Art: The Met: Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors

"When Bonnard paints a sky, perhaps he first paints it in blue, more or less the way it looks. Then he looks a little longer and sees some mauve in it, so he adds a touch or two of mauve, just to hedge. Then he decides that maybe it's a little pink too,so there's no reason not to add some pink. The result is a potpourri of indecision... Painting can't be done that way." -Picasso

The eighty or so works by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) featured at the Metropolitan Museum offer a respectable glimpse at an artist's last decade of work titled, "The Late Interiors" and succeeds relatively well at reappraising Bonnard's reputation. It might well have been the exhibit's slightly confusing layout at the Robert Lehman Wing that took away from Bonnard's overall masterworks, but the attempt at renewing the case for Bonnard's place as a significant modernist of the early twentieth century art scene, was a noble one.

"Purple in the grays, vermilion in the orange, on a cold, fine day." - Bonnard

Bonnard's immensely vivid palette and disturbed perspectival stance calls into mind the contemporary master, Henri Matisse. But unlike the flamboyant and grandiose Matisse, Bonnard was known as a quiet, pensive man-- a character and quality that transcends into his paintings. Though his quotidian themes: scenes of kitchen tables and early breakfast mornings are brought to life through his vibrant bursts of color, there is an unsettling nature about his compositions; a disquietude that Bonnard transmits through the often isolated, motionless objects and his preoccupied subjects. His figures often appear and disappear from the peripheries, only to reappear elsewhere across the room, or fade away and blend into the potpourri of paint. Bonnard's late interiors are true testaments to his immense talent at capturing color, distorting our vision and pushing us to question what we percieve and recognize around us.

Of course, no one can say it better than the New Yorker....

Fashion: Museum of the City of New York: Valentina: American Couture and the Cult of Celebrity

"Fit the century, forget the year.'' - Valentina

Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is a wonderful little jewel located beyond the traditional boundaries of what is consider Fifth Avenue's "Museum Mile." Many don't traverse farther than the Guggenheim at 89th street, and for this reason it is a pleasant (relatively) tourist-free experience.

Valentina: American Couture and the Cult of Celebrity at MCNY is a rather small exhibit, but significantly one of the first to explore the life and legacy of Mrs. Valentina Nicholaevna Sanina Schlee (1899-1989, known simply as Valentina) whose couture designs blossomed from the roaring 20's through to the fabulous 50's, clothing celebrities such as Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Cornell, and Mrs. Randolph Hearst, as well as many society women from the Whitney and Vanderbilt families. Valentina's life story is one that epitomizes the 'American Dream.' Born in Kiev in 1899, she immigrated to New York in 1923, and through careful public-image crafting she reinvented herself to become a pioneer in the American couture fashion industry. In New York, Valentina and her husband, financier George Schlee, were prominent members of the 'Cafe Society' (think Evelyn Waugh's "Bright Young Things") where Valentina stood out for her always impeccably chic simple designs. In her large and bravado persona Valentina is often remembered for her aphorisms, such as: "Simplicity survives the changes of fashion," as well as "Mink is for football,'' and "Ermine is for bathrobes.'' Ha!

Art: MoMa: Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective

"The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika'" (1994)

"We don't have problems with mozzarella and basilikum, because we pay back with mousse au chocolat!"- Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger is widely known as the preeminent contemporary German artist who lived a life of immense excess: alcohol, drugs, art production and culture consumption and, as a consequence died tragically young. His work lives and breathes a sense of over-drive fueled by themes of failure, absurdity, humor, and social critic captured with such conceptual finesse. The Problem Perspective, Kippenberger's appropriately titled retrospective at the Moma, brilliantly explores the artist's complex views on pop-culture, the material-world and society through a lens of his vast cache of works and accomplishments. Of course, much like Andy Warhol, the extraordinary amount of art that Kippenberger produced was not so much impudence (such as a rusting Ford Capri on display-- can this really be art?) as pushing the limits of what he could get away with.

Absurdity and humor are paramount to Kippenberger. In a series of declarations, titled "No Problem" (co-written with Oehlen,) the artist explores the paradoxical world of "problems" created by our faulty society. He proclaims in this manifesto, among other things: "We don't have problems with shoe cleaners, we step in shit." Or, "We don't have problems with fools, because they speak our language." Hand in hand with this witty world view, Kippenberger was keenly aware of social hierarchies and ranks that pester society. In his largest installation featured at the Moma, "The Happy End of Franz Kafka's 'Amerika'" (1994) Kippenberger set up a series of random seats and desks--the kind of treasures and trash that one would find at a flea market or a trash dump. The functional objects are positioned on a vast green field, a football field of sorts, and we the audience are to sit on the bleachers watching the motionless spectacle of opponenets confronting each other while 'Funky Town' a 1980's Lipps Inc. single blares on the TV. (You've all heard it before: "Well, I talk about it/ Talk about it/Talk about it/Talk about it/Talk about,/Talk about/Talk about movin.") The piece reflects society as well as the system that define and structure social relations: this is a competitive match between the functional yet shabby flea market treasures, against the highly impractical design conscious seating. It is a rivalry and a struggle between the two layers of society: rich and poor, privileged and underprivileged, as denoted by what we sit on.

Failure is another theme that Kippenberger explores in his work. "The House with Slits" depicts a series of three modern, architectural structures. Each canvas depicts a different 'institution'-- The Betty Ford Clinic-- for the treatment of alcohol and substance abuse, Stammhein,-- a German high security prison and the Jewish Elementary School . The structures are failures in many respects, two obvious ones: they are failures as architectural oeuvres and failures of Utopian ideals on discipline and punish. Foucault anyone?

"Every picture I see belongs to me the instant I understand it," Kippenberger once said and his art, in its rudimentary form seeks to challenge notions of authorship and originality. In the series "Dear Painter, Paint for Me" (1981), the artist hired the sign painter, Mr. Werner, who is credited for actually painting the works of art. This series, depicts Kippenberger in a performance; here the artist as actor, as impersonator, as (once again) humorist shines through. The recurring motif of a deluded fried egg finds its way into many of his works. Always "sunny-side-up," the egg acts as Kippenberger's alter ego-- supposedly he used the egg only because, "Warhol already had the banana."

Dear Painter, Paint for Me" (1981)

Mini-series delight: North and South

Based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel the critically acclaimed BBC mini-series North and South (2004) is an absolute favorite of mine! It is an immensely romantic, slightly clichéd, wonderfully historical drama starring the darling Richard Armitage as Mr. John Thornton and Daniela Denby-Ashe as the lovely Ms. Margret Hale. The series bears a superficial resemblance to Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, but in my opinion trumps it on all accounts.

Watch out Mr. Darcy, Mr. Thornton is makin' moves! Ha!

Film: Entre Les Murs (2008)

Entre Les Murs, or The Class as its known State-side, is a film that follows the lives of Monsieur Marin, (François Bégaudeau) the stubborn and sincere French language teacher and his rowdy, impish, multi-ethnic class just outside the bourgeoisie walls of Paris. This 2006 Palm d'Or winner at Cannes Film Festival is based on Bégaudeau's book and chronicles in a pseudo-documentary style a year in the life of a teacher's struggles with the Parisian public school system. The movie effectively highlights the clashes of culture, and the ever-present racial tensions in a "post-colonial" France; although many of the students are essentially French by birth, their identity remains that of their ancestors--mostly from Africa and the Caribbean. The themes of assimilation and integration versus the quest for independent identity and diversity are all too familiar in Europe today, and this movie highlights with destructive consequences its cost.

At the start of the movie, Monsieur Marin exudes a steady, patient, and witty demeanor-- clearly revealing his ability to challenge and engage the class through stimulating debates. As the year progresses, however, his shortcomings as an educator become more apparent and are agonizing to watch as his gentle commanding voice and his witty, jovial character betray him as he navigates through the testing waters of the pubescent and defiant classroom. Frayed by the constant rebelliousness, Marin seeks refuge behind the disengaged and disdainful Principal and public school system-- a cowardly act in the eyes an audience, but most importantly, in the eyes of his own pupils.

Despite all good intentions by Marin and others, Entre Les Murs reveals without pretense the imperfections of a teacher, the flawed nature of a school system and a fractured society.

Film: A Triumphant Community Organizer: (no...not Obama...) Harvey Milk

Thankfully, the Academy Awards got something right this year! Sean Penn is brilliant. He captures with subtle nuances the mannerisms, humor, sarcasm, and defiance of Harvey Milk. The year is 1970, its New York City and Harvey, a closeted insurance executive has yet to traverse cross-country to San Fransisco to realize his forthcoming role as the remarkable neighborhood and (human) rights activist-come-first openly gay politician on the American political stage. Milk (2008) directed by the immensely talented Gus van Sant, tells the story of Harvey's political and personal struggle towards an effective voice for the gay community. Starring a supurb cast including the always exceptional Sean Penn and Josh Brolin as well as James Franco, Diego Luna, Emile Hirsch. A must see!

Theater: Chehkov's Uncle Vanya

Suffering, tension, destruction and idleness are the basis for many of Chekhov's simple yet masterful comedy-combined-tragedies, and Uncle Vanya is no exception. It is a story about an Uncle (Vanya) and a niece (Sonya) and their frustrated longings (unrequited love) and wasted lives, made apparent by the idle summer months and the arrival of Yelena's (Sonya's step-mother) charm and infectious indolence. 

But, a play's potential drifts far beyond the pages of the author's script and lies in the hands of the director, actors and stage designers. Unfortunately the New York production of Uncle Vanya, performed at the intimate Classic Stage Company (CSC), fails on two fronts-- or perhaps even two and a half. The bounty of talents performing inculding, Denis O'Hare (as Uncle Vanya), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Yelena), Peter Sarsgaard (Dr. Astov) and Mammie Gummer (Meryl Streep's daughter who plays Sonya) did their best to keep this performance afloat. But the issue was not so much the actors as their misdirection by Austin Pedelton. While Mammie Gummer was a little jewel (thanks, more to her mother's direction than Mr. Pedelton!) as she subtly captures with immense humor and emotion the anguish and distress of Sonya's love-perdicatment, the competition was fierce between Denis O'Hare, Peter Sarsgaard and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The three indisputably talented actors never seemed to find their 'place' in the larger framework of the production--something that Pedelton could have easily put to rest with greater direction. From the very first scene where Dr. Astov enters languidly strumming a guitar, a discomforting tension hangs above the stage and production that is never fully resolved-- a pressure created by the exceedingly large and imposing stage design, not suitable at all for the small, intimate space of CSC. This could have been a brilliant production...but falls short.

Art: The Armory Show March 5-8th, 2009

For a brief four days in mid-March, the New York art scene takes a ride uptown from its home in Chelsea to the make-shift bungalow on the Hudson River: Pier 92 & 94 in Mid-town West. The New York Armory show is the hub of the art scene this time of year. Here art dealers, gallery owners, patrons, art-students, and critics alike gather to be a part of the scene, and above all, gauge the year's art market. As the DOW slid 300 points while I was aimlessly wandering the gallery stalls-- I could almost feel the art-balloon of the past decade rapidly deflate, as the hushed tones of anxious gallerists and persistent patrons negotiated prices. The word on the street is that many galleries were willing to offer deals of up to 30% off..unheard of just a year ago.

Indeed, if there was any inkling of an economic depression, it was written on the crisp white walls at The Armory. Massimo De Carlo, hung a slab of marble engraved in gold, "Everyone is Broke"; the small work on paper blatantly reading in red ink: "Keep Calm and Carry On," as if saying: "don't open your Fidelity envelopes, or your 401-K statements, and for God's sake don't sell." Another work, vast in both scale and price, (reportedly going for 100k !!) was a black and white portrait of ponzi schemer Bernard L. Madoff by the Chinese artist Yan Pei-Ming. It went unsold, supposedly.

Despite the depressing economic back-drop, all works considered, from the Botero's, Picasso's and Lucian Freud to the psychic-apothecary by Christine Hill, the mood was one of resilience at The Armory this year. Jack Pierson's "Believe" sums it up.

Best Latte in the city: Everymanespresso

136 East 13th Street
(Between 3rd and 4th Ave)
OPEN 8am-8pm EVERY DAY

To get a real caffine-induced wake-up call don't go to Starbucks...THIS is THE place for a delicious smooth soynofoamextrashotlatte, and to top it off (if you are the beauty conscious type) presentation matches taste! Rumor has it that this is where Tom-Kat go for not only their delicious lattes but also their entertainment, the play house: Classic Stage Company is in the same building. Enjoy!