Category Archives: Art and Exhibition Reviews

Complexions Review

The Complexions performance at the Joyce Theater was quite an experience. Going to the movie theater, baseball games, and other large events, I would think front row, or very close to front row seats are awesome. They make us feel top notch, first class, and are supposed to be good thing. However, front seats at the Joyce Theater was not a good idea at all. It was nerve-racking, because the dancers were sweating and breathing, and I felt like I was too close to them. Personally, I like to keep a distance from people, and I felt like I was making them even more nervous and adding to their tension by being all up in their faces. It got to the point where I could see the sweat on their foreheads dancing off into the air, and I was afraid some of it would land on me. Therefore, no more front seats ever again for me, especially at a dance performance.

The professor said we would be witnessing a ballet performance, so I was expecting something like the Nutcracker. For some reason, I also thought the performance would be boring, because I don’t really pay attention to watching dance, unless I’m watching myself dance. However, the performance blew me away, and I loved the way the performers kept their energy levels up the whole time, especially towards the end. It was interesting to see their moods change throughout all three parts of the performance. I had questions in my head that were left unanswered, and I believe that’s something awesome about the performance: the curiosity kept me glued to my seat. Is there something I’m supposed to understand from the performance? Why is she making those faces? How come he’s moving so slowly? There were moments when I thought I would understand something by the end of a segment of the performance, and there were moments when I was feeling the tensions of the performers, based on their body language.

I absolutely enjoyed the third part of the performance, and I definitely started clapping to the beat. The performance was exceptional, and the dancers were fantastic. Their energy kept me awake and going as well, because if they started losing it, I would have fell asleep in that seat, considering how late it was and exhausted I was that night. That would have been a disaster for somebody sitting in front row seats!

Meditation and Art

So I might go a little off topic but Michele’s post reminded me of the artist I interviewed, Robin Bachman. In addition to painting deities, Ms. Bachman meditates on her free time. In fact, for her, painting and creating her various artworks serve as a way of meditating and relaxation for her. She sent me an article someone wrote about her after interviewing her about meditation and the influence it has on her artwork. It is really amazing to see how two different things–meditation and art–can come together to create something really beautiful.
Check it out! http://www.yogacitynyc.com/articles/WeeklyDetails/785

Complexions

Last Tuesday, we went to see the contemporary ballet, Complexions, at the Joyce Theater. The first thing I noticed was the very sculpted body of each dancer. The dim lights and shadows emphasized the muscles even more. This made me think about how much effort each dancer has to put in their moves. Even a skip, a hop, a spin across the stage required the utmost concentration and focus. The amount of discipline and energy in making the difficult look effortless was remarkable.

There were a lot of quiet almost silent moments in the second segment that made me uncomfortable because it threw me off. After minutes of music in the background, the sudden quietness startled me. I didn’t know what to concentrate on anymore. However, after a few minutes of silence I began to focus on the heavy breathing of each dancer. There was this one part when the dancers ended an act by breathing heavily in sync with each other and facing the audience and I found this part especially captivating. Another part that I particularly remember was when at the end of one dance all of the dancers walked all the way up to the front of the stage and just stared into the audience. Their methods of engaging us was different than most shows that I’ve seen. By causing slight awkwardness and discomfort with us – the audience, is the dancer able to capture our undivided attention. However, despite the silence, the second segment of the three part ballet was my favorite.

Compared to the first and second parts, the last segment of the ballet was lively and upbeat. However, I did not find it particularly memorable. It was fun to watch but compared its previous counterpart it was more predictable, making it almost boring. Overall, this ballet was a good experience and definitely helped spark my interest in the art of dance.

 

 

The Astor Place Cube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcl9NPl481k

Hi all! So Michele’s post about the house in the bottle reminded me of this video, which describes how a man supposedly lives inside the Cube on Astor Place (obviously, this is not true. If you actually have seen the Cube in person, there aren’t any openings) but I just found it interesting how people were able to come up with such interesting ideas involving a sculpture that people pass by every day. As for me, I never took notice of the Cube until this video. I actually checked it out, with a couple of other classmates, before we headed to watch the play “Fun Home,” (we were actually able to make it move a little!!) and even though I was a bit disappointed that there was no one living in it, I was glad it made me more aware of a sculpture that has actually been existent for quite a while. Also, I was pretty amazed at how creative this video was; it was so descriptive, creative, and sounded like it made so much sense so people including myself actually believed there was someone in there.

Pop Art Totem Pole at City Hall Park

One day I went to Pace University to meet up with my boyfriend. I got there a little early so I decided to take a little walk through City Hall Park. While walking, I stumbled upon this humongous sculpture. It looked like a totem pole, but not like the traditional, Native American totem poles. No, this totem pole featured four segments, each segment being a different color. This sculpture is part of a series of artworks featured in the park called Lightness of Being by Gary Webb. However, despite there being other sculptures in the series, this sculpture caught my eye because it reminded me of pop art in a sense with its bright colors. Also, it seems like some of the paint was trying to move away from the totem pole, since some of the paint extends out of the sculpture. Rather than having the paint stay on the artwork, the paint seems to be coming off, which is completely against traditional ways of painting (hence why I thought of pop art!) I looked online and saw that this will be in City Hall Park until December 13th, so if you are interested make sure to check it out before its gone! A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4, 5 trains to Fulton Street!

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Theresa Bernstein at Baruch’s Sidney Mishkin Gallery

About two weeks ago, my Art History professor, Gail Levin, invited our class to see her exhibition at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery right here at Baruch. Professor Levin’s exhibition featured the works of the late Theresa Bernstein, who was a 20th century American artist, painter, and writer. What I like most about Bernstein’s works of art is the messages she always tries to convey within them. Bernstein is a realist painter, and often depicts many aspects of NYC. Some of the subjects in Bernstein’s paintings are immigrants. She does this to show the hardships immigrants faced at the time–the struggle of coming to America and assimilating into NYC life. Bernstein was also famous for her works that showed everyday life in NYC, such as painting break dancers in Central Park. If you are interested, the exhibition will be open at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery at 135 East 22nd St. until December 11.

http://nml.cuny.edu/theresabernstein/

GRiZ the Wiz

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Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure to see a DJ from Detroit perform at Terminal 5. His stage name is GRiZ. Unlike the rest of the people I’ve seen, what made GRiZ stand out was his saxophone playing skills. While he was up there on stage mixing, he was playing the saxophone at the same time. The sax is his secret weapon in standing out amongst the myriad of EDM artists popping up all over the nation.
Before going in, I did not know that he played the saxophone. When he took it out in the middle of his set, I was confused as to what he was going to do with it. Then right when he started to actually play the sax, I was blown away. The soothing, jazzy sounds of the sax complemented the hard beats of his electronic set. It was incredible that he was able to do such a thing. His saxophone playing was effortless, and his ability to switch back and forth without messing up made it even better.

Interview with Geraldine Benfante


Geraldine Benfante enjoys doing landscape art, and has been drawing since she was eight years old. She didn’t want to be dependent on her art for a living, so she went on to pursue a nursing degree alongside the art degree. Benfante resides in Queens, and fund-raises for the local East Elmhurst Public Library. Here’s my artist interview. Enjoy!

Aware of the Gehr(y)

Last week before the Thanksgiving break, I went to pay a visit to my high school for Alumni Day. My school is located in Tribeca and so I decided to walk through City Hall to get there. While walking I noticed the building pictured above. It is the Beekman Tower at 8 Spruce Street. It was designed by architect Frank Gehry and it was his first skyscraper. I never realized that it was completed and upon further research I found out that it was completed two years ago. As a high schooler I used to always walk by the building as it was under construction. Designed by an architect superstar or not, I thought it was ugly then and still think its an eyesore. Many praise it as one of finest skyscrapers to have risen in New York. To me, it will always look like an uncompleted building still waiting to receive its finishing touches.