Tonight I went and see Tatsumi at the MoMA Film (Theater 2), a 2011 animation film from Singapore, directed by Eric Khoo, with the voice of Yoshihiro Tatsumi (who brought innovation to Japanese comics through works of social commentary aimed at an adult audience in postwar Japan in the late 1950s). A Drifting Life, Tatsumi’s epic graphic novel memoir, forms the foundation for the film.
Interesting the unavoidable paralel one can draw between Italys neorealism postwar cinema and Tatsumis works.
This morning I have been at the MET. First I took advantage of the invitation to preview the Dawn of Egyptian Art exhibition which will be on display April 10–August 5, 2012.
While there were many remarkable pieces (for several reasons) in the exhibition, this coyote figure completely captivated me. The legs position denote movement, which is uncommon in animal depictions of the later eras. The reason being that as art evolved, and became "institutionalized" in Ancient Egypt, it adhered more closely to standards and canons, loosing some if the earlier works creativity and freedom, such as this one.
Today I went to one of MoMA`s members-only gallery talks. This one was about their current Cindy Sherman exhibition (great website, by the way).
Rather than rambling on about Cindy Sherman`s interesting work (an obvious reference to identity, stereotypes, social criticism, art depiction, etc, with her easily recognizable periods and themes), on which there are many articles these days, here are some anecdotes:
Photography is not allowed (I really hate it when museums do not allow photography), so why do they place QRs (particularly when the phone coverage is quite bad)?
On Sunday I went to the Independent Art Spaces Symposium and Art Spaces Directory Launch at the New Museum.
I purchased the Art Spaces Directory last week, and I believe it is an excellent work, useful informative, needed. But the symposium was… sad, to say the least: a bunch of gallery (art-spaces) curators, unable to play a PowerPoint (sic… makes me sick), and regurgitating exhibit picture after exhibit picture while vomiting names after names of artists, collectives and the like.
On Sunday I went to Cha-an. In short: a cute japanese restaurant, good food, excellent desserts, and what seems to be the best Japanese Tea Ceremony in NY (ate there, but will have to do the ceremony some other day). Definitely to the “must” list.
On Wednesday I visited the studio of Madeline Weinrib on 5th Ave., New York.
Located on an impressive loft, her new studio (it used to be located at her apartment above a small museum in SoHo) is, as one would have imagined, full of decorative and inspirational elements, plus lots and lots of fabric samples, books and pictures.
In an informal conversation, Madeline explained her move from painter to fabric designer in 1997 (although she “forgot” to mention the connexion to her great-grandfather`s company), her world-wide network of artisans and suppliers, and her obvious historical design pattern “inspirations” (curious how she considers large manufacturers are “ripping her off” by copying “her patterns”, when her work is such an obvious “appropriation” from well known historical-cultural patterns such as the zig-zag or the muslim interlocks, as she describes it in this interview).
The Japan Society invited me to L`Arc~en~Ciel concert at the Madison Square Garden last night, so there I went.
L`Arc~en~Ciel is a Japanese rock band formed in 1991 in Osaka. The group has sold over 13 million albums, and 16 million singles. Currently on a world tour (obviously last night in NY), their upcoming London and Jakarta concerts are already sold out, and their NY concert was bigger than expected.
