Greenwich St – Alex Katz, After Shelley Duvall '72, Reflecting the Stars

Sometimes you just can’t get out during the day (and sometimes the best things are happening at night anyway), so here’s a little Inspirational Dinner! Start at Gavin Brown’s enterprise at 5:30pm (they close at 6) where Alex Katz fills the gallery with his striking portraits and ingenuous wildflowers. As GBE points out, Katz’s half-century of work has influenced the art world in immeasurably ways. We simply see things differently because of artists like him, and, at 83 years old, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. He has major museum shows slated for 2012, but take advantage of this special chance to see his newest work in a more intimate setting.

Next, stop in Maccarone for possibly the oddest show of the season. (It’s early to be saying so, but can things get weirder?) The show, After Shelly Duvall ’72 (Frogs on the High Line), is like a portal into the psyche of curator Bjarne Melgaard. A video by photographer Sebastian Mlynarski even presents Melgaard in conversation with his shrink. As highlighted in said video, Melgaard is interested in the countertransference of therapy, in which the patient becomes the therapist’s therapist. The question posed is “…with your work then, who is whom? the viewer? collector?” I don't know, are you up for this challenge?

Luckily, the only question at Hudson Clearwater (once you’ve located the unmarked door) is how will you choose from this outstanding menu? Sip a Hudson Mule (bison-grass vodka, ginger beer, lime, candied ginger) and start with the outstanding vegetable pot pie. The rest is up to you. 

After dinner, stroll up to Pier 49 (on the Hudson at Bank St) for Reflecting the Stars. This extraordinary project, engineered by Adam Berenzweig, senior software engineer for Google, uses wirelessly-controlled-solar-powered-LED-lamps to display the constellations of the night sky in the decaying posts of the pier. If the cocktails and stargazing have put you in an extra romantic mood, click here to dedicating a star! 

Ingredients:

Venues: Gavin Brown’s enterprise; Maccarone; Pier 49; Windmill Factory

Artists: Alex Katz; Bjarne Melgaard; Sebastian Mlynarski; Jon Morris; Various Artists

Streets: Greenwich St, Morton – Leroy Sts; W 11^th & the Hudson River

Eats: Hudson Clearwater

Map:

MoMA PS1 - September 11

Sunday was hard. There is just no getting around that. While the anniversary of the September 11th attacks is a difficult, emotional, confusing topic, institutions citywide threw their hats in the ring in an effort to help you “Never Forget.” The resulting disjointed, multi-tonal chorus of personal accounts, horrifying images and formal tributes felt like a nightmare from which you cannot wake, much like the day itself. Last week, you could not buy a pack of gum from the bodega without being confronted by half a dozen 9/11-dedicated magazine covers. Today those weeklies are back to their usual grind, the media coverage assuaged, but the related gallery and museum shows remain. They offer an important opportunity to observe and reflect minus the drone of news anchors. 

What is it, exactly, that we are supposed to be remembering? For me, it is a blur of terror and confusion and sorrow (and hope?). Undeniably, everything changed that day in 2001, if in no other way than a change in perspective, and September 11 at MoMA PS1 is a smartly curated consideration of that fact. In the context of a show with this title, William Eggleston’s Untitled (Glass in Airplane) from The Los Alamos Portfolio, 1965-1974 is a haunting image, an eerie calm before the storm. Lying in front of Barbara Kruger’s Untitled (Questions) from 1991, Cristo’s Red Package (1968)  seems to be clearly referencing a Red Cross gurney. Alex Katz’s 10:00AM, a reflection of trees on calm water from 1994, is like the New Yorker cover reflecting the WTC towers in the river.     

The subtle power of PS1’s show is in the way the context redefines these artworks. Perhaps you know that War Is Over! (if you want it) is a 1970’s John & Yoko response to the Vietnam War, but you’ll likely think of another war when you see it here. Spend some time pondering that shift in perception and you might come up with your own definition of what we are never to forget. 

After such a heavy show, take a head-clearing walk and seek comfort food among the freshly baked pastries and delicious coffee at Sweetleaf. Or gorge yourself on a burrito grande from The Creek and The Cave. Tonight, remember to thank your lucky stars, again...

Ingredients:

Venue: MoMA PS1

Artists: William Eggleston, Barbara Kruger, Cristo, Alex Katz, Various Artists

Streets: Jackson Ave, Long Island City, Queens

Eats: Sweetleaf, The Creek and The Cave

Map: