The Arts in New York City

My trip to the Wax Museum in Times Square was definitely memorable and fun. It was my first-hand experience to see Hollywood celebrities and recognizable political figures so closely. The wax figures looked so realistic that I sometimes cannot differentiate between a tourist and a wax figure. The highlight of my visit was the experience at the VIP room. I experienced to be a part of the hottest party scene in New York, and took pictures with Jessica Simpson, Madonna, and Usher. The pictures came out so real that they fooled many of my friends. A section called the “American Idol” allows tourists to get invovled. I went up to the stage and auditioned for the show’s toughest judge, Simon. I also made his signature eye roll pose beside him. I would say it is worthwhile to visit there for once, getting a close look at your idol’s wax figure while it might be awkward and impossible to do so to the real people. I did not know Angelina Jolie has a tattoo on her back until this time I had the chance to take a real close look at her. I appreciate the work and energy artists put into their jobs in order to recreate the a real person.

When I walked out of The Met, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone was gathered around the staircase in one corner. There were two people addressing the crowd. It didn’t look like anything special but everyone was captivated by their presence. Watching their performance gave me the feeling of watching aspiring actors. They clearly practiced their routine many times before taking it to the street. Their words and movement flowed as if they were totally in sync with each other. They were jumping from place to place and involving the audience. They were prepared to adapt to anything that was thrown their way. They planned out their dialogue, yet played it like the words were just coming to them. They pumped up their performance (jumping over a line of people) but always held back until people donated more money. People paid because they wanted to know what would happen next. They wanted to see what these two had prepared for them. These two are no Elvis and Costello, but they managed to capture the audience as well as accomplish their goal…make some money while entertaining. I credit them for managing to grab the attention of hundreds of people by sharing their simple, yet artistic performance/persuasion. They may be aspiring actors/performers but they managed to get people to pay to watch them perform.

Arrive no later than 3pm to our meeting place… (more…)

Dance is a lot more weird and complicated than one would think, and what one finds in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery at Lincoln Center Plaza will be surprising. Not knowing much about dance, I was baffled by what I saw at the Invention Exhibition by Merce Cunningham & Collaborators. The first thing I noticed a giant, green tripod-looking structure in the center of room. And that wasn’t the only oddity there. The exhibition included numerous strange costumes. For example, there was a whole line of tights by Jasper Johns in the seven colors of the rainbow so it would create a spectrum when the dancers took a bow. Another one by David Hare looked like a character from Star Trek Voyager, with a ring around its head and paddle-like hands. Aluminum pillows and dresses that opened up like fans hung from the ceilings. Along with a modified piano pierced with screws, sticks, rubber, and plastic, I realized there was more to dance than meets the eye. Music sheets, orchestra lists, stage directions, and choreographic notes displayed showed that there were many components to performances and it took a lot of planning. Sure, the sets may look funky, such as in Walkaround Time where dancers were inside plastic-wrap boxes, but while watching Summerspace on the large projection screen or just observing the photographs lined against the walls, one could not help but admire the dancers for their grace, strength, and balance. I was taken by how different dance was from how I had envisioned it. It was more than just someone in a tutu prancing about. Dance had influenced so many other forms of artwork, including music and paintings. Anyone who may or may not be interested in dance should visit this exhibition because I personally find the strange costumes worth the time. Always a fan of the outlandish and puzzling, I think I will start to appreciate dance a lot more. (more…)

Out of curiosity (or rather beckoned by the numerous signs around area), I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a glimpse of the newly renovated Greek and Roman Galleries. The 15-year project opens up with its signature hallway – gleaming statues stand illuminated by natural light via the glass ceiling. Rooms opened on either sides display smaller, but equally as beautiful, works of art. Further down the hallway, visitors are met with an enormous column from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis. Standing almost twice the height of the average full-grown man, the column is simply mind-blowing and even I, like many other visitors, couldn’t resist the urge in snapping a few pictures. However, the real treat of the renovation lies behind the enormous column – a beautiful sunlit two-story courtyard decorated with never before seen sculptures. A simple fountain, benches, natural light from the sunroof and the dark marble on the floor highlight the sculptures, providing a beautiful environment in which one can study the sculpture. The trip to the mezzanine comes with surprising elevator service and features a display of exquisite Etruscan art. The most interesting note is that all of the pieces upstairs are held in large glass cases with at first what seems to be a complete lack of information panels and tags. Instead, the Met has invested in a state-of-the-art set of computers (along the side of the room) that allow you to locate a piece of art by cabinet, level and position. The newly renovated gallery devoted to Greek and Roman art is a real treat for admirers of art from antiquity and even if you don’t happen to have an interest in the physical artwork, the environment that has been created is fantastic place to rest up. Pictures? If so, (more…)

After staying at the MoMA for more than three hours, writing a blurb could have been the easiest thing to do.  However, I changed my mind on my way home when I set foot in the subway station at 53rd St. (E and V trains).  I could not believe what I saw before me – advertisements posted all over the wall of the station; there was not any space left, not even for an ant.  Though these advertisements had commercial purposes, I still viewed them with artistic eyes.  I honestly hate advertisements in train stations, but I liked these ones because they were either replicas of famous works of art, or perfect photographs of events in the past.  However, all of them had a unison message – “Please come to our museum.”  It was funny to see that every museum near the station, such as the MoMa, the Municipal Art Society, the Museum of Radio and Television, and the American Folk Art Museum, were all advertising there.

Art Is Everywhere

As I walked toward the subway for some reason the steel tree catches my eye. I would walk by these trees every morning with no reaction, so why now? It hit me. This was art. After some reading I found out the three steel structures are named: Conjoined, Defunct, and Erratic. These pieces of art made by Roxy Paine were made to juxtapose industrialization and nature.

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Outside the Met two Fridays ago, two black guys were at the bottom of the steps giving a street performance. They got three willing volunteers to go up and stand in a straight line and one of the performers was going to jump over them. After a minute of mental preparation, they asked for a little kid volunteer. After one guy did a flip in the air over the little kid and then somersaulted once on the ground while landing, the two guys asked for donations in such a humorous, skillful way that I found that it was almost artistic. They said in perfect unison lines they had obviously performed over and over again:

“If you liked the show and would like to see us do the big jump, please make a donation. We are not asking for much, we just want all the money in your wallet.” Whenever a kid donated money, the performers said, “Thank you. Now, go ask your parents for more.”

I was surprised to see that they got almost everyone to donate. Some people donated $20!! Their performance of the art of persuasion was something I will never forget even though I did not stay to see if the big jump was even worth all the money they received.

The Spanish sculpture Renaissance lecture given by Metropolitan Museum on Friday evening was really an enriching and inspiring experience to me. It was about both art profession and art history in Europe. It was only a less than an hour lecture, but I really got a lot from it. I found Span’s art history was really interesting, moreover, to some extent, it was a microscope of European’s art history. Sculptors from Italy, Netherlands and other European countries all had come to Span to work. Noticeably, Spanish sculptors’ style was largely affected by Italian sculptors’, especially by Micheal Angelo’s. The figures they created were more symmetrical and muscular than those by norther European’s. Their materials were mainly marble, which was from Italy, and wood, span’s traditional material. An unique technique of Spanish Sculpture  was: the sculptors liked to put a gilded cover over their works. And then they mixed the gild with colors , which extremely resembled Span’s Ancient clothes’ material. Another thing I found interesting was how those works were obtained by the museum. Amazingly, all the works were original. They were first possessed by a Paris dealer. Later on, they were sold to an American merchant. That merchant accommodated them in his own house. Before he died, he made a promise that he agreed to contribute those works to the museum. Thus, the public would see. So, all the works(columns, stairs, windows, etc) were taken into parts piece by piece. Then they were transferred into Metropolitan Museum and rebuilt up.

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