Park Avenue Armory presents Trisha Brown Dance Company’s reconstruction of Astral Converted, a groundbreaking work by acclaimed choreographer Trisha Brown. This highly anticipated revival marks the first time in 18 years the piece will be presented in its entirety in the soaring 55,000-square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall.

The re-staging of Astral Converted brings back collaborators, Robert Rauschenberg, visual and costume design, with original music by John Cage.  Astral's dark and cosmos like set  is anchored by Rauschenberg's motion sensored towers which activated by the dancers’ movements initiate the performance’s light and sound. The movement combines sudden bursts of gravity-defying plunges and crashes with fluid leaps and falls creating an unpredictable, understated, and powerful choreographic work. With moving bodies appearing as stars amid an illimitable darkness Astral Converted is the perfect performance piece for contemporary art fans with a bent for architecture or geometry.

ARTISTS/WANTED

Tonight more than a dozen of the most iconic digital signs in Times Square will be made into an immense display of art, while a street party erupts below to mark the occasion. The scale of this exhibition is extraordinary, with signs that reach as high as 23 stories. The works will be on display for several weeks to the half-­million people who cross through Times Square daily.

In collaboration with the Times Square Alliance and the non-­profit group Chashama, Artists Wanted has produced Art Takes Times Square, a worldwide call for entries searching for inspired works by artists, designers, photographers and all creative talents from across the globe to curate one creative vision and an opportunity of a lifetime -­ as chosen artists receive a radiant presentation on Times Square’s digital billboards before millions of observers this summer.

"It’s been a fantasy of ours, and of many artists, to turn Times Square into an awe-­inspiring art experience," said William Etundi Jr., Founder and Director of Artists Wanted. "It’s an honor to work with the Times Square Alliance and Chashama to turn that fantasy into reality."

Join host QuestLove, of the Roots, and the thousands of expected art enthusiasts tonight on 43rd Street from 7pm to 11pm to kick off this huge and historic exhibition.

LIKE A WALK IN
THE SKY

This past weekend the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened it's rooftop to visitors with a curious sculpture of sixteen stainless steel framed… "bubbles"? Standing at 54 feet wide and almost 30 feet high, Cloud City, is part of the Met's rooftop sculpture program, currently in its 15th year.

The cutting edge brainchild of Argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno, Cloud City is a constellation of large, interconnected modules constructed with transparent and reflective materials which visitors may enter to experience panoramic views of central park and a high rise vision of manhattan's cityscape; all from within the various interiors of the modular structures. The alternately reflective, shined and transparent glass components create dizzying spatial illusions and a stunning aerial perspective of our picturesque city.

"What inspired me was the geometry of the soap bubbles or the foam, of how they connect one sphere to the other," says Saraceno. When asked about her experience inside Cloud City a visitor stated "It's pretty disconcerting. I keep losing my center of gravity and feeling like I am going to fall. It's very cool, but I wouldn't recommend having a drink before you get in here."

The exhibit is open, weather permitting, during regular museum hours till
November 4th 2012

© Robert Heinecken,1988


This installation and "critical reassessment of photography's role in the avant garde" presents more than 250 works by approximately 90 artists, all of whom helped shape the role of photography in various defining movements, from Dada to Post-Conceptual Art. Works date from 1910 to the present and feature photographers such as Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Edward Ruscha, Martha Rosler, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and Philip-Lorca diCorcia to name a few.

PAINTINGS FROM
THE
80'S

ANDY WARHOL : PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE HEDGES COLLECTION
MARCH 1 - APRIL 21, 2012

Given how much he is still with us, it is hard to believe that Andy Warhol died 25 years ago. Yet the quarter of a century since his death has only affirmed his artistic genius and prescience. With his paintings now iconic emblems of twentieth century art and his aphorisms and insights now a part of the vernacular it would seem there are few stones in Warhol's oeuvre left unturned – yet his photography remains one of the least known aspects of his work.

This is ironic given how much of Warhol's work was photo based. And as Warhol told an interview in 1963, "The reason I'm painting this way is because I want to be a machine". In Warhol's photography – he became the machine. His photographs present an opportunity not only to see how much he experimented with medium and form, but to understand the vast range of his interests – from the biggest stars to the handsomest boys to the most mundane objects.



© Andy Warhol


The exhibition Andy Warhol: Photographer comprised of 143 unique prints is the first gallery show to focus on all the varieties of Warhol's photographic output.

FASHION, LUXURY
MONEY & POWER

Beginning March 24th, The Grand Palais in Paris is set to hold a major exhibit of legendary photographer Helmut Newton’s life work. Since Newton’s death in 2004, there has been no retrospective of his photography in France, though he did much of his work there, particularly for French Vogue. This major retrospective will feature more than 200 photographs, mostly originals and vintage prints made under the photographer’s direct supervision.

“Provocative, sometimes shocking, Newton’s work tried to capture the beauty, eroticism, humor, and sometimes violence that he sensed in the social interaction within the familiar worlds of fashion, luxury, money and power,” the museum informs.

Aside from his more recognizable work, other realms of his art will also be featured, as well as a documentary film entitled, Helmut by June, made by the late artist's wife June Newton, also a photographer and the designer of this exhibition. For a preview for what's in store at The Grand Palais click more below.

Will Ryman's latest exhibition Anyone And No One on view at both of Paul Kasmin’s Chelsea locations continues to serve us an over sized portrait of our everyday world. Ryman’s work plays with scale, huge flowers, massive ants and in this instance, in part, a giant man.  

The exhibition emerges from an accumulation of nails, paint brushes, bottle caps, shoes and other familiar materials. Combined, Ryman scales up a reclining man and gives us a wandering labyrinth to navigate and not far off, a giant bird made of nails. Equal parts Pop and Surrealism, Ryman's work takes us to a strange place on the coattails of the everyday.  

To view more of Raymond Han's work click here

THE COMPLETE
SPOT PAINTINGS
1986–2011