Free Art in Manhattan

Not many things in NYC are free these days, but there are several art-related events going on in the next month that are FREE of charge! So save your spending money and explore NYC's "Free Art Scene."

NY Magazine lists 21 free art events in Manhattan. Some highlights include:

Alex Prager @ Yancey Richardson Gallery - Prager's complex photographs include images of California blondes with weird stares, waxy tans, retro buoyancy and forceful body language. All of the artist's photos were shot in the LA neighborhood where she grew up and the models' clothes came from an actress friend of her grandmothers, adding a uniquely personal touch to the show. (Oh how I love Hollywood Glamour!)


Gelitin @ Greene Naftali - Blindfolded half-naked Austrian artists (all part of the art collective, Gelitin) have composed sculptures of found materials at Green Naftali. Their creative style and chaotic perseverance blend masterfully. Hmm... I can't quite picture it, but it definitely sounds intriguing.


Johnny Swing @ Knoedler & Company - Go see Swing's functional - yet fun furniture, which he crafts from re-purposed materials (like baby-food jars and leather floor tiles).

Thomas Ruff @ David Zwirner - David Zwirner never seems to disappoint - and now is no exception. The influential German photographer, Thomas Ruff, ventures away from his usual portraiture, landscapes and architecture to create fascinating and elaborate visual systems (via computer-generated images depicting 3d curves).



Yaddo: Making American Culture @ the New York Public Library - This ongoing exhibition shows the legendary Saratoga Springs artists' community Yaddo's fantastic array of papers, art and ephemera. Since 1926, the community has hosted thousands of creative people, from Flannery O'Connor to Jacob Lawrence.

Have fun with these freebies!

Alicia Keys Supports "Africa Now" at Bonhams

Last Year Bonhams New Bond Street in London hosted Britain's first ever auction sale of works exclusively by contemporary African artists entitled "Africa Now." Now, famed singer, songwriter, actress, author, and philanthropist (with extreme interest in Africa), Alicia Keys, is showing her support for Bonhams New York, which will host the "Africa Now: Contemporary African Art" sale on March 10, 2010. Keys' charity, "Keep a Child Alive" will partner with Bonhams for a VIP reception, which is sponsored by Afren plc, the African focused independent oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in several African countries.

Keys and Leigh Blake founded "Keep a Child Alive" in 2003 with the mission of providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment and health care to children and families with HIV/ AIDS in Africa and India. The organization has served more than 250,000 children and families.

Keys talks about her organization's work and her recent trip to Africa,

"It's amazing to return to Africa and witness those who were so ill and near death, being brought back to life because of the medical care they were able to receive. Just knowing that your time and effort has helped build paediatric wings in hospitals and supply medicine to those who might not otherwise receive it, gives me a real sense of purpose."

The "Africa Now" sale at Bonhams New York will be the first commercial auction of African contemporary art ever held in the US and features work by both new and established artists.

CLICK HERE to read the entire ArtDaily Article associated with this post.

Art Adds: Public Art on NYC's Taxis

New York City's taxis are frequently topped with advertisements. However, this month approximately 500 cabs will replace their ads with art in a project called "Art Adds." Las Vegas company Show Media, which owns about half the cones (as their called) that rest on top of NYC taxis, decided to take on the project in order to give back to the people of NYC (at a cost of nearly $100k in lost revenue).

John Amato, one of Show Media's owners, contacted the Art Production Fund (a NYC nonprofit that displays art around the city), asking the organization's co-founders to select artists for the projects. Appropriately, they chose Shirin Neshat, Alex Katz, and Yoko Ono: three New York-based artists whose works fit (conceptually and physically) into the confined spaces of the cabs' cones. Each artist's work will appear on about 160 cabs.

To read more about each artist, how they responded to the project, and the entire article associated with this post, click here.

For a list of art exhibitions going on around NYC, click here.

The Guggenheim Museum's 50th Anniversary Exhibition

Not many buildings in New York City cause me to stop, look-up, and take a minute to appreciate their architectural beauty, but the Guggenheim Museum is definitely one that continually grabs my attention. The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed museum, which opened in 1959, has forced artists and architects to challenge their own creative minds and produce unique solutions to the building's central void and rotund shape. Their various responses have led to some extremely memorable exhibition designs and site specific solo shows over the past several decades.

Thus, it is only appropriate that the Guggenheim celebrates its 50th anniversary in a way that showcases the masterfully complex design of the building. The Guggenheim Museum has invited over 200 artists, architects and designers to produce design and display works for the exhibition, titled"Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum," on view from February 12 to April 28, 2010. The much anticipated display will emphasize the rich and diverse range of proposals that have been received from an eclectic array of creative minds.

To read more about this exciting exhibition and the artists whose work will be exhibited, click here.

The Bauhaus

Looking ahead, and looking forward, to next week...

Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity

opens at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on Sunday, November 8th.

From the MoMA website:

This survey is MoMA’s first major exhibition since 1938 on the subject of this famous and influential school of avant-garde art. Founded in 1919 and shut down by the Nazis in 1933, the Bauhaus brought together artists, architects, and designers in an extraordinary conversation about the nature of art in the age of technology. Aiming to rethink the very form of modern life, the Bauhaus became the site of a dazzling array of experiments in the visual arts that have profoundly shaped our visual world today.

The exhibition gathers over four hundred works that reflect the broad range of the school’s productions, including industrial design, furniture, architecture, graphics, photography, textiles, ceramics, theater design, painting, and sculpture, many of which have never before been exhibited in the United States. It includes not only works by the school’s famous faculty and best-known students—including Anni Albers, Josef Albers, Herbert Bayer, Marianne Brandt, Marcel Breuer, Lyonel Feininger, Walter Gropius, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Lucia Moholy, Lilly Reich, Oskar Schlemmer, and Gunta Stölzl—but also a broad range of works by innovative but less well-known students, suggesting the collective nature of ideas.

Click here to find out more

Bauhaus 1919-1933 will be on view from November 8, 2009 until January 25, 2010.

2822 Records

What I am really looking forward to seeing this week is the Christian Marclay: 2822 Records (PS1) installation at P.S.1 in Long Island City. I fully appreciate opportunities to experience art in unique contexts or through a different perspective - in this case, for example, standing on the installation itself!

P.S.1 describes the installation as follows:

Consisting entirely of 12-inch records of every musical genre and style, Marclay's installation highlights the experiential qualities of music and vinyl recording by inviting visitors to walk on the artwork. Marclay’s installation highlights some of the most primal notions around music, namely volume, space, and physicality. As an example of viewer and audience participation, it highlights a seminal aspect of the upcoming exhibition 100 Years (version #1, ps1, nov 2009), drafting a short history of actions, events, situations, happenings, and performances...

Continue reading

Christian Marclay: 2822 Records (PS1) is on view until April 5, 2010.

Use of Space at 395

I hopped over to Brooklyn last week to attend the open house for a series of new installations. Not only was the artwork impressive, but the concept was genius! Rather than leaving vacant commercial spaces empty and unwelcoming, why not fill them with vibrant works of art???

The project - 395 - is a collaboration between New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), Your Art Here and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. They have filled, and are still in the process of adding work to, six storefronts situated along 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension in Brooklyn.

From the 395 website:

This 5-month presentation opening October 9th provides support for galleries and emerging artists as well as an opportunity for the greater public to access and experience contemporary art. Educational activities, performances, and a variety of events will be programmed throughout the duration of the show in collaboration with local businesses and cultural institutions.

Click here to read more

Although the exhibition spaces are already open and accessible to visitors (during open hours), there is a grand opening scheduled concurrently with the NADA County Affair on October 18th from noon until 6pm.

395 Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon - 7:00pm