised gift to the museum—it is also of higher quality overall and more consistent. Here we encounter mas-terful, late, sturdy pastel portraits by Chardin; a Holy Family, in which every form fl utters like windblown foliage, by Parmigianino; a breathtaking sheet of three views of a woman’s head, by Watteau; as well as masterpieces by Fragonard, Gericault, Delacroix, van Gogh, Renoir, Goya and Cézanne. One of the knockouts is Raphael’s red-chalk draw-ing, “Study of Soldiers in ‘The Conversion of Saul’” (c. 1515-16). The drawing, deservedly on the catalogue cover, is a true tour de force. Its three fi gures roll—gracefully glide—across the page, as if they had taken fl ight.

Yet the Morgan’s show, the fi fth in a series of Thaw’s drawing collection since 1975, includes works made in the last decade and covers a wider approach to the act of draw-ing. Organized by Rhoda Eitel-Porter, the Morgan’s Charles W. Engelhard curator and the head of the museum’s drawings and prints department, it is also far more unpredictable.

Among the standouts at the Morgan, besides the Redon, is an ink and gouache drawing of three men resting in the landscape, by Alessandro Magnasco. The Genoese painter Magnasco (1667-1749) is rightly famous for his elaborate and fantastical, sepia-toned paintings of monks going about their business in the monastery, as well as scenes of torture at the hands of the Inquisition. (It is high time we had a retrospective of this master.) Magnasco’s hand, which moves like a whip, is rubbery and lithe. His elongated forms snake, twist and unfurl, as if every limb had numerous joints. In the Morgan’s drawing, one man plays a fl ute, his fi ngers fl uttering like humming bird’s wings.

Also at the Morgan are a suite of beautiful Ingres drawings; a vibrating, crosshatched ink drawing of a skull, by Jacques Villon; a large, late, thick-ink-lined portrait of his assistant, Lydia, as sturdy as a house, by Matisse; as well as a Cubist chalk drawing by Juan Gris,

“Man With Opera Hat” (1912), that, infi nitely stacking and unfolding, feels like a wedding cake had merged with a nest of boxes.

For the classicists Ellsworth Kelly, Raphael and Ingres, who makes a strong showing at both museums, drawing is about precision—even, according to Ingres, “honor.” Ingres’s crystalline line enfolds as it reveals and distorts form. For Gris, who, like any artist worth his salt, is also precise, drawing is about accretion. For the German poet and novelist Goethe,

whose extremely accomplished ink drawing, of a tree and a man overlooking the bay of Naples, is at the Morgan, drawing becomes a way of interpreting and gathering information about the world—committing the rhythms of surf and windblown leaves, as well as the

magical light of sunset, to paper.These two exhibitions remind us that

drawing is still as vital an endeavor as it ever was—as important and essential to Raphael as it is to Ellsworth Kelly. They make it clear that drawing, far from a mere exercise or a means to an end, is immediate, physical and dynamic, full of raw discovery—as unique and various as the artists themselves. The shows also demonstrate that drawing is not mimetic, but, rather, a very expressive, poetic, and per-sonal, often virtuosic, act—an improvisational performance in which an artist can sharpen awareness, as he gets directly to the heart of the matter.

“Raphael to Renoir” through April 26, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave. (at E. 82nd St.), 212-535-7710.

“Master Drawings” through May 3, The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Ave. (betw. E. 36th & E. 37th Sts.), 212-685-0008.

DRAWING continued from page 1

At times there is a sense that these two men, Jean Bonna

and Eugene Thaw, are out trophy hunting. But the great

drawings in these shows far outnumber the dogs.

Ligozzi’s “Portrait of the Sultan Selim”

Odilon Redon’s “Reading Centaur”

Parmigianino’s “The Holy Family”Sc

hect

er L

ee

March 2009 11

Krazy in LoveThe serene environment of the Japan Society is awash in the frenetic designs and colors of manga and anime

BY BRICE BROWN

The infl uence of Japanese manga, video games and anime on contemporary Western art is pervasive, and most people have at least a basic familiarity with the main stylistic traits defi ning these singular art forms: fl at, bright colors; large, almond-eyed fi gures with full-moon faces; fantastical environments and, of course, a fetish for the overly cute. Perhaps because the majority of these works have been stereotyped as lowbrow throwaway entertain-ment, or confi ned to a clubby youth culture, their truly diverse and often poetic range, brazen manipulation of visual language and alien sense of beauty are often overlooked.

That’s all about to change, as The Japan Society has put on view approximately 200 prime examples of manga, anime, video games and related ephemera for KRAZY!, a Japa-nese-artist-only condensed version of a larger exhibition presented last year at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada. The show is sure to impress beyond those obsessive otaku kids eagerly awaiting the new Dragonball live-ac-

tion fi lm.Famed Japanese architects Atelier Bow

Wow designed the overall installation of the exhibition to “evoke Tokyo’s clamorous cityscape” by bathing the viewer in a con-tinuous stream of shifting visual information. It works, and is also a smart physical rein-forcement of the total immersion experience demanded by the manga, anime and video gaming genres. From the text-turned-sculpture “Manga Pod” to the listening chamber playing looped anime soundtracks by Yoko Kanno, stimulation overload is the rule.

Despite an affi nity for visual and narrative pyrotechnics, much of the work on view is also infl uenced by the nuanced contempla-tion associated with more traditional Japanese aesthetics. This is particularly apparent in the manga of Yuichi Yokoyama. His “New Engineering” (2004) is composed of highly syncopated black and white geometric forms presented in a shattered space on the page. The narrative follows machines hard at

ART

Takashi Okazaki’s “Afro Samurai,” currently at The Japan Society.

see KRAZY on page 18

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12 City Arts NYC

Where No Opera Has Gone BeforeThe Wooster Group plays it straight but still gives Cavalli’s Baroque epic a twist

BY RYAN TRACY

After over 30 years of voyaging into for-bidden territory, the Wooster Group, New York City’s cornerstone avant-garde theater company, is fi nally ready

to venture into a new and alien universe: opera.Its latest work, La Didone, opening at St.

Ann’s Warehouse March 17 (after having pre-miered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007), is a resuscitation of Francesco Cavalli’s Baroque epic that surrounds the Greek love tragedy of Dido and Aeneas. True to form, Elizabeth LeCompte and her rock-star thespians have added their own special twist, colliding the musical work with “Terrore nello spazio,” Ma-rio Bava’s 1965 Italian sci-fi horror fl ick about a spaceship crew that becomes marooned on a planet of zombies. Awesome.

But the big story here is that, despite the group’s history of keeping narratives and tradi-tional scripts at arm’s length, with La Didone, Wooster seems prepared…to do something straight. Or, as straight as the Wooster Group could do anything.

In strictly musical terms, the opera is be-ing performed pretty much as written, if not always as expected.

“It all boils down to two lines,” says music director Bruce Odland, referring to a facsimile of Cavalli’s hand-written basso continuo score consisting of vocal parts written over a single bass line (pop and jazz musicians, think lead sheet), which the entire ensemble of actors, singers and instrumentalists learned and real-ized together to create the music. “We’re being completely true to his score.” Well, mostly.

To keep the work manageable (the original opera lasts about four hours), the company has lopped off the fi rst half of the libretto, fast forwarding past the sack of Troy, and picking up when Aeneas’ ship and crew crash land into Dido’s Carthage (already, the pairing of the sci-fi fl ick and La Didone seems incredibly auspicious).

And to the otherwise Baroque instrumental ensemble, which includes the theorbo (a guitar-like instrument specifi cally invented to accompany early opera), Odland has added an electric guitar “to add breath.”

But traditional opera fans need not panic. While the superimposition of new technol-ogy, the sci-fi movie (including costumes, blocking and sound bites) and the multi-layer-ing of stage action (actors often pose and lip sync while opera singers are performing), the Wooster Group isn’t intending either to mock or to comment on the opera, as some critics

have accused director Mary Zimmerman of doing in her recent production of Bellini’s La Sonambula for the Metropolitan Opera (which was soundly booed at curtain).

“This isn’t a send-up,” Odland assures. “And we aren’t trying to represent culture. We’re performing it as an emerging art form. We’re inhabiting it. We’re doing the play.”

This would explain the strict adherence to the musical score, and the employment of real live opera singers, a choice that wasn’t neces-sarily obbligato for the Wooster Group, which just as likely could have substituted a recorded version of the music.

“I didn’t like the recordings [we found],” Odland says, mainly because “when we listen to a recording, we hear the sound of a specifi c era. An early recording shouts Thomas Edi-son, not Cavalli.”

Also dismissed was the idea of having singers record a new version of the opera to be used for digital remixing.

Odland believes that “opera is breath. It’s a huge art form based on human breath. If you record it, the breath is gone.” In essence, the truest way to present the score as the composer intended to have it heard, was to realize it from scratch, and to do it live. So, the choice was made to let the opera singers help tell the story.

Mezzo soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, who joined the laboratory rehearsal process about two years ago—uncertain of what her fi nal role in the work would be—is now playing Dido, the central fi gure of the opera.

As a vocal artist, Chinn straddles both the New and Early Music scenes (not uncommon among classical musicians), which would

make working on a Baroque opera with Wooster a perfect symbiosis.

“I’ve never felt so at home, or so well challenged in any capacity or direction,” says Chinn.

One of the main challenges was having to learn Baroque gesture along with the rest of the cast. Taught by Jennifer Griesbach, these gestures determine a large part of how

La Didone is staged. “It’s like learning ballet dancing and having to do it while you’re sing-ing,” Chinn explains. “All the singers fi nd that more diffi cult.”

This and other challenges that the Wooster Group’s maverick approach to theater presents to the singers, in a larger view, inadvertently targets a handful of creative diffi culties that face the creators and institutions of professional opera in general. That the physical movement of the singers often comes across as a chore is no secret. A dearth of invigorating staging in professional opera also exists. And we mustn’t forget the woeful lack of an adequate or com-

prehensive rehearsal period.“We rehearsed Cavalli’s opera for

a year,” Chinn says, sounding amazed at the fact. “No professional opera company has a chance to do that these days.”

Specifi cally, no opera company has a chance to have all the participants work together to build the opera from beginning to end. And a chance to work, or “play,” as Chinn delightedly puts it, is also a chance to form ensemble, which is core to the magic of theater, and is

absolutely vital to successful theater.Furthermore, the Wooster Group is pro-

viding creative opportunities to opera singers who normally serve more as interpreters than inventors; a longing that goes unrecognized in a repertory opera world.

And La Didone, as with most early music, gives singers with smaller voices—still trained and beautiful, just not naturally big enough

to fi ll The Met—a chance to have their gifts put to good use. The sheer amount of problem solving the Wooster Group is doing for the world of opera—at least conceptually—is simply astounding.

But asked if she thinks that La Didone will have any lasting impression on the world of professional opera, Chinn is skeptical. “I don’t think anyone will do La Didone quite this way again,” she says. “I fi nd it hard to imagine that this will become a new approach to opera.”

Odland is similarly doubtful. While ac-knowledging that professional opera has, over the years, turned to more progressive directors of the theater to give “blood transfusions” to productions every now and then—Peter Sellars, Peter Brook, Mark Morris and Zim-merman among them—he supposes “each in-dividual director may not have enough blood to completely reform these institutions.”

But reform is not alien to opera. In fact, the history of the genre proves the opposite. Time and again, from Monteverdi to Gluck to Wag-ner—even with Philip Glass—brave explorers have come along to revolutionize not just the music of opera, but also the theater it creates.

That the Wooster Group is now part of this tradition, for me, cannot be denied. The question is whether La Didone will create enough gravity to pull the rest of the opera world into its orbit.

La Didone, starts March 17 at St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water St. (at Dock St.),718-254-8779; tickets start at $27.50.

OPERA

Paul

a C

ourt

The sheer amount of problem solving the Wooster Group

is doing for the world of opera—at least conceptually

—is simply astounding.

Scott Shepherd and Judson Williams in the Wooster Group’s La Didone

March 2009 13

Opera

LES HUGUENOTS

Theater

ORESTEIA TRILOGY: AGAMEMNON,CHOEPHORI, and THE EUMENIDES

Dance

LUCINDA CHILDS: DANCE

Music

ST. PAUL

Bard Music Festival

RICHARD WAGNER AND HIS WORLD

Film Festival

POLITICS, THEATER, AND WAGNER

Special Events

CABARET, FAMILY FARE, and SPIEGELTENT

july

augu

st

SUMMER

SCAP

E

14 City Arts NYC

GALLERIESACA GALLERY: Small and Everlasting: 1897 –2008, paintings, drawings and sculpture. Through Mar. 21, 529 W. 20th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-206-8080, www.acagalleries.com.

ALEXANDRE GALLERY: Lois Dodd’s Fire. Mar. 26 through April 25, 41 E. 57th St. (at Madison Ave.), 212-755-2828, www.alexandre-gallery.com.

ALLAN STONE GALLERY: Intersections by Lorraine Shemesh. A series of dramatic interac-tions between two dancers. Through April 11. 113 E. 90th St. (at Park Ave.), 212-987-4997, www.allanstonegallery.com.

ANDREW KAHANE, LTD.: Early Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. Through Mar. 21, 42 E. 76th St. (betw. Madison & Park Aves.), 212-861-5001, www.artasianappraisers.com.

BONNI BENRUBI GALLERY: Laura McPhee’s Guardians of Solitude. Through April 11, 41 E. 57th St., 13th Fl. (at Madison Ave.), 212-888-6007, www.bonnibenrubi.com.

BOWERY GALLERY: A Landscape Vernacular by Walter Strach. Recent paintings. Through Mar. 21, 530 W. 25th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 646-230-6655, www.bowerygal-lery.org.

BRUCE SILVERSTEIN: Cloud 9 featuring Imogen Cunningham, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston. A series of cloud photography from the 20th century. Through April 25, 535 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-627-3930, www.brucesilverstein.com.

CHEIM & READ: Paul Morrison. Through Mar. 21, 547 W. 25th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-242-7727, www.cheimread.com.

THE CHINESE POR-CELAIN COMPANY: Selected Works by Zeng Xiaojun. A chronological and thematic sur-vey of his works from 1989 to 2004. Through Mar. 19, 475 Park Ave. (at E. 58th St.), 212-838-4922, www.chineseporce-lainco.com.

BETTY CUNINGHAM GALLERY: Clytie Alexander: Diaphans. Through Mar. 14, 541 W. 25th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-242-2772, www.bettycuninghamgallery.com.

DAVID FINDLAY JR. FINE ART: Chaung Che. Recent paintings by the artist. Mar. 5 through Mar. 28, 41 E. 57th St. (at Madison Ave.), 212-486-7660, www.davidfi ndlayjr.com.

DC MOORE GALLERY: A selection of paint-ings by Janet Fish. Through Mar. 14, 724 5th Ave, 8th Fl. (betw. E. 56th & E. 57th Sts.), 212-247-2111, www.dcmooregallery.com.

DCKT: Greetings From Home by Helen Altman. A solo exhibition of mixed media works exploring notions of reality versus artifi ciality in everyday life. Through Mar. 21, 195 Bowery (at Spring St.), 212-741-9955, www.dcktcontemporary.com.

ELIZABETH HARRIS GALLERY: Nancy Haynes’ Dissolution. Through Mar. 14, 529 W. 20th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-463-9666, www.eharrisgallery.com.

FIRST STREET GALLERY: Perry Four by Tim Kennedy. Paintings based on the intimacy inherent and discovered within domestic life. Through Mar. 28, 526 W. 26th St., 646-336-

8053, www.fi rststreetgallery.net.

FLOMENHAFT GALLERY: Mira Lehr: New Works. Mar. 12 through April 25, 547 W. 27th St., suite 308 (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-268-4952, www.fl omenhaft-gallery.com

FREIGHT AND VOLUME: Paranoid by Jim Lee. Objects and collected detritus arranged on the periphery of painting.

Through April 4, 542 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-

691-7700, www.freightandvol-ume.com.

GAGOSIAN GALLERY: Picasso: Mosqueteros by Pablo Picasso. An exhibition looking

at important, rarely seen late works. Mar. 26 through

June 6th. 522 W. 21st St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-741-1717, www.gagosian.com.

GANA ART: Jang Taewon’s Collusion. Series of photograps

featuring dramatic landscapes. Mar. 17 through April 11, 568 W. 25th St., 212-229-5838, english.ganaart.

com.

GOEDHUIS CONTEM-PORARY: The New Cal-

ligraphy. An exhibit featuring 11 different calligraphy artists.

Through April 19, 42 E. 76th St. (betw. Madison & Park Aves.),

212-838-4922, www.goedhuiscontemporary.com.

GREENBERG VAN DOREN GALLERY: A collection of Paul Graham’s photographs from 1981-2006. Mar. 18 through May 2, 730 5th Ave., 7th Fl. (at W. 57th St.), 212-445-0444, www.gvdgallery.com. HENRY GREGG GALLERY: Photographer John Elder’s On the Street. Mar. 19 through April 12, 111 Front St., suite 226 (betw. Wash-ington & Adams Sts.), Brooklyn, 718-408-1090, www.henrygregggallery.com.

HOWARD SCOTT GALLERY: Recent Works by Robert Thiele. Through April 4, 529 W. 20th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves), 646-486-7004, www.howardscottgallery.com.

JOAN B. MIRVISS, LTD.: Kawase Shinobu’s Flowering Waves of Celadon/Kaseiha. Japanese ceramics from the 20th century. Mar. 14 through April 20, 39 E. 78th St., 4th Fl. (at Madison Ave.), 212-860-7070, www.mirviss.com.

JUNE KELLY GALLERY: North Light by Frances Hynes. Recent paintings. Through Mar. 31, 591 Broadway #3C (at W. Houston St.), 212-226-1660, www.junekellygallery.com.

KAIKODO: Time Travellers. Covers Chinese and Japanese paintings and ceramics from ancient to contemporary. Through Mar. 20, 74 E. 79th St., suite #14B (betw. Madison & Park Aves.), 212-585-0121, www.kaikodo.com.

KATHARINA RICH PERLOW GALLERY: William Clutz: Paintings from the 1960s and 1970s. Mar. 19 through April 11, The Fuller Building, 41 E. 57th St. (at Madison Ave.), 212-644-7171.

KATHRYN MARKEL FINE ARTS: (Re)treat by Sarah Smelser. Monotype works on paper. April 9 through May 30, 529 W. 20th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-366-5368, www.markelfi nearts.net.

KNOEDLER & COMPANY: Drawings by James Castle. Mar. 12 through April 25, 19 E. 70th St. (betw. 5th & Madison Aves.), 212-794-0550, www.knoedlergallery.com.

KOONEWYORK: Black & White: Natural Elements. Through Mar. 26, 126 E. 64th St., 2nd Fl. (betw. Park & Lexington Aves.), 646-918-7030, www.koonewyork.com.

LAURENCE MILLER GALLERY: Wanderings by Ray K. Metzker. A series of black and white photographs from 1968 through 2008. Mar. 14 through May 2, 20 W. 57th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves), 212-397-3930, www.laurencemillergal-lery.com.

LEILA TAGHINIA-MILANI HELLER GAL-LERY: Negar Ahkami’s Pride and Fall. Work includes Persian-Islamic infl uences with baroque sensibilities worldwide. Through Mar. 28, 39 E. 78th St., 3rd Fl. (at Madison Ave.), 212-249-7693, www.ltmhgallery.com.

LESLIE HELLER GALLERY: Work by Nene Humphry, Nancy Haynes and Grace Knowlton. Through Mar. 21, 16 E. 77th St, (betw. 5th & Madison Aves.), 212-410-6120, www.lesley-heller.com. L&M ARTS: Project Space: Donald Judd Col-ored Plexiglas. Through April 18, 45 E. 78th St. (betw. Madison & Park Aves.), 212-861-0020, www.lmgallery.com.

LOHIN GEDULD: Frank Olt: Recent Work and Yvonne Thomas: Works from the 1950s. Both through Mar. 14, 531 W. 25th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-675-2656.

LORI BOOKSTEIN FINE ART: A selection of late 1980s sculpture by Garth Evans. Mar. 24 through April 25, 37 W. 57th St., 3rd Fl. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-750-0949, www.loribook-steinfi neart.com.

LUHRING AUGUSTINE GALLERY: David Musgrave’s Solo Exhibit. A collection of draw-ings and sculptures. Mar. 21 through April 18, 531 W. 24th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-206-9055, www.luhringaugustine.com.

M. SUTHERLAND FINE ARTS, LTD.: Gallery Selections Celebrating 10 Years. Specializing in contemporary Chinese painting. Through Mar. 21, 55 E. 80th St., 2nd Fl. (betw. Madison & Park Aves.), 212-249-0428.

MARIAN GOODMAN: Photographs, video, drawings, prints and paintings by Illinois-born artist Dan Graham. Through Mar. 28, 24 W. 57th Street, 4th Fl. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-977-7160, www.mariangoodman.com.

MARLBOROUGH GALLERY: A wide collec-tion of sculpture featuring Fernando Botero, Tom Otterness, Will Ryman, Wang Keping and more. Through April 25, 40 W. 57th Street (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-541-4900, www.marlborough-gallery.com.

MARTOS GALLERY: Susanne Thiemann’s Entangled. The show will include a series of sculptures, installations, collages, along with a single channel video. Through April 25, 540 W. 29th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-560-0670, www.martosgallery.com.

MITCHEL INNES & NASH: Leon Kossoff From the Early Years. Through Mar. 28, 534 W. 26th St. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-744-7400, www.miandn.com.

NATIONAL ARTS CLUB: Hard/Soft. A three-part exhibition series, focusing on Fashion, Music and Film, made up of work by an inter-national mix of contemporary artists. Through April 5, 15 Gramercy Park South (at E. 20th St.), 212-674-8824, www.nationalartsclub.org.

NOHO GALLERY: Chistopher Green’s Qualia. Stainless steel sculptures exploring unique men-tal experiences. Mar. 17 through April 11, 530 W. 25th St., 4th Fl. (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-367-7063, www.nohogallery.com.

PACE MACGILL GALLERY: An exhibition

ARTS AGENDA

A Chinese spinach jade carving in the Arts of Pacifi c Asia show

March 2009 15

commemorating Emmet Gowin’s fi rst monograph, Photographs, from 1976. Through Mar. 21. 32 E. 57th St., 9th Fl. (betw. Park & Madison Aves.), 212-759-7999, www.pacemacgill.com.

PACE WILDENSTEIN: Drawings and Works on Paper 1965-2008 by Robert Mangold. Through April 4, 32 E. 57th St., 3rd Fl. (betw. Park & Madison Aves.), 212-421-3292, www.pacewildenstein.com.

PAUL KASMIN GALLERY: Both Sides Now by Keith Mayer-son. A selection of drawings from 1992 to 2009. Mar. 5 through April 11, 511 W. 27th St. (at 10th Ave.), 212-563- 4474, www.paulkasmingallery.com

RAANDESK GALLERY OF ART: The You in Me by Jennie Barrese. Through April 17, 16 W. 23rd St., 4th Fl. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-696-7432, www. raandeskgallery.com.

SHEPHERD & DEROM GALLERIES: Sculp-ture from Five Centuries in association with Philip Mezzatesta. Through April 18. 58 E. 79th St. (betw. Madison & Park Aves.), 212-861-4050, www.shepherdgallery.com.

THROCKMORTON FINE ART: Faces of Eter-nity features Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from the Northern Wei Dynasty through the Tang Dynasty. Through April 18, 145 E. 57th St., 3rd Fl. (betw. 3rd & Lexington Aves.), 212-223-1059, www.throckmorton-nyc.com.

VIRIDIAN ARTISTS, INC.: Robert Smith: A Child’s Garden of Photographs. Smith will be exhibiting his most recent series of of garden en-vironments. Through April 4, 530 W. 25th St., #407 (betw. 10th & 11th Aves.), 212-414-4040, www.viridianartists.com.

WHITE COLUMNS: Good Person by William Scott. A solo exhibition of the San Francisco-based artist. Through April 18, 320 W. 13th St. (betw. W. 4th & Hudson Sts.), 212-924-4212, whitecolumns.org.

ZETTERQUIST GALLERIES: Chinese Ceram-ics: Tang through Ming Dynasties. Mar. 14 through Mar. 24, 120 E. 64th St., 3rd Fl. (betw. Park & Lexington Aves.), 212-751-0650, www.zetterquist.com.

AUCTION HOUSESDOYLE NEW YORK: Doyle at Home, Mar. 11, 10 a.m. Asian Works of Art, Mar. 17, 10 a.m. Jewlery, Watches, Silverware and Coins, Mar. 18 through Mar. 19, 10 a.m. Dogs in Art. Mar. 24, 1. American Furniture and Decorative Arts, April 7, 10 a.m. 175 E. 87th St. (betw. Lexington & 3rd Aves.), 212-427-2730, www.doylenewyork.com.

SWANN AUCTION GALLERIES: 19th & 20th Century Literature, Mar. 12, 10:30 a.m. and 2:30. Printed and Manuscript Ameri-cana, Mar. 26, 1:30. 101 Fine Books, April

2, 10:30 a.m. 104 E. 25th St. (betw. Park & Lexington Aves.), 212-254-4710, www.swanngalleries.com.

ART EVENTS ARTS OF PACIFIC ASIA SHOW: The lon-gest running Asian art and antique show in New York City featuring 70 of the world’s top galleries and dealers. Mar. 13 through Mar. 18, 7 W. 34th St. (at 5th Ave.), 212-279-6063. ASIAN ART DEALERS OF UPPER EAST SIDE: The fi rst annual Asian Art Exhibition Series features sixteen prominent dealers for Asia Week 2009. Mar. 14 at various galleries, 212-799-4021.

STELLA SHOWS AT PIER 94: The Pier Antiques Show is New York’s largest antiques, art, style and collecting event with over 500 ex-hibitors. Mar. 14 through Mar. 15, Pier 94, 12th Avenue at W. 55th St., 973-808-5015, www.stellashows.com.

AIPID PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW: The Asso-ciation of International Photography Art Dealers presents more than 70 galleries with work by contemporary, modern and 19th century photog-raphers. Mar. 26 through Mar. 29, Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Ave. (betw. E. 66th & E. 67th Sts.), 212-708-9680, www.aipad.com. Preview gala on Mar. 25, $100.

DUMBO FIRST THURSDAY: Participating galleries in Dumbo launch new exhibitions each month. April 2, participating galleries includ-ing Amos Eno, A.I.R., Gloria Kennedy, Smack Melon, Kris Graves Projects, Umbrage Editions and more, www.twotreesny.com.

MUSEUMSAMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS: Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts. Through April 5, 633 W. 155th St. (betw. Broadway & Riverside Dr.), 212-368-5900, www.artsandletters.org

AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM AT LINCOLN SQUARE: The history of quilting and the invention of jazz unite as a document of American history in Textural Rhythms: Contruct-

Maria Falconette in Dreyer’s Joan of Arc at BAM Rose Cinemas

Catalogue Orders and General Inquiries: 212 254 4710, ext 0.

104 East 25th Street •New York,NY 10010 • Tel: 212 254 4710 • Fax: 212 979 1017Catalogues and video previews at www.swanngalleries.com

SPRING AUCTION SEASON

19th & 20th Century LiteratureArt, Press & Illustrated Books

Printed & Manuscript Americana

101 Fine Books

Early Printed Books

Autographs

100 Important Old Master PrintsOld Master Through Modern Prints

The Ritter Collection of ModernIllustrated Books and Livres d’Artiste

Photographic Literature &Fine Photographs

Modernist Posters

American Art / Contemporary Art

Maps & Atlases, Natural History &Historical Prints

Mar 12

Mar 26

Apr 2

Apr 21

Apr 23

Apr 30

May 5

May 14

May 21

June 4

June 11

Robert Indiana and Robert Creeley,The American Dream, Los Angeles, 1999,one of 395 copies with 6 signed plates.

Estimate $4,000 to $6,000. At auction May 5.

16 City Arts NYC

ing the Jazz Tradition—Contemprorary African American Quilts. Opens Mar. 24, 2 Lincoln Sq. (at W. 66th St), 212-977-7170, www.folkartmu-seum.org.

BAM: Brooklyn Industry by Greg Lindquist. Through April 26, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave. (at Ashland Pl.), Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, www.bam.org.

BROOKLYN MUSEUM: Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea. The fi rst major exhibition of Caillebotte’s work in New York for more than 30 years. Opens Mar. 26, 200 Eastern Pkwy. (at Washington Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-638-5000, www.brooklynmu-seum.org.

CHELSEA ART MUSEUM: Immobilité. A fea-ture-length fi lm shot entirely on the camera of a mobile phone. Opens April 7. The Empty Space: Jean Miotte in the 70s. A collection of paintings. Through May 9, 556 W. 22nd St. (at 11th Ave.), 212-255-0719, www. chelseaartmuseum.org.

COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM: The exhibition Fashioning Felt explores the varied uses, designs and innovations in this ancient fabric. Through Sept. 7, 2 E. 91st St. (at 5th Ave.), 212-849-8400, www.cooper-hewitt.org.

THE FRICK COLLECTION: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Norton Simon Museum. Through May 10, 1 E. 70th St. (betw. 5th & Madison Aves.), 212-288-0700, www.frick.org.

SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM: Noguchi: The Bollingen Journey 1949–1956, a a personal travelogue of artist Isamu Noguchi. Through April 19, 1071 5th Ave. (at E. 89th Street), 212-423-3500, www.guggenheim.org.

HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA: Derrotero by Zoe Leonard. The second of Dia Art Foundation’s projects at the Society, New York-based artist Zoe Leonard presents over 400 photographs. Through April 12, 613 W. 155th St. (at Audobon Terr.), 212-926-2234, www.hispanicsociety.org.

JEWISH MUSEUM: The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River by Peter Forgacs and The Labyrinth Projects, a multime-dia exhibition about the displacement of ethnic minorities. Opens Mar. 15, 1109 5th Ave. (betw. E. 92nd & E. 93rd Sts.), 212-423-3200, www.thejewishmuseum.org.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: Fifty works of art demonstrating the art and patronage of the early Choson dynasty are pre-sented in Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600. Opens Mar. 17, 1000 5th Ave. (at E. 82nd St.), 212-535-7710; www.metmuseum.org.

MUSEUM OF ART AND DESIGN: Totally Rad: Karim Rashid Does Radiators, a showcase of 30 exciting modern radiator designs. Through May 11, 2 Columbus Cir. (at Broadway), 212-299-7777, www.madmuseum.org.

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: A series of drawings celebrating dance, theater, costume and set design in Drawing for Performance. Opens Mar. 11. An exhibition focusing on printed ma-terials, Paper: Pressed, Stained, Slashed, Folded opens Mar. 11, 11 W. 53rd St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-708-9400, www.moma.org.

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: Stoops of Manhattan—Railings & Shadows, An-drew Berrien Jones’ displayed works are inspired by downtown wrought iron stoop railings dating from the mid-19th century. Opens Mar. 18, 1220 5th Ave. (at E. 103rd St.), 212-534-1672, www.mcny.org.

NATIONAL ACADEMY MUSEUM: Ameri-can Waters: Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Hudson, Fulton and Champlain. More than 50 works made from 1850-2000, this exhibit ex-plores the ways American artists have represent-ed aquatic environs, especially in the Northeast. Through April 5, 5 E. 89th St. (at 5th Ave.),

212-996-1908, www.nationalacademy.org.

NEUE GALERIE: Brucke: The Birth of Ex-pressionism in Dresden and Berlin, 1905-1913. Through June 29, 1048 5th Ave. (at E. 86th St.), 212-628-6200, www.neuegalerie.org.

STUDIO MUSEUM OF HARLEM: Is the second stop for a touring exhibit of Barkley L. Hendricks’ Birth of Cool retrospective. Through Mar. 15, 144 W. 125th St. (betw. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. & Malcolm X Blvds.), 212-864-4500, www.studiomuseum.org

WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: Jenny Holzer’s Protect Protect, a 15-year survey of the artist’s work with nontraditional media. Opens Mar. 12, Madison Avenue at E. 75th St., 212-570-3600, www.whitney.org.

CLASSICAL MUSIC AND OPERALEIPZIG STRING QUARTET: Performing Beethoven String Quartets in D, C and E fl at Ma-jor. Mar. 12, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave. (at E. 82nd St.) 212-535-7710; 8, $45.

LA DIDONE: Experimental theater mavens the Wooster Group mash up a 1641 Cavailli opera about Dido and Aeneas with Mario Bava’s 1965 Planet of the Vampires, directed by Elizabeth LeCompte. Opens Mar. 17, St. Ann’s Ware-house, 38 Water St, (at New Dock St.), Brook-lyn, 718-254-8779; times vary, $27.50 and up.

KRISTIAN BEZUIDENHOUT AND PETRA MÜLLEJANS: Collaborating with the Boston Early Music Festival, Bezuidenhout and Mül-lejans play Mozart Sonatas and Variations. Mar. 24, The Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave. (at E. 36th St.); 212-685-0008; 7:30; $45.

CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LIN-COLN CENTER: The Guarneri and Johannes String Quartets play the Octet in E-Flat Major for Strings by Mendelssohn as well as premiering pieces by composers Derek Bermel and William Bolcom. Mar. 25, Alice Tulley Hall, 1941 Broad-way (at W. 65th St.), 212-875-5775; 7:30; $32

YO-YO MA: The famed cellist performs with Emanuel Ax and Itzhak Perlman. Mar. 31, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave. (at W. 57th St.), 212-632-0540; 8, $47-$149.

Leon Kosoff’s “Portrait of Mother Asleep,” through Mar. 28 at Mitchell-Innes & Nash in Chelsea

BARBARAGOODSTEIN

Bowery Gallery530 W. 25th St.New York, NY 10001646-230-6655www.bowerygallery.org Hours: Tues-Sat 11-6

LandscapesMarch 24-April 18, 2009

Artists’s reception: Thursday, March 26, 5-8 pm

All Women, All Media3/5 - 3/29 Art into Life/Life into Art

Curated by Midori Yoshimoto

4/2 - 4/26 In Your DreamsCurated by Edward J. Sullivan

GALLERY HOURS:TH. & FR. 4-7PM, SAT. & SUN.1-5PM

The Pen and Brush, Inc.

16 E. 10th St.New York, NY 10003

(212) 475-3669info@penandbrush.orgwww.penandbrush.org

March 2009 17

THE NEW YORK POPS: perform Once Upon a Time and Tomorrow: The Best of Charles Strouse. April 3, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave. (at W. 57th St.), 212-632-0540; 8, $29-$100.THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA: per-forms with conductor and pianist Andre Previn. April 7, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave. (at W. 57th St.), 212-632-0540; 8, $35-106.

NEW YORK MOMENTS: Marvin Hamlish conducts the New York Philharmonic with guests Ashley Brown, Maria Friedman, Joel Grey, Jennifer Holliday, Liza Minnelli, Kelli O’Hara, Paulo Szot and Nikki Yanofsky. April 20, Avery Fisher Hall, 132 W. 65th St. (at Broadway), 212-875-5030; 6, $55-$225.

JAZZTODD COOLMAN: The Grammy award-win-ning bassist plays for two nights. Mar. 11 through Mar. 12, Smoke, 2751 Broadway (at W. 106th St.), 212-864-6662; times vary, $28.

LYNDA CARTER: The Wonder Woman star performs her repertoire of jazz standards, blues and country. Mar. 13 through Mar. 14, The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; 7:30, $45-$95.

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER: Ex-pat Bridge-water, along with her band, appears as par of Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy. Mar. 18, Zankell Hall, Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave. (at W. 57th St.), 212-632-0540; 8:30, $34-$44.

PHILIP GLASS: The composer performs as part of a four-part series featuring guests like Patti Smith and Suzanne Vega. Mar. 15 through April 5, City Winery, 155 Varick St. (at Vandam St.), 212-608-0555; 8, $30-$100.

JAMES MOODY QUARTET: The famed Moody’s Mood for Love and former member of Dizzy Gillespie’s band performs for six night-swith special guest Jon Faddis. Mar. 24 through Mar. 29, The Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. (betw. 6th Ave. & MacDougal St.), 212-475-8592; times vary, $20-$35.

THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER OR-CHESTRA: With Wynton Marsalis, performing homecoming concerts after a U.S. tour. Mar. 26 through Mar. 28, Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Center, Broadway at W. 60th St., 212-721-6500; 8, $30-$120.

OMAR SOSA QUINTET & JENNY SCHEINMAN: perform a dozen shows; Sosa celebrates his new album and Scheinman plays material from her upcoming release. April 7 through April 12, The Blue Note, 131 W. 3rd St. (betw. 6th Ave. & MacDougal St.), 212-475-8592; times vary, $20-$30.

FILMAN EVENING WITH JULIUS ZIZ: Two of the Lithuanian director’s best-loved fi lms, The Wolf and The Window screen. Mar. 23, Mu-

see LISTINGS on page 18

AVENUE Shows at the ArmoryThe AVENUE Shows at the Armory wishes to thank all

of the exhibitors who made our Antiques and Art show

a great success.

19th Century Shop • AJ Gallery • The Antique Enamel Company • Asiantiques • Dallas W. Boesendahl • Joanna Booth Antiques • Nicolaus Boston Antiques • Sue Brown • Cal-lan Fine Art • Lawrence J. Cantor & Co. • The Chinese Art Gallery • Cincinnati Art Galleries • Larry Dalton Antiques, Ltd. • Damiani • Dan-iels Antiques • Jacques De Vos • Double Knot • Drucker Antiques • The Englishman Fine Art And Antiques • Fleur • Forest Art • Framont • Gallery Afrodit • Joyce Groussman Estate And Fine Jewelry • Linda Gumb • Michael S. Haber Ltd. • Marion Harris • Larkspur & Hawk • Lee Gallery Inc. Studio • Midori Gal-lery • Milord Antiquities • Richard Mishaan Design/Homer • Zane Moss Antiques, Ltd. • Dan O’Meilia Antiques • Michael Pashby An-tiques • Hollis Reh & Shariff • Perrisue Silver • Todd Peenstra • Jeffrey F. Purtell • M.S. Rau Antiques, LLC. • Derek & Tina Rayment An-tiques • Guy Regal Ltd. • Santos – London • Scarselli Diamonds • Schillay Fine Art, Inc. • Sherry Sheaf Private Jeweler • Sotheby’s In-ternational Realty • The Spare Room Antiques • BB Steinitz • Tara Sons • Nula Thanhauser • Toulouse Antique Gallery • Wendt Gallery • Whitley Collection • Windsor Jewelers

We look forward to another great show in 2009.

www.AVENUEShows.com

11THNEW YORK SPRINGSHOWMarch 28th-30th

OPEN TO THE PUBLICWholesale buyers must bring a copy of

their state-issued Resale Licensewholebead.com • 800.292.2577

METROPOLITAN PAVILION30,000 SQ. FT OF BEADS125 West 18th St. (bet. 6th & 7th Aves.)Fri-Sat: 10am-6pm • Sun: Noon-5pm

$10 Admission Fee$2 OFF ADMISSION with this ad, one per customer

March 20-22

12TH

18 City Arts NYC

seum of Modern Art, Theater 2, 11 W. 53rd St. (betw. 5th & 6th Aves.), 212-708-9400, www.moma.org; 7, $10.

CARL THEODOR DREYER: An 11-fi lm series celebrating the work of the famed Danish direc-tor from his earlier fi lms to his fi nal works—some shown with live piano accompaniment. Mar. 13 through Mar. 31, BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave. (at Ashland Pl.), Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, www.bam.org; times vary, $11.

DANCEPAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY: A show made up of 19 pieces of dance by Tay-lor—including Changes, danced to the Mamas & Papas. Through Mar. 15, City Center, 131 W. 55th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.), 212-581-1212; times vary, $10-$135.

DEBORAH SLATER DANCE THEATER: The acrobatic San Francisco-based company

takes part in the Joyce’s “Inbound Festival,” premiering The Desire Line in New York. Mar. 13 through Mar. 15, Joyce Soho, 155 Mercer St. (betw. Houston & Prince Sts.), 212-242-0800; times vary, $22.

IVY BALDWIN: The choreographer presents Bear Crown. Mar. 18 through Mar. 21, Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19th St. (betw. 7th & 8th Aves.), 212-924-0077; times vary, $10-$15.

SAVION GLOVER; Celebrity tap dancer debuts Savion Glover’s Solo In Time at the Joyce Theater. Through Mar. 22, 175 Eighth Ave. (at W. 19th St), 212-242-0800; times vary, $19-$59.

JULIAN BARNETT PROJECT: Sound Memory. Mar. 19 through Mar. 21, Danspace Projects, 131 E. 10th St. (at 2nd Ave.), 212-674-8112; 8:30, $18.

THEATEREXIT THE KING: Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Rush and Andrea Martin star in the Ionesco

Over the last decade, the art market has grown incredibly in volume and visibility. A world of transactions

that was once nearly secret has now become a public spectacle. Though transparency is meant to build trust and confi dence, in times of uncertainty, it also adds anxiety. In the last several weeks, the art world has turned anxiously to a series of auctions and art fairs hoping for some public display of confi dence.

From the London sales of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art, to the orgy of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé col-lection in Paris, to the recently completed Ar-mory Show fair on New York City’s piers, the art market has jumped and lurched and fi zzled and soared like its fi nancial cousins. But to the astonishment of many observers from outside of the art world, these newly public markets in art have remained much more orderly and vibrant than anyone could have imagined.

Much was riding on the London sales.

With each passing week economic turmoil had begun to erode confi dence and emphasize the value of keeping cash on hand. Nonethe-less, collectors not only showed up in London. They bought. And they bought best on the lower end of the price ranges. At all three houses, works in the low six-fi gures sold well. And though the totals didn’t impress, they did show the market fi nding a reasonable level. The steady hum of lower-priced selling also reminded the art world that billionaires are not the only players in the market.

Of course, we now know that the bil-lionaires were keeping their powder dry for the YSL sale in Paris. A great deal has been written about that extraordinary sale. Most people recognize that it was a singular event. Indeed, the broad pattern of buying above the high estimates suggests a sale where buyers would pay any price to obtain an item with the YSL provenance. Much has been made of the $28 million Eileen Grey armchair which sold

for six times the high estimate. But that was a conservative multiple compared to the “South-ern German Stag,” a gilt bronze statue from the turn of the 17th Century that was estimated at 15,000 euros but sold for 295,000 euros—or nearly 20 times the high estimate. To someone, $400,000 was clearly a small price to pay to own a place in the “Sale of the Century.”

The YSL sale was almost as irrelevant to the rest of the art market as it was thrill-ing. Collectors spent half a billion dollars in three days, however, the YSL sale can only be considered the top of the market. Would the buying patterns from London re-emerge in New York when the action shifted from auc-tion to art fair?

The Armory Show opened to renewed trepidation about the American economy. Over its 11-year life, art fairs have taken center stage in the market to the point where some dealers view their presence at a prominent art fair as a central thrust in their defensive

strategy. The gambit seems to be working. Though dealers are under no obligation to reveal their sales (and there is no mechanism for checking their claims), a number of booths at the Armory Show report being nearly sold out by the second day, mostly of work in the lower fi ve-fi gure range. But, when you think about it, that’s the art most at risk. So it’s a healthy enough sign.

The problem the art market faces today is not the level of sales but the year-over-year comparisons to the art market of 2007-2008. No one involved in the business expects—or even wants—those days to return. What they need is to establish a baseline level of buying and selling that allows the market to correct, consolidate and, eventually, thrive. It’s too early to tell whether that takes place at this level or another.

Visit artmarketmonitor.com for daily updates.

EDITOR Jerry Portwoodjportwood@manhattanmedia.com

MANAGING EDITOR Adam Rathearathe@ manhattanmedia.com

ART DIRECTOR Jessica Balashak

SENIOR ART CRITIC Lance EsplundSENIOR MUSIC CRITIC Jay NordlingerSENIOR DANCE CRITIC Joel Lobenthal

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Mark Blankenship, Brice Brown, Howard Mandel, Marion Maneker, Ryan Tracy

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Stephanie Lee

PRODUCTION MANAGER Mark Stinson

GROUP PUBLISHER Alex Schweitzeraschweitzer@manhattanmedia.com

PUBLISHER Gerry Gavinggavin@manhattanmedia.com

SENIOR ADVERTISING CONSULTANT Kate Walshkwalsh@manhattanmedia.com

PRESIDENT/CEO Tom Allontallon@manhattanmedia.com

CFO/COO Joanne Harrasjharras@manhattanmedia.com

MARKETING DIRECTOR Tom Kellytkelly@manhattanmedia.com

City Arts NYC is a division of Manhat-tan Media, publishers of New York Family magazine, AVENUE magazine, Our Town, West Side Spirit, New York Press, City Hall, Chelsea Clinton News, The Westsider and The Blackboard Awards.

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work—apparently building for the sake of building—and the minimal text consists only of onomatopoeia. But, for all its exciting visual commotion, “New Engineering” ultimately evokes a sober meditation on the pointless and repetitive daily actions cluttering our lives.

In the “Anime Garden,” looped snip-pets from six important examples of Japanese anime are simultaneously projected onto side-by-side large-scale screens. The effect is pleasantly disorienting, and the constant pulse of color and light do evoke thoughts of some extraterrestrial garden. Notably on view are Ichiro Itano’s “Super Dimension Fortress Macross” (1982-83), infl uential for its intricately choreographed streaming missiles and human-controlled robots, and Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” (1988), a brilliant allegory of an infantilized post-war Japan, a theme com-

mon to much manga and anime.Among the works on view in KRAZY!’s

interactive video game room is Toru Iwatani’s seminal and much-loved “Pac-Man” (1980). Here, Iwatani’s inventive visual language—namely, the slightly claustrophobic yet starkly beautiful electric blue labyrinth patterned with dots—fuses with the unique gaming concept of a user-determined narrative to create an emotional, complex, immersive experience that is equally lighthearted and entertaining. It’s a perfect blend of medium and message. And this hard-won yet bracing harmony between wide-eyed funhouse and intellectual seriousness resides at the very core of all the work on view.

KRAZY!: The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + ArtUntil June 14, The Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St. (betw. 1st & 2nd Aves.), 212-832-1155.

KRAZY continued from page 11LISTINGS continued from page 17

March 2009 19

comic fable about an incompetent king on the verge of death. Opens Mar. 26, Barrymore Theater, 243 W. 47th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave), 212-239-6200.

FINIAN’S RAINBOW: This 1949 play, di-rected by Warren Carlyle with music by Burton Lane and written by Harburg and Fred Saidy, features a mischievous leprechaun, a racist Southern politician and an Irish immigrant in a city in fi ctional Missitucky. Celebrating its fi fth revival 41 years after its movie adaptation. Opens Mar. 26, City Center, 131 W. 55th St. (betw. 6th & 7th aves.), 212-581-1212.

GEORGE ORWELL’S 1984: An adaptation of Orwell’s modern classic by Alan Lydiard is di-rected Godlight Theater Company’s Joe Tantalo, staging the struggle of a quotidian citizen against a totalitarian regime. Opens Mar. 24, 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St. (betw. Park & Madison Aves.), 212-279-4200.

THE GOOD NEGRO: Liesl Tommy directs this play by Tracey Scott Wilson about three black civil rights leaders during the 1960s. Opens Mar. 16, The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St. (at Astor Pl.), 212-967-7555.

HAIR: The American Tribal Love Rock Musi-cal: Those who danced along with the cast at Summerstage can relive the experience with Gavin Creel as the new face of Claude, and Will Swenson reprising his role as Berger. Opens Mar. 31, Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 W. 45th St. (betw. 8th & 9th Aves.) 212-239-6200.

INKED BABY: Christina Anderson’s new play

is the story of an infertile woman who convinces her sister to carry her child to term, directed by Kate Whoriskey. Opens Mar. 23. Playwrights Horizons Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 W. 42nd St. (betw. 9th & Dyer Aves.), 212-279-4200.

IRENA’S VOW: Moving uptown from an off-Broadway run is Dan Gordon’s play based from a true story. Tovah Fledshuh portrays Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polish Catholic housekeeper of a Nazi offi cer who hid 12 Jews from the camps in her employer’s coal cellar. Opens Mar. 29, Walter Kerr Theater, 219 W. 48th St. (betw. Broadway & 8th Ave.), 212-582-4536.

AN ORESTEIA: Poet Ann Carson created this new interpretation of ancient Greek revenge trag-

edy surrounding the fall of the House of Atreus, to be directed by Gisela Cardenas and Paul Lazar and featuring choreography by Annie-B Parson. Opens April 1, Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13th St. (betw. 3rd & 4th Aves.), 212-677-4210.

RAMBO SOLO: Zachery Oberzan reenacts his obsession, the fi lm Rambo: First Blood in his apartment in the East Village. Directed by Na-ture Theater of Oklahoma founders Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper. Opens Mar. 21, Soho Rep, 46 Walker St. (betw. Church St. & Broadway), 212-941-8632.

REASONS TO BE PRETTY: The third in a series of plays about the American obsession with beauty, this show by Neil LaBute will be directed by Terry Kinney of the off-Broadway production, while Marin Ireland and Steven Pasquale join some of the original cast members. Opens April 2, Lyceum Theater, 149 W. 45th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.) 212-239-6200; $31.50-$111.50

VENICE SAVED: A Seminar: Inspired by an unfi nished work by French philosopher Simone Weil, audience members and actors mingle in a “political theater” discussion group prompted by scenes from “Venice Sauvée”. Opens Mar. 21, PS 122, 150 1st Ave. (at E. 7th St.), 212-352-3101.

ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN: A random act of violence affects a community afraid to protest, written by Charles Fuller and directed by original cast member Stephen McKinley Henderson. Opens Mar. 24. Signature Theater Company, 555 W. 42nd St. (at 11th Ave.), 212-244-7529.

BOOK EVENTSSUSIE ORBACH: Gina Kolata interviews es-teemed psychologist Orbach regarding her recent book Bodies. Mar. 11, 92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at E. 92nd Street, 212-415-5550; 8, $27.

NEAL BASCOMB: The Hunting Eichmann author reads. Mar. 16, Barnes & Noble, 2289 Broadway (at W. 82nd St), 212-362-8835; 7, FREE.

SIMON RICH: A reading by Rich, author of Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations and Free-Range Chickens. Mar. 18, powerHouse Arena, 37 Main St. (at Water St.), Brooklyn, 718-666-3049; 7-9. FREE.

GOGOL AT 200: Ken Kalfus, Gary Saul Morson and Gary Shteyngart discuss the impact of the Russian author on what would have been his 200th birthday. Mar. 30, 92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at E. 92nd Street, 212-415-5550; 8, $10-$19

THE MCCOURT MEMOIRS: The four Mc-Court brothers—Frank, Malachy, Alphy and Michael—will read from and discuss their mem-oirs. Mar. 31, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at W. 95th St.), 212-864-5400; 7:30, $25.

NEW YORK ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR: Sanford Smith & Associates presents the 49th Annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair. April 3 through April 5, 643 Park Ave. (betw. E. 66th & E. 67th Sts.), 212-616-3930; times vary, $20-$45.

Yo-Yo Ma Mar. 31 at Carnegie Hall

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In the April issue:• Joel Lobenthal, our senior

dance critic, on the New York City Ballet’s annual two-month spring season

• Tribeca Film Festival preview

• Coverage of galleries, museums, jazz, classical music and more

Season Sponsor Offi cial Airline

Mon, Mar 16 at 8 PM Carnegie Hall | Stern/Perelman

JESSYE NORMAN AND THE ROOTS IN ASK YOUR MAMA!Music by Laura Karpman, on a Text by Langston HughesJessye Norman, Soprano | The Roots | de’Adre Aziza, VocalistTracie Luck, Vocalist | Orchestra of St. Luke’s | George Manahan, ConductorBased on Langston Hughes’s epic poem Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz,this electrifying multimedia collaboration from Jessye Norman and composer Laura Karpman combines hot jazz, German lieder, cha-cha, and Afro-Cuban drumming.

Meet the Cast VIP Package is available by calling 212-903-9679.Tickets start at $23.

Mon, Mar 23 at 8 PMCarnegie Hall | Stern/Perelman

HONOR: THE VOICEHarolyn Blackwell, Soprano | Angela M. Brown, Soprano | Nicole Cabell, SopranoGregg Baker, Baritone | Eric Owens, Bass-Baritone | Kevin Maynor, BassRenowned African American singers from the classical music world come together to pay tribute to icons who opened the doors for succeeding generations.Sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP

Tickets start at $22.

Fri, Mar 20 at 8 PMCarnegie Hall | Stern/Perelman

CARNEGIE HALL NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHORAL FESTIVALOrchestra of St. Luke’s | Craig Jessop, ConductorAngela M. Brown, Soprano | Meredith Arwady, ContraltoRussell Thomas, Tenor | Morris Robinson, BassNorth Jersey Homeschool Association Chorale | Beth Prins, ConductorPebblebrook High School Chamber Choir | George Case, ConductorShorewood High School Aeolian Choir | John Hendrix, ConductorSongs of Solomon: An Inspirational Ensemble | Chantel Wright, Conductor

TIPPETT A Child of Our TimeThis performance features select high school choirs chosen through competitions with peer groups nationwide. Tippett uses the Spiritual in his work in a way similar to J. S. Bach’s use of the chorale in his great choral compositions.The Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival is made possible, in part, by an endowment fund for choral music established by S. Donald Sussman in memory of Judith Arron and Robert Shaw.

Tickets: $10A Program of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall

ANGELA M.BROWN

MEREDITHARWADY

MORRISROBINSON

Photos: Norman by Carol Friedman, Hughes courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Brown by Roni Ely, Arwady by Lisa Kohler, Robinson by Ron Cadiz, Cabell by Devon Cass, Owens by Paul Sirochman Photography. Programs and artists subject to change. © 2009 CHC.

CARNEGIE HALL presents

carnegiehall.org/honor or 212-247-7800Box Offi ce at 57th and 7th

Major funding for Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy has been provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Alice Tully Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation’s New York City Cultural Innovation Fund, and the A. L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation.

The opening performance of Honor! is sponsored by Bank of America.

Honor! is made possible, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

JESSYE NORMAN

THE ROOTS

DE’ADRE AZIZA TRACIE LUCK LANGSTON HUGHES

GREGG BAKER

ERIC OWENS

KEVIN MAYNOR

HAROLYN BLACKWELL

NICOLE CABELL