Inspirational Lunch: Sarah Sze

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

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:

Monday, June 13, 2011

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

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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.