Park Ave & 70th St – Sarah Sze – Infinite Line

In warmer weather, you might have seen birds feeding on Sarah Sze’s Model for a Habitat on the Highline. That is just a tiny tease compared to Infinite Line, Sze’s new exhibition at the Asia Society. Prepare to have your perspective rocked! 

Before you go, watch this great little teaser. As Sze meticulously installs her intricate sculptural drawings, she explains that her primary focus is the place where drawing meets sculpture. She’s “drawing” on the floor and “sculpting” on the wall in an effort to frame the negative space, and you are encouraged to move around and notice your shifting perception. “Locate yourself in space.” It’s a whole lot of fascinating theory and intention. Plus, it got the museum to open up their 2nd floor windows, which have been closed for nearly a decade, for an installation that incorporates a paper sculpture, a tree branch and a cab on Park Avenue. Looking at Sze’s work, I can’t help but feel like she would have a field day with my junk drawer. (You know, that one pesky drawer where you put everything that doesn’t fit in any other drawer?) Just think what she could do with those stray pen caps! 

It’s a busy time of year! Should you have time for a leisurely lunch, stay at the Asia Society for the curry bento box in their Garden Court Café. If you, like me, are depending on coffee to propel you between holiday soirees, you must stop in Sicaffé for a perfectly crafted cappuccino Triestino. While you sip, take up your pen and cocktail napkin and see if you can't doodle your own version of Sze's Guggenheim as a Ruin... How'd you do?

Ingredients:  

Venue: Asia Society

Artist: Sarah Sze

Streets: Park Ave & 70^th St

Eats: Garden Court Café, Sicaffé

Map:

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: