December 7th, 2009 §
POP! A New Musical @ Yale Repertory Theater
I was thrilled when I saw a poster promoting a new musical based on the life and art of Andy Warhol.
The world premiere run of POP!, underway at Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, CT, through December 19, has been very well received and was glowingly reviewed in both the Boston Globe and New York Times. It isn’t everyday that an art-themed musical emerges, so I was both excited and apprehensive about seeing it. Warhol is such an iconic figure in the history of art, and I was unsure that a musical could really capture this infamous and mysterious person.
And that is exactly what the musical sets out to do. Instead of focusing on his art, POP! hones in on Warhol’s relationships with key people in his life, like right-hand man Gerard Malanga or transsexual muse Candy Darling. The six figures that flow in and out of the scenes define Warhol more concretely than he ever did, illuminating not only the mind behind the art, but also the mysterious person that they, as well as the art world, were captivated with. They are more than happy to tell volumes about the difficult genius–but Andy speaks his lines in enigmatic tones and hides behind his sunglasses, offering only an empty paper bag to solve any and every problem. He plays the role of the voyeur, much as he did in life.
Darling emcees this over the top murder-mystery musical that takes place in Warhol’s famous Silver Factory in New York City. Set in June of 1968, the show revolves around the attempted murder of Andy Warhol, an event I hadn’t realized had been a part of his life. The Factory is rendered as an industrial yet artsy playground for the cast and serves as a wonderful backdrop to the colorful personalities that epitomize the ’60’s. While there is definitely an art-inspired component to the set (mostly in the form of a large projections and live camera feeds), the focus remains on the personal relationships in Warhol’s life.
My favorite scene took place at a New York City bar where Warhol trespasses on the turf of some famous abstract expressionists: Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, and Jackson Pollock. The “cowboys” of the art world, Motherwell, Kline, and Pollock are seen here as if they come straight out of a western movie, only they use paintbrushes instead of revolvers. The ensuing duel involves splatter painting, expressions of emotion, and the production of an abstract expressionist work of art on the back wall of the theater. A scathing commentary on this pivotal art movement, it was also incredibly hilarious. Upon seeing the work, Warhol simply comments, “I’ve always liked your little splatter paints. They look like so much fun!”
POP! is an experience not to be missed by any art historian or theater lover. The cast is extremely talented, the story is both fascinating and informative, and this unique study of modern art makes art history not only jump off the page, but also dance, sing, and perform the scandalous but true story of one of the most influential artists of our time.
The audience is left with one burning question: Who is Andy Warhol?
POP! at Yale Reperatory Theater through December 19
Visit their website for more information
August 18th, 2009 §
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| Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, at the Art Institute of Chicago |
Now that I live in the Midwest, the Art Institute of Chicago will be popping up more and more on this blog, and I promise an extensive Art in Real Life dedicated to this huge institution once I have more than an afternoon to devote to it. Until then, here are some preliminary thoughts after a whirlwind first visit to the museum…
We began with the brand-new Modern Wing, and though my group of friends and I didn’t get through nearly all of the new addition, I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be. We all agreed it was a fairly predictable receptacle for Modern art, though it was light and airy. We spent a fair bit of time in the contemporary photography gallery, whose curatorial choices I found somewhat baffling: one wall is covered in grey paper that has been folded over and over, upon which photographs and label text are hung or printed. Though I wanted to like it (I love paper, after all) I could not for the life of me figure out why the choice of grey, folded paper over painting the wall–it didn’t click. And while I liked the clear, deliberate juxtapositions the curator had made with the works themselves, the space was too small and had too many people zigzagging around the space to fully appreciate those choices.*
Admittedly, I’m much more in love with art made before the 1900s than most later works, so for me what makes the Art Institute really worth a visit is their European and American art collection. Among the highlights: famous Georgia O’Keeffes, American Gothic, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks (see above), Cezannes and Monets galore, Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge, and of course, Seurat’s La Grande Jatte, among many others. Rest assured: More of those to come on this blog! We ended our visit with the miniature rooms underneath the grand stairway, a collection of tiny, incredibly crafted historic spaces that are a lot of fun.
Finally, if you like anything to do with Japanese culture, calligraphy in general, or the beauty of a brushstroke, you must go visit Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens before September 27. I loved the “greatest hits” of the Art Institute, but that show–from the work it showcases to the clear label copy to the huge room lined with screens–is truly stunnning.
*Edit—Today I spoke with an assistant curator at my own museum and she brought up two great points about the Modern Wing. First, the architecture really does interact with the city of Chicago: the buildings, the railway, the parks are all visible from the many windows inside it, in a way that isn’t so in the older building, and it creates a much more welcoming atmosphere. In addition, she mentioned that she thought the photography gallery was curated by an artist–which might explain its unusual setup. That’s what I get for not having the time to read labels!
The Art Institute of Chicago | 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL | Website
July 16th, 2009 §
Chick lit? Romance novels? Not for the art historian or museum professional, surely! If you’re looking for a juicy read that you can apply to your day job, look no further than (the regrettably out of print) Making the Mummies Dance by Thomas Hoving. I’ve been looking for a copy of this book for years, and finally found it for only five bucks among the vast shelves of my new favorite bookstore. This book not only kept me sane through a week alone in my new apartment without TV or internet, it helped me get back into museum mode after a month of doing little more than catching up on Bravo marathons post-graduation.
This wonderfully gossipy tell-all from the director who revolutionized the Metropolitan Museum of Art between 1967-77 is readable, informative, and has all the famous and infamous names of the 60’s and 70’s. Hoving doesn’t shy from telling every detail, good or bad, about his former curators, trustees, donors, and enemies — and he’s also not shy about his own accomplishments. I found Hoving’s self-confidence more amusing than annoying, and in my opinion it was often justified: he did, after all, expand the Met’s encyclopedic collections as well as its campus, truly pushing the Met into the household name it is today Either way, it’s not hard to get past the boasting (to his credit, he does identify what he thinks were his mistakes) and simply enjoy this conversational confessional, with its glimpse into the inner workings of the glittery world of Museum trustees and executives, who jetsetted back and forth between countries every other week, courted donors with grand parties, and built palatial palaces for art in an age before recessions and budget cuts. Definitely a must-read for any museum professional or museum lover.
Making the Mummies Dance, Thomas Hoving, 1994. Buy from Amazon
February 21st, 2009 §
Step through sculptures made of strings, see yourself reflected in what seems to be a volcano of glass, walk through a towering rusted spiral, gaze into huge, endless geometric pits, and imagine who wrote each of a set of 4,000 vintage postcards. Where else can you do all these things but at the amazing Dia:Beacon?
I’ve attended college in the Hudson Valley for four years, and only now, in my final semester, have I at last managed to visit Dia:Beacon, the sprawling contemporary art installation museum in Beacon, NY (located about an hour or so from New York City). Dia:Beacon has all the greats of contemporary art, including Richard Serra, Gerhard Richter, Donald Judd, and Agnes Martin, as well as a number of artists I’d never heard of before, but whose art fully engrosses you.
The museum is a playground of optical illusions. The stark white galleries immediately present you with the eye-numbing neons of Dan Flavin and then the meticulously layered pencil murals of Sol LeWitt, who seems a Dia favorite. Throughout your journey through the huge, echoing Dia warehouse, you constantly wonder: What is real? What am I looking at? What is this space?
Fred Sandback’s string sculptures (a view, at left) ask these questions playfully, creating larger-than-life rectangles and triangles that you know are flat and empty, but at the same time have deceiving depth, leaning against gallery walls as if discarded by the artist. On Kawara’s room of dated paintings from his ongoing Today series is a pristinely executed inquiry into time that manages to be both intimate and distant; the air is even ionized, and it feels somehow lighter as you inhale and exhale within the space.
Meanwhile, the gaping holes of Michael Heizer’s North, South, East, West (right) are an exploration into illusions of infinity, simultaneously mesmerizing and terrifying. And one could spend hours in Zoe Leonard’s You see I am here after all exhibition — reading the text and studying the subtle differences in printing of the 4,000 vintage postcards of Niagara Falls, collected by the artist over the course of the year, getting lost in the stories of this place and forgetting any sense of space around you altogether.
(Not to be missed, by the way, is their bookstore, which, though small in size, houses a treasure trove of books on art, design, and theory from around the world.)
All in all, the collections of the Dia, much like the installation art in general, defy description, and beg instead to be experienced. And after all, isn’t that the point?
Dia:Beacon, Reggio Galleries, 3 Beekman Street, Beacon NY 12508 | Zoe Leonard’s You see I am here after all exhibition is on view until September 9, 2009
September 27th, 2008 §
Here’s an exhibition on my list to visit the next time I’m in the city: Frick’s Vermeers Reunited at, of course, the Frick. The steel giant owned three of the mysterious Northern master’s enigmatic paintings, which are usually displayed in separate areas of the mansion-museum. At this point, because there are so few uncontested Vermeers (the usual number is 36, give or take), his paintings almost never travel and, as a result, it’s very rare to be able to see even a few Vermeers right next to each other. This is a fantastic opportunity to compare three very different Vermeers from various periods during his life, right next to each other.
Frick’s Vermeers Reunited | Now through November 2, 2008 | The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th St. | Image above from the Frick exhibition website.
