Category Archives: Uncategorized

Beautiful Brutality

Posted on by

For my Revolution and Napoleonic Politics class, we have studied 3 artists: Jacques Louis David, Antonio Canova, and Francisco Goya.  Goya really went to the dark side with his paintings, and particularly his prints, which were made for private use or limited production as series.

The most famous series are Los Caprichos (The Caprices) from 1799 and The Disasters of War, published well after Goya’s death, in 1863.  Only then was the Spanish world safe enough to endure Goya’s critique.  Both show the brutal, the superstitious, and the crude, as well as the senselessness of the abuse of power in whatever form.

Several of my classmates work at the Museum of Modern Art, which surprisingly holds both these series plus the lesser known Los Proverbias, printed in 1904.  The prints came to MoMA as part of a larger gift of illustrated books, and all three are in immaculate condition.  The prints are luscious in tone, almost sensuous in saturated ink.

Francisco Goya
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
Los Caprichos
1799

 

But they can be pretty hard to look at.  So why was I so excited to get to see them in person?  Well, I guess I want to seize every opportunity to see original works of art, even when they are unpleasant.  This exposure is one of the joys of being in New York.

 

This is probably the most famous image from any of the series.

 

You can see why he inspired the Surrealists.

 

As our professor noted, Goya could make the most beautiful, “Academic” body, even when displayed in such horror.  That juxtaposition and their timelessness are what make the works relevant today.

Camera Obscura

Posted on by

Thank you to my friend Penny, who reminded me how much I love the public art at Madison Square, just about my favorite park in the city.

Bird rearSo with the temperature hovering near 50 degrees, I decided to walk over today to see what there is to see.  You can’t miss the huge bird made out of gigantic nails.  You can see the construction pretty clearly from this picture of the rear (you can also double click it to enlarge it).  The front of the bird is in the slide show below.

People were much more attracted to this obvious piece of art, juxtaposing the manmade and the natural, nails and bird, that to that little, white, round canister, sitting by its lonesome.

Camera Obscura ext 1

 

You  can probably see why.  The door to the canister is open in this shot.  I liked the minimalism of it.  Penny had told me what to look for, so I wonder if I would have wandered over if she hadn’t.

I’m so glad she did!

The canister is an art installation by Sandra Gibson and Louis Recorder, two film artists.  It’s a camera obscura, the precursor to today’s camera.  A camera obscura works the same way the eye does.  By creating a darkened chamber, with a hole to admit light, an image is projected upon the chamber wall, upside down.

Then artists like Vermeer, reportedly, could trace the outline of the projection to get proportionately accurate buildings, landscapes, rooms, etc.

This installation is small, and the day was moody.  The sun kept going behind clouds, then reemerging, which made the projection ever changing.  The artists said they wanted to “do a film piece without technology,” according to the docent, who let us in and monitored how long we could stay.  I would say the results are mesmerizing, like a good film.

The docent pointed out hard to see changes in the scene–cars going by, pedestrians, the traffic light changing from red to green.  None of those details turned out in my pictures, but the results of the famous Flatiron Building look suprisingly similar to Edward Steichen’s atmospheric 1905 photograph (below right), only upside down and bent where the wall met the floor.

Camera Obscura Flatiron BldgSteichen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The graininess is similar anyway.  I took a few pictures to show the effects of the changing light, which you can catch in the slide show below.  I think they’re eerily beautiful.

Of course, there’s also the mind-bending idea of a camera inside a camera.  I’ll leave you to ponder that one…

bird-front

Image 1 of 14

Delirious

Posted on by

Sometimes a Broadway show is really Broad-way, and Matilda is…the best of everything Broadway.  The delirium of the first act is almost beyond words–the sets, the costumes, the zany parents and over-the-top, drag role of the school principal, with child triple threats who are razor-sharp, picture perfect.

The second act has some more serious elements, but only as serious as author Roald Dahl ever gets.

This isn’t the Matilda I saw, who was a sprite, and at her core an actor, but it will give you a sense of the look and feel.  I do recommend Oona Laurence in the title role.  She’s teensy, but already a Broadway and film veteran, with polish to spare.

Matilda the Musical is previewing on Broadway

The man in green checks is Gabriel Ebert, who played the sensitive grandson in the wonderful off-Broadway 4000 Miles.  Never say that Broadway talent can’t stretch.

All the magic that was supposed to be Cinderella, don’t waste your time.  Hurry up and get your tickets for Matilda, because I think it’s going to be the next Producers and Book of Mormon.  It’s so much better than the latter, and definitely matches the former for overall good time.  Adult appeal is definitely there, and the closing seconds and curtain call will leave you smiling all the way home, even over two subway rides!

Death for 5 Voices

Posted on by

Do you remember the first time you saw a Shakespeare tragedy that really got under your skin?  What about Sondheim breaking your heart?

The combination of these two is how I still feel over an hour after seeing Death for 5 Voices at tiny Prospect Theater.  Luscious music that combines the work of the eccentric, depressed Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo with new pieces, and the whole work created in about a year.  Remarkable.

D45V-Photo-1-Web-updated

The plot comes from Carlo’s history, and it is Shakespearean (his contemporary).  A second son becomes prince upon the death of his brother and is taken out of the priesthood to marry and procreate.  His wife becomes the muse for his music, one of his passions along with hunting.  But his erratic behavior and absences drive her to a lover, his best friend (oh, and they’re all cousins).

Carlo learns of the affair from more Shakespearean tropes–the weak-willed servant, his Lady MacBethian mother, and the opportunistic Cardinal, another relative.  Of course, to preserve the family honor, he arranges to catch them together and kills them.  History tells us not only does he get away with murder, but also marries again.  How’d you like to be that bride?  Sort of like marrying Henry VIII.

This work is basically opera, with spoken and sung English, and it’s beautifully acted as well as sung by its young cast.  At Prospect, the theater is so small, the audience has the treat of hearing real voices, not amplification.  The run for Death for 5 Voices is short, but I’m guessing it’s future is long.

Tender

Posted on by

Not By Bread Alone

Not by Bread Alone.  What an experience.  Imagine acting, when you’ve never seen acting before.  That’s what kept going through my mind, as I marveled at the deaf-blind actors of the Israeli theater troop Nalanga’at.  A combination of a performance piece, vaudeville, silent film, pantomime, and of course, a Jewish wedding (complete with confetti and glitter), the experience was not quite like anything I’ve seen or heard before (all puns intended).

The courage and trust of each actor, interacting with each other (and a guide) in ways that revealed their personalities: the Romantic, the Clown, the Shy One.  They shared their dreams, so ordinary, so tender–to have a really great haircut, to eat popcorn at the movies, to get married.  Each said or signed what bread means to her or him.  One courted her beloved by playing a song from a long ago Russian memory, while he laid his head on the electric keyboard to feel the rhythm.

What brought tears to my eyes, that never quite left during the performance, was toward the beginning.  Each actor was kneading dough, then breaking and rolling the dough into balls for rolls that would bake in the ovens onstage.  But not until 10% had been given to someone less fortunate or more in need–someone hungry, an abused child, a pregnant woman, the birds.  Of course any of us in the audience would have assumed the actors themselves would have been the people in need.

But waste no pity on these people.  They express themselves.  They have a voice.  They create a vision.  My heart was captured by these sometimes awkward, sometimes childlike, sometimes full-of-grace actors who put their hearts out to touch mine.

At the end, I was one of the first to go on stage to talk with the actors, through their interpreters, while holding a hand.  Then I broke bread, hot from the oven, with another audience member, before dipping in olive oil and savoring.  The entire audience lined up to do the same.  I imagine them still working their way through the crowd, so many wanted a touch and a taste.

Even exiting had a sweetness.  Two young men, deaf and signing, with true joy thanked me for coming, asked about the bread, and wiggled their fingers above their heads when I said it was delicious.

An experience like this reminds me to be at my most open, my most kind, my most grateful for the simplest, most tender moments.  To hold a hand.  To say thank you.

Roasted Fava Beans

Posted on by

Finally, I made it to Kalustyan’s for an early morning visit.  This is the kind of place that makes New York New York.  International, local, expensive, narrow aisles crowded with stuff you see everywhere and stuff you see nowhere else. 

It has the requisite Mediterranean sweets, sometimes with a twist,  spinach pies and homemade, seeded zaatar bread.  Hello breakfast!

I imagine I’ll love those cumin wafers and mini papadam when I’m out and about with not time for a meal.

They have all kinds of spices you know and never heard of, in huge quantities, a nice selection of honey and grains.  And I bought an Indian soap with several essential oils and rose water that I plan to make into a room freshener.

But what really caught my heart are the roasted, salted fava beans.  Oh my!