59th St – Museum of Art & Design - Otherworldly

Despite this gloomy weather, NYC is in full tilt back-to-school mode, and there are tons of exciting shows opening in the next few weeks. (I know, I’m super excited, too!) Take a second, though, to make sure you don’t miss any of those lingering summer stars. For example, have you seen Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities at MAD? It's mind-blowing! Seriously, see it, and your understanding of the word "diorama" will be forever changed. 

Otherworldly spotlights artists like Matthew Albanese (above) and Peter Feigenbaum (below) who create obsessively intricate miniatures and then photograph them. As Albanese explains, the models are simply a means to an end, where the end is a series of bewitchingly realistic images. His weeping willow scene (made of hand-dyed ostrich feathers and cooked sugar, among other things) is breathtaking, and MAD presents the diorama alongside the photographs for added wow factor. Likewise, Feigenbaum’s streetscapes are hauntingly real. His models are so thoroughly researched and expertly rendered you will swear his photos are of actual cities, you know, except for the unsettling hole in the drywall/sky… Super neat!

In a somewhat opposite progression, painter Gregory Euclide's 

held within what hung open and made to lie without escape features an expertly painted landscape in a traditional gilded frame spilling out across the gallery floor. Like a doll coming to life after hours in a toy store, this landscape leaps from the canvas and out the window across the Central Park treetops in astonishing detail. Basically every piece in Otherworldy (which is only up through Sept 18) will leave you marveling, “How did they do that?!” The detail work is awesome and the materials used are ingenious.

After your mind has been blown at MAD, you’ll need some sustenance. There is no question that the best lunch in the area is at Bouchon Bakery. I mean, their grilled cheese sandwich (served with tomato soup) was voted among Serious Eats’ “22 Sandwiches that will change your life!” If you are like me, though, and you’d rather try someplace new, check out AQ Kafé. Their chicken salad sandwich is not quite life-altering, but, with fennel, apples and cran-walnut bread, it’s pretty darn good. Which would you choose?     

Ingredients:

Venue: MAD

Artists: Matthew Albanese, Amy Bennett, James Casebere, Mat Collishaw, Bethany de Forest, Thomas Doyle, Gregory Euclide, Joe Fig, Peter Feigenbaum, Patrick Jacobs, Kim Keever, Frank Kunert, David Lawrey and Jaki Middleton, Ji Lee, Chris Levine, Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz, Didier Massard, Charles Matton, Michael McMillen, Lori Nix, David Opdyke, Liliana Porter, Jonah Samson, Charles Simonds, Michael Paul Smith, Tracey Snelling, Paolo Ventura, and Alan Wolfson, among others.

Streets: 59th St & Broadway

Eats: Bouchon Bakery; AQ Kafe

Map: