UES - Ai Weiwei's NY Photographs at Asia Society

It usually takes 15-20 minutes to see a gallery show, but museum shows are a different beast. The Ai Weiwei show at Asia Society is enough to fill your whole lunch hour, and it is well worth it!

Outside Tompkins Square Park. 1986

Ai has been all over the news for the past few months. In April, the Chinese government mysteriously detained him. Then, in May, amid protestors and demonstrators, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled Ai’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads installation at 59^th St and 5^th Ave. Just last week he was finally released, but he is prohibited from sharing any information about his arrest. So, it is against this backdrop that Asia Society presents, Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983–1993. 

Battery Park. 1988

During the ten years he lived in New York City, Ai took tens of thousands of pictures. Here, he has chosen 227 that encapsulate his unique New York experience. Each and every one is a gripping, poignant, whole story. They document protests in Washington Square, Wigstock, various apartments in the East Village and Lower East Side, riots in Tompkins Square Park, poetry readings, shoes, friends who were and/or became prominent artists and intellectuals… There are many self-portraits, too.

Mirror. 1987.

This is a simple presentation of one man’s photographs, and it is also so much more. It is a glimpse into a crucial time in New York’s history. It’s a lesson in political consciousness. It is a collection of striking artwork.

Lorimer Avenue Apartment, Brooklyn. 1987

After this, if you have the time, have lunch at the Garden Court Café. If you’re in a hurry, seek nourishment at Corrado Bread & Pastry. There are tons of good sandwiches, quiches and salads, but I like to get a few of their freshly baked rolls and a side of brie. So good!

Ingredients:

Venue: Asia Society

Artist: Ai Weiwei

Streets: Park Ave & 70th St

Eats: Garden Court Café; Corrado Bread & Pastry

Map:

W 23rd St - Every Photo Graph Is In Visible, Mostly Red & Tyson Reeder

Hooray! It is officially summer! So what’s trending this season? Locavore popsicles. Straw fedoras. Anything with stripes. Honestly, there are so many striped tees and maxi dresses parading around, they’re like the new neutral. They blend. Thankfully, though, there is Frank Badur’s work at Margaret Thatcher Projects to remind us of their subtle, simplistic beauty. Badur’s minimalist canvases celebrate the vibrant, focused energy that richly layered lines of varying widths and textures can create. Soak it in and carry it with you through the rest of your day!

Down the block at Daniel Reich, Tyson Reeder’s paintings are a nice contrast. Where Badur deliberately presents the paintings devoid of subjects, Reeder gives you dreamlike portraits and landscapes with fluid brush strokes, which seem to tell fantastical tales stemming from his own stream of consciousness. I am particularly drawn to this mixed media portrait. It’s “Untitled,” so, you know, it’s open for interpretation…

Around the corner Churnerand Churner presents Every Photo Graph Is In Visible, a group photography show that challenges all the things you probably assumed were the fundamentals of photography. Letha Wilson cuts, folds, paints and projects onto her prints. Christine Nguyen grows salt crystals on her paper and then prints her shots on the volatile surface. Matthew Brandt connects his images to their places of origin by using site-specific raw materials in the development process.  My favorite is Brandt’s Long Beach CA / Long Beach NY, in which he presents a photo of a life guard station on Long Beach, CA printed with salt water from the Pacific Ocean next to a photo of a life guard station on Long Beach, NY printed with salt water from the Atlantic. So cool! 

I hope you have time to stop and sit down for a little lunch in the neighborhood, because the Empire Diner has been resurrected! Thanks to the folks who bring us Coffee Shop in Union Square, this former landmark of a diner is now The Highliner. It’s a classic American diner with a spotlight on soul food. If you’re feeling adventurous, opt for the sweetbreads and waffles. If not, they have amazing blueberry pancakes! 

Ingredients:

Venues: Margaret Thatcher Projects; Daniel Reich Gallery; Churner and Churner

Artists: Frank Badur; Tyson Reeder; Matthew Brandt; Christine Nguyen; Letha Wilson

Streets: W 23^rd St & 10^th Ave

Eats: The Highliner

Map:

SOHO - Artists at Home and Abroad & Italian Paninis

Treat yourself to a survey of budding and veteran contemporary artists at Broadway Gallery NYC. The show, Artists at Home and Abroad, is a wide-ranging, jam-packed, salon-style modern and post-modern mash up. Even if you’re not a fan of contemporary art, there is probably at least one piece in this show that you’ll be into. 

Canan Onur, Innocence

Ann Russell, Sacrarium

The exhibition aims to provoke a lively dialogue by presenting a variety of work within a “pluralistic” art world. In fact, the gallery is running a few concurrent projects on their site, including a chance to submit essays on the pros and cons of just this kind of show. What do you think, like or dislike? 

Peggy Zehring, Spirit Stalker

When you leave Broadway Gallery NYC, you will find yourself in the middle of, well, Broadway, in SoHo, which is a crowded place to be. I say: seek refuge by cutting through the fantastically quirky Pearl River Market. (If you’re on the “budget” lunch plan, pick up some Top Ramen along the way.) Then check out Hilary Lloyd’s site-specific installation at Artists Space. The presentation is like the most highbrow version of Best Buy imaginable with flat screen monitors showing footage on a loop, suspended at all levels, and scattered throughout the space. Lloyd developed the work in direct relation to the architecture of this gallery, and she succeeds in making you hyper-aware of the fundamental principles of observation. You are being observed as you observe the subjects of her videos, which she observed, prepared and presented for your observation (in a gorgeous Downtown loft space!). 

Speaking of highbrow, if you’re in the mood for a little splurge, grab a delicious, traditional Italian panini from Salumè. Everyone who has ever had one will tell you that this sandwich lives up to its $12 price tag. If you’re looking for something less pricey, it’s a bit tough in the immediate area, but Soup Kiosk might be a good option… Personally, I can’t resist. I’m going for a panini!
Ingredients:
Venues: Broadway Gallery NYC; Artists Space
Artists: Canan Onur; Ann Russell; Peggy Zehring; Hilary Llyod
Streets: Broadway; Greene & Broome Sts
Eats: Salumè; Soup Kiosk
Map:

 

Orchard St - Harnischfeger, Adamo & Shpungin are mixing media

Run down to Orchard Street this weekend before these shows close!  When you get there, stop in 88 Orchard for their peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich. (You’re welcome!) 

Hilary Harnischfeger’s work at Rachel Uffner Gallery is as exciting as hunting for buried treasure. Her practically 3D canvases suggest topographical maps and fragmented portraits in combinations of paper, plaster, clay, ink, rock and even quartz! Her freestanding sculptures are richly layered, vibrant adaptations of classic clay vases and ashtrays. With Father’s Day coming up this Sunday, you’ll wish this gallery had a gift shop!

Next, head down the block to UNTITLED and see new work by David Adamo. Now, I am always conflicted about reading a gallery’s press release before seeing their show. Sometimes it’s helpful to know what you’re looking at. Other times, I would rather feel things on my own and have a raw, uninformed reaction. In this case, I read the release. It has all kinds of info about how Adamo left New York and moved to Berlin and is expressing his feelings of “personal diaspora” through this work. An elaborate Oriental “rug” hangs loosely tacked to the ceiling in the form of a precisely painted canvas. Massive wooden blocks are furiously hacked into revealing delicate spindles. Woodchips abound. I don’t know about a “personal diaspora,” but the show in undeniably unnerving and intriguing. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I’m so glad I saw it!Just across the street at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery is a deeply personal solo show by Diana Shpungin called (Untitled) Portrait of Dad. Through sculpture, animation, drawings and potatoes (I’ll explain), Shpungin grieves the loss of her father in a remarkably genuine way. Warning: bring tissues, this show might make you cry! As you work your way through the gallery, you encounter the portrait, the shadow and the absence of the man. The quietly powerful I Especially Love You When You Are Sleeping is an uprooted, graphite-covered orange tree resting on stacked newspaper obituaries.

Before you leave, Shpungin invites you, through the installation 1664 Sundays, to take a potato and a custom-printed paper bag (signed, numbered edition) with her father’s recipe, which he cooked for her on Sunday. Pick one up and let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients: Venues: Rachel Uffner; UNTITLED; Stephan Stoyanov

Artists: Hilary Harnischfeger; David Adamo; Diana Shpungin

Streets: Orchard Street

Eats: 88 Orchard

Map:

 

57th St - Villareal's Volume, Grossman's Volcanoes & Shields' Something...

Depending upon your tendency toward hypnosis, you might spend your entire Inspirational Lunch at Gering & López Gallery transfixed by Leo Villareal’s Volume. The longer you gaze into this massive cylindrical form, the more mesmerizing it becomes. With 20,000+ LEDs twinkling and dancing over mirrory stainless steel in endless combinations of patterns, tempos and degrees of luminescence, Villareal’s Volume is like a teleporter for your brain. You may forget where you are, why you came, and where you’re going, but you will feel certain that it was worth the trip.

If somehow you manage to tear your eyes away from Volume, venture up to see what’s going on at Greenberg Van Doren. (The show is entitled Something Goin’ On & On. Get it?) It’s a beautiful gallery space with a glorious skylight stretching the length of the main room, and there you will find Alan Shields’ colorful paintings, sculptures and works on paper. The way Shields layered his canvases with textures and colors is engrossing in an entirely different way. I especially like the zigzag stitching atop layers of handmade paper on the charming watercolor, Sweetie.  

Moving westward across 57^th Street, stop for some nourishment at The Great AmericanHealth Bar and sample the aptly named Tasty Avocado Salad. Then, if you’re up for it, squeeze in Nancy Grossman: Combustion Scapes at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery. The show is an expression of how deeply Grossman was impressed by a visit to Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii, where she flew by helicopter directly over the molten lava. Her resulting mixed media collages and assemblages are devastating in their starkness and simplicity, as well as in their direct reference to the overwhelming number of natural disasters currently plaguing our world. Opus Volcanus (triptych) is particularly haunting in it’s monochromatic presentation of mangled debris. 

Now that you’re thoroughly depressed, treat yourself to an insanely good compost cookie at Momofuku Milk Bar’s Midtown location. It will cheer you right up!

Ingredients:

Venues: Gering & López; Greenberg Van Doren; Michael Rosenfeld

Artists: Leo Villareal; Alan Shields; Nancy Grossman

Streets: 5^th Ave & 57^th St

Eats: The Great American Health Bar; Momofuku Milk Bar

Map:

 

The High Line - A Bird on Sze's "Still Life with Landscape"

There was a bird on Sarah Sze’s Still Life with Landscape! It flew away before I could snap a pic for you, but it was there! Why is this so exciting? Let me step back… 

On June 8^th, with much fanfare, Section 2 of the High Line, stretching from 20^th to 30^th Streets just west of 10^th Ave, opened to the public. There’s been a ton of hype (welcome to New York!), and the most intriguing piece I’ve seen was about Sarah Sze’s sculpture Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat). According to this Times piece, the work is first and foremost a sculpture, and if it happens to attract wildlife, so much the better. There are seed trays and mini-troughs and little bird condos. Now, let’s be clear, the bird I saw was not actually eating the seeds or drinking the water, but it was there on the stainless steel frame. Does that count as success? Check it out for yourself, and let me know if you see some action!

Another installation that arrived with the Section 2 unveiling is Digital Empathy by Julianne Swartz.  It’s kind of like Field of Dreams for the social networking age. At 11 different locations throughout High Line Park elevators, sinks and water fountains are rigged with computer-generated voices. Lean in for a bit of refreshment and you just might hear a love poem. 

When you reach the northern end, stop by Rainbow City, an inflatable wonderland of colorful creatures by Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval of Friends With You. Here you can also grab a quick lunch from the Taco Truck, which is as budget-friendly as it is eco-friendly. (They compost, their truck runs on propane, and two tacos will run you just $4.50.)  

The High Line is great because it enthusiastically embodies the opportunity to showcase public art. Section 1 features, among other things, Spencer Finch’s extraordinary The River That Flows Both Ways, which presents the varying colors of the Hudson River in a grid of stained glass windowpanes. Plus, Friends of the High Line presents site-specific performance art. This week is the Step to the High Line Festival, presenting five incredible stepping teams dancing their feet off on the ol’ tracks. 

Public art installations aside, a stroll along the High Line is in many ways the ultimate Inspirational Lunch. In a city that rushes with the momentum of a barreling train, the High Line invites you to hop off for a moment and live in a place where the tracks have grown over with wildflowers and the menacing yellow-and-black things in your path are not taxis but bumble bees. It’s pretty incredible. 

Ingredients: 

Venues: The High Line
Artists: Arturo Sandoval; Julianne Swartz; Samuel Borkson; Sarah Sze; Spencer Finch
Streets: 20th - 30th Sts, 10th Ave.
Eats: The Taco Truck

Map: