The Glories of NYPL

Ah, New York and its architecture.

My friend and artist Carolyn is in town from DC, on a mad dash to see as much work in the Chelsea and mid-town galleries as she can in two days.  So I met up with her at New York Public Library, one of the great, Grand buildings of New York.

 

What an inspiration to work there, which I had the good fortune (or challenging process) of doing while researching for the Ed Ruscha Catalogue Raisonné project.  Who wouldn’t be inspired to academic grandeur in a place like this?

 

 

Carolyn introduced me to the early work of Philip Tager, a photographer she knows, giving me a behind-the-scenes look at this lawyer-turned-photographer and his (primarily) architectural images.  If you’re nearby, you’ll enjoy seeing the show–it’s up on the 3rd floor (the same floor as the Reading Room pictured above and the WPA murals in the slide show below).  The wonderful history of Lunch Hour NYC exhibit is still on the ground floor.  Don’t go hungry.

 

Then we walked up Fifth Ave, as Carolyn was racing the clock to fit in a couple more galleries.  But I made her slow down to look at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is getting a facelift–only appropriate for a fading Fifth Ave beauty.

st-patricks-gets-a-face-lift-1

Image 1 of 3

 

One of the wonders of New York: look up at the cathedrals of Manhattan, meant to send our spirits (of commerce) soaring.

 

 

Fall for dance?

Tonight was Fall for Dance, and I think I may have been a kill-joy for my friend.  Rather than falling in love, I was untouched.

Perhaps I’m just out of step (all puns intended) with modern dance these days.  Two of the 3 works we saw were so inextricably linked with pop culture that I can hardly call them dance.  One seemed more like hip-hopped gang ritual and the other like a trick pony, which sparked ooh’s, ahh’s, and applause from the audience.

I remember criticisms of Pilobolus back in the ’70s.  That’s not dance, moaned the critics.  And maybe it wasn’t.  Now, 2 generations of dancers later, I see Pilobolus watered down by gymnastics and Cirque du Soleil, making those ’70s dances look like Balanchine.

So, hungry for Dance with a capital D, I find myself liking Rite of Spring more and more, the piece my friend liked the least.  At least the work had a coherent whole, with performances that served the whole, that created an effect.  For me, that effect was visually intriguing, like game pieces moving on a chessboard.  My friend found it repetitive and dull.  We agreed it didn’t really go anywhere.  Still, these will be the images I’ll remember from tonight’s performances.

SHEN WEI DANCE ARTS
Rite of Spring
Choreography by Shen Wei