NYCity 1-2-3 : What's Happening / Manhattan's WestSide

Today’s TOP 10 – SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2015

Smart Stuff / Other
(Lectures, Discussions, Book Talks, Literary Readings, Classes, Food & Drink, Other)

> West Chelsea Artists Open Studios
self-guided tour begins at 508 and 526 W26th St., near 10th Ave. / 12PM-6PM, FREE
meet West Chelsea artists and see where and how they work.

> Big Apple Barbecue Block Party 
Madison Square Park, / 11AM, FREE
pit masters from across the country, for this 13th annual BBQ bash.

> 39th Annual American Crafts Festival
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , 64th St at Columbus Ave. / 10AM – 7PM, FREE
nearly 300 craftspeople have been chosen from the thousands who entered, so this fair gives you an opportunity to pick wares from the cream of the artisan crop.

Elsewhere, but a real treat for flapper lovers, and worth a ferry ride to Governor’s Island:
> Jazz Age Lawn Party 
Governors Island / 11AM-5PM, various prices.
“fox trot over to Governors Island for this 1920s-themed outdoor shindig” (TONY)

Have time for only one event today? Do this:

> Jazz Age Lawn Party (also Sunday)
Governors Island / 11AM-5PM, various prices.

“On the occasion of its 10th Anniversary, Michael Arenella is planning the grandest Jazz Age Lawn Party to date. Once again, the location is beautiful Governors Island, and performers include Arenella’s Dreamland Orchestra, the Art Deco spectacle of The Dreamland Follies and many other Jazz Age inspired artists. Dance lessons, specially curated cocktails, vintage portraits, vintage car and motor bike exhibitions and gourmet food markets await. Tickets from $55. Also Sunday. Governors Island.” (dnainfo.com)

“Brush up on your Fitzgerald and Hemingway in time for this outdoor bash which sees Governors Island transform into a Prohibition-era soiree. Over two weekends—the second in August—you can Charleston to Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra, while wearing your finest flapper garb and zoot suits. Then Lindy Hop over to the bar for era-appropriate cocktails (that promise to taste better than bathtub gin).” (TONY)

“Sometimes history works best as full immersion, even if there’s some stray ink here and there as anachronism. The Jazz Age Lawn Party turns Governors Island into a pocket of Roaring Twenties culture, complete with gramophones, Tin Lizzies and a Charleston dance-off (the party runs both Saturday and Sunday).” (ThoughtGallery.org)

Bonus – Music Venues:
So much fine live music every night in this town. These are a few of my favorite music venues on Manhattan’s WestSide. Check out who’s playing tonight:
City Winery – 155 Varick St. / citywinery.com, 212-608-0555
Joe’s Pub @ Public Theater – 425 Lafayette St. / joespub.com, 212-967-7555
Metropolitan Room – 34 W22nd St. / metropolitan room.com, 212-206-0440
Le Poisson Rouge – 158 Bleecker St. / lepoissonrouge.com, 212-505-3474
Beacon Theatre – 2124 Broadway @ 74th St. / beacontheatre.com, 212-465-6500
B.B. King’s Blues Bar – 237 W42nd St. / bbkingblues.com, 212-997-2144
Special Mention:
Caffe Vivaldi – 32 Jones St. nr Bleecker St. / caffevivaldi.com, 212-691-7538
a classic, old jazz club in the Village, Caffe V often surprises with a wonderfully eclectic lineup. It’s my favorite spot for an evening of listening enjoyment and discovery.

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♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.
♦ NYCity, with a population of  8.5 million, had a record 56 million visitors last year and is TripAdvisor’s Traveler’s Choice Top U.S. Destination for 2015.  Quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.
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WHAT’S ON VIEW
My Fave Special Exhibitions – MUSEUMS / Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue
(See the New York Times Arts Section for listings of all museum exhibitions,
and also see the expanded reviews of these exhibitions)

Metropolitan Museum of Art:
‘Reimagining Modernism: 1900-1950’ (continuing)
One of the greatest encyclopedic museums in the world fulfills its mission a little more with an ambitious reinstallation of works of early European modernism with their American counterparts for the first time in nearly 30 years. Objects of design and paintings by a few self-taught artists further the integration. It is quite a sight, with interesting rotations and fine-tunings to come. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.” (Smith)

‘Fatal Attraction: Piotr Uklanski Selects From The Met Collection’ (LastDay) Complementing the survey of his photographs, the artist has orchestrated 80 works from the museum’s holdings — along with a few of his own — into a mesmerizing display meditating on sex and death. Consisting mostly of photographs, it is bolstered by paintings by Dali and Cranach sculptures from several cultures and several surprises. Scratch any artist of note, even a post-modern one, and you often find a connoisseur. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Smith)

‘Fatal Attraction: Piotr Uklanski Photographs’ (through Aug. 16)
A small but succinct survey of the multimedia bad-boy artist’s polymorphous relationship to photography shows him constantly changing scale, film and printing methods while exploring the medium’s ability to startle, seduce and become generic. He appropriates, imitates and pays homage as he goes, regularly invoking his Polish roots. Don’t miss the large photo-banners in the museum’s Great Hall or the massive fiber-sculpture monument to the eye and to insatiable looking. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org. (Smith)

Neue Galerie:
‘Egon Schiele: Portraits’ (through Sept. 07)
“Of the approximately 125 items in this terrific show, there are only 11 oil paintings, which is a good thing. Except for a large picture of his wife, Edith, in a colorful striped dress, Schiele’s works on canvas are dark and turgid. But his drawings are nimble and nuanced. Working on paper with pencil, charcoal, ink, gouache, watercolor and crayons, he portrayed himself and others with infectious avidity. There’s hardly a single sheet here that doesn’t warrant close looking for its virtuoso draftsmanship and psychological acuity. 1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street, 212-628-6200, neuegalerie.org. “(Johnson)

Guggenheim Museum:
Kandinsky Before Abstraction, 1901–1911 (through spring 2015)
Early in his career Vasily Kandinsky experimented with printmaking, produced brightly-colored landscapes of the German countryside, and explored recognizable and recurrent motifs. This intimate exhibition drawn from the Guggenheim collection explores the artist’s representational origins.

El Museo del Barrio:
‘Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa, Art and Film’ (through June 27)
Painting with light is one way to define the cinematographer’s task, and it describes the art of Gabriel Figueroa (1907-1997), who worked with some of the leading international film directors of his time and was a national hero in his native Mexico, the supreme painter-in-light of Mexicanidad. How do you put this particular kind of art across in a museum — art that is as much about time as it is about material, as much about flux as it is about fixity? This show, which mixes Figueroa film clips with paintings and prints by some of Mexico’s greatest artists and in the process utterly transforms El Museo’s interior spaces, gives an enthralling answer. 1230 Fifth Avenue, at 104th Street, East Harlem, 212-831-7272, elmuseo.org. (Cotter)

Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (continuing):
The stately doors of the 1902 Andrew Carnegie mansion, home to the Cooper Hewitt, are open again after an overhaul and expansion of the premises. Historic house and modern museum have always made an awkward fit, a standoff between preservation and innovation, and the problem remains, but the renovation has brought a wide-open new gallery space, a cafe and a raft of be-your-own-designer digital enhancements. Best of all, more of the museum’s vast permanent collection is now on view, including an Op Art weaving, miniature spiral staircases, ballistic face masks and a dainty enameled 18th-century version of a Swiss knife. Like design itself, this institution is built on tumult and friction, and you feel it. 2 East 91st Street, at Fifth Avenue, 212-849-8400, cooperhewitt.org. (Cotter)

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Museum Mile is a section of Fifth Avenue which contains one of the densest displays of culture in the world. Eight museums can be found along this section of Fifth Avenue:

• 105th Street – El Museo del Barrio (closed Sun-Mon)*
• 103rd Street – Museum of the City of New York (open 7 days /week)
•  92nd Street – The Jewish Museum (closed Wed) (Sat FREE) (Thu 5-8 PWYW)
•  91st Street  –  Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (open 7 days /week)
•  89th Street –  National Academy Museum (closed Mon-Tue)
•  88th Street –  Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (closed Thu) (Sat 6-8 PWYW)
•  86th Street –  Neue Galerie New York (closed Tue-Wed) (Fri 6-8 FREE)
Last, but certainly not least, America’s premier museum
•  82nd Street – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (open 7 days /week)*
*always Pay What You Wish (PWYW)

Although technically not part of the Museum Mile, the Frick Collection (closed Mon) (SUN 11am-1pm PWYW) on the corner of 70th St. and Fifth Avenue and the The Morgan Library & Museum (closed Mon) (Fri 7-9 FREE) on Madison Ave and 37th St are also located near Fifth Ave.
Now plan your own museum crawl (info on hours & admission updated June 2, 2015). ========================================================

For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in right Sidebar dated 06/12 and 06/10.