W 57th St – Damnatio Memoriae (or) Creating Memory, Arabesque & a second chance

Laurence Miller Gallery is doing you a big favor and presenting a greatest-hits-esque compilation of works from their past season. So, Danis Darzacq’s incredible stop-action photos of b-boys “floating” through super markets are back in the gallery, along with Ray K. Metzker’s “Autowackies” and so much more. I mean, when life gives you these second chances, you’ve just got to jump on them, right?

Nearby the music of piano playing wafts through the air, and, though you are on the right block for it, it is probably not coming from Carnegie Hall. This music likely drifts from Marian Goodman Gallery where Dara Birnbaum’s Arabesque fills the front of the gallery space with a multi-screen mash-up of YouTube footage of pianists playing two different opuses. Apparently husband-and-wife composers Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann wrote these opuses for one another, and Birnbaum’s amalgamation of the two works is compelling. Major bonus: in another section of the gallery space, there is a selection of some of Birnbaum’s earliest works, including a super cool piece about JFK and Jackie O set to “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.”

Around the corner at Greenberg Van Doren, thanks to their Fulbright Fellow staff member Kristen Lorello, there is a group show of Italian artists whose work is rarely seen in the US. The show’s title, Damnatio Memoriae (or) Creating Memory, refers to the ancient Roman custom of erasing any record of someone who has disgraced the state. These artists used a wide range of materials to explore the complexities of both personal and historical recollection. I’m particularly drawn to the complexly entwined yarns and ropes of Sissi’s faceless “portraits.”

Stick with the Italian theme and check out PizzArte. Not only do they serve Neapolitan, wood-fired pies with awesomely unexpected toppings like zucchini blossoms and truffle oil, but they showcase budding Italian artists on their walls. So if you order enough for leftovers, you just might be taking home a Lello Esposito piece with that doggie bag. 

Ingredients:

Venues: Laurence Miller, Marian Goodman, Greenberg Van Doren

Artists: Daniz Darzacq, Ray K. Metzker, Simone Rosenbauer, Stephane Courtier, Burk Uzzle, Jessica Backhaus, DoDo Jin Ming, Toshio Shibata; Dana Birnbaum; goldiechiari, Sissi, Cesare Pietroiusti, Giacinto Occhionero

Streets: W 57^th St & 5^th Ave

Eats: PizzAtre

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: