Today’s “Fab 5”/ Selected NYCity Events – THURSDAY, OCT. 10, 2013

New York Comic Con and Anime Festival (through Oct 13)
“With geek culture having established an undeniable influence over mainstream entertainment, Comic Con is always a much anticipated event. This annual fan convention at the Javits Center is dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies and television and will feature writers and illustrators, along with celebrities like Sigourney Weaver and Gillian Anderson. Panels, screenings and the ability to have your comic book signed by your hero will all be on tap. The New York Anime Festival alliance is still in effect, too, so expect to see cosplayers (costumed participants dressed like fictional characters). They’ll provide plenty to gawk at, even if you don’t hit the fest’s many booths, panels and screenings.” (nycgo.com)

New York City Ballet* (through Oct. 13)
“The company’s vibrant and varied fall season continues with an evening of contemporary choreographers including Angelin Preljocaj’s unabashedly hokey “Spectral Evidence” (an unfortunate addition to the repertory), alongside the much lovelier “Soirée Musicale,” by Christopher Wheeldon, and Alexei Ratmansky’s “Namouna, A Grand Divertissment.” (Burke-NYT)
Lincoln Center, DHK Theater,
7:30pm / $29-$159
(212) 496-0600 / nycballet.com

Rodriguez*
The subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary “Searching for Sugar Man” rides his folk Cinderella story from longtime cult favorite in South Africa to headliner of Barclay’s Center, the pop epicenter of Brooklyn. This is the soulful troubadour’s highest-profile performance to date in the city, yet one rooted in his familiar modesty; in fact, he was fast asleep at his home when “Sugar Man” received the Oscar. After Brooklyn, he’ll head into Manhattan for a performance at Radio City.” (Anderson-NYT)
Radio City Music Hall,1260 6th Ave (btw 50/51 St.)
at 8 p.m./ $39.50 to $79.50.
(866) 858-0008, ticketmaster.com

DanceNOW Joe’s Pub Festival (through Oct. 12)
“This festival, featuring 10 choreographers per night, cultivates creativity through constraints: each artist gets just five minutes onstage, and that stage — the one at Joe’s Pub — is beyond small. The audience, meanwhile, doesn’t have to hold back: viewers vote for their favorite act; the winners get a weeklong creative residency, and the Top 10 return for an encore performance on Oct. 19.” (Burke-NYT)
Joe’s Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place,
At 7 p.m., $15 in advance, $20 at the door
(212) 967-7555, joespub.com

Ginger Baker (through Oct. 13)
“In the excellent 2012 documentary “Beware of Mr. Baker,” Eric Clapton can only snort when asked to compare the drumming skills of Ginger Baker with those of his contemporaries Keith Moon and John Bonham. Though the volatile, unstable Baker made Clapton’s life miserable as his bandmate, first in Cream and then in Blind Faith, he had no equal as a musician, Clapton assures us. The phenomenally talented Baker, who participated in titanic drum battles with Elvin Jones and Art Blakey and, in the mid-nineties, fronted a group with Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell, will be performing for five nights.” (NewYorker mag)
Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, at 51st Street,
At 8 and 10 p.m., /$50 and $60 cover, with a $15 minimum.
The early shows are sold out.
(212) 582-2121, theiridium.com

Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm dates and check times, as schedules are subject to change. ===============================================================================

Chelsea is the heart of the NYCity contemporary art scene. Home to more than 300 art galleries, the Rubin Museum, the Joyce Theater, and The Kitchen performance spaces,   there is no place like it anywhere in the world.

Come here to browse free exhibitions by world-renowned artists and those unknowns waiting to be discovered in an art district that is concentrated between West 18th and West 27th Streets, and 10th and 11th Avenues.

Afterwards stop in the Chelsea Market, stroll on the High Line, or rest up at one of the many cafes and bars and discuss the fine art – my fave is Ovest on W 27th St., where the aperitivo is like Happy Hour on steroids.

WHAT’S ON VIEW: Here are a few Special Exhibitions in Chelsea Galleries that you may want to see:

Matthew Day Jackson, “Something Ancient, Something New, Something Stolen, Something Blue” (until Sat Oct.19)
“Space missions, military hardware and anatomy are some of the points of departure for the artist’s latest works, which, as usual, plumb the darker reaches of American history, life and popular culture.” (TONY Mag)
Hauser & Wirth New York 511 W 18th St. (btw 10th/111th Ave)
Tue–Sat, 10am–6pm / FREE
212-794-4970 / hauserwirth.com

Sol LeWitt (until Oct. 12)
“Reincarnated here for the first time since its presentation in the 1988 Venice Biennale, Sol Lewitt’s “Wall Drawing #564: Complex forms with color ink washes simperimposed” offers 2,448 square feet of visual sumptuousness covering three walls of Paula Cooper’s main exhibition space. Bold, black lines about half a foot wide divide the surface into rectangular compartments occupied by multicolored, crystalline forms surrounded by single-color fields. It’s beautiful.” (Johnson-NYT)
Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 West 21st St.
255-1105, paulacoopergallery.com.

Taner Ceylan, “The Lost Paintings Series” (until Oct.26)
This Turkish painter employs photorealist techniques to deconstruct Orientalism, a 19th-century genre in Europe and the United States that featured exotic scenes of the mysterious Levant. Some artists relied on pure fantasy; others traveled to North Africa and elsewhere to base their visions on some observable reality. Either way, Orientalism went hand in glove with colonialism, as the stereotypes it helped foster were essential to the psychology of Western empire building. Ceylan plays with and against these same stereotypes, portraying dusky, alluring women as well as men in fezzes and kaffiyehs, though with notable twists (the inclusion of evidently gay subjects, for instance). More to the point, he juxtaposes one sort of illusion (paintings that look like photographs) with another—the myths and misconceptions that have emerged about the Middle East.
Paul Kasmin Gallery, 515 W 27th St. (btw Tenth/Eleventh Aves)
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm / FREE
212-563-4474 / paulkasmingallery.com

Josh Smith (until Oct.19)
Smith’s painterly spin on bad-boy aesthetics is given ample room in this two-space show, taking up Luhring Augustine’s Chelsea and Brooklyn locations.
Luhring Augustine, 531 W 24th St. (btw Tenth and Eleventh Aves)
Tue–Sat 10am–6pm
212-206-9100 / luhringaugustine.com

For a listing of 25 essential galleries in the Chelsea Art Gallery District, organized by street, which enables you to create your own Chelsea Art Gallery crawl, see the Chelsea Gallery Guide (nycgo.com) ==========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : Manhattan’s WestSide” dated (10/08) and (10/06).