Geometry and Strange Fish at the Drawing Center

Sean Scully, Untitled, 1975. Acrylic & tape on paper, @23x31". Courtesy Neo Neo York, Inc.

The Drawing Center's two exhibitions, through November 3, offer a satisfyingly balance of minimal and baroque. Changes and Horizontals, a series of studies and paintings by Sean Scully features grids of horizontal and vertical stripes. Of particular interest are areas where the stripes overlap, the increasing density of certain quadrants or thirds, the subtle palette consisting primarily of greys and rusts. Some typewriter drawings are also on view, a rare look at Scully, a master of geometry, dabbling in text.  

Alexis Rockman, Study for Tiger Vision (19 TV Bio Fish), 2011, gouache on black paper, 9 x 12"

The rear and lower galleries contain drawings primarily of sea creatures by Alexis Rockman, done for Ang Lee's Oscar winning film The Life of Pi. Rockman's naturalist studies have been a fixture on the art scene for years, but these came as a surprise as I was unaware that he had been involved in the blockbuster. These striking gouaches pop as if lit with black light, featuring critters of neon hues with exotic embellishments. 

Alexis Rockman, Study for Tiger Vision (7 TV), 2011, gouache on black paper, 9 x 12"

A video in the downstairs gallery shows an amazing sequence in which a whale breaks apart into a dozen animals, which swim away. A couple of talks with Rockman about the works are scheduled: The Animal Vision (Oct 17), and Conversation on The Life of Pi (Oct 29).

September Performance Notebook

High culture season's underway. Notes from recent outings:

Edward Watson and slime, in Metamorphosis

Royal Ballet, Metamorphosis, The Joyce

• Edward Watson as Gregor is the draw in this clever adaptation of Kafka's classic in which dance replaces music as the muse which draws out the human side of insectoid Gregor.
• After his evolution from salaryman to creature, he winds and crosses his limbs, propped on a knee and some fingers, to evoke bugness.    
• Brown sticky stuff—molasses?—that conveyed a complete cleave with humanity really was slippery; the other cast members slipped gingerly over the pools and slicks 
• Director/choreographer Arthur Pita uses the entire theater, including the narrow cross-theater aisle between the stage and audience, where a coffee/cocktail cart's repeated wheelings help establish the sense of banal routine. Simon Daw is credited for designs.
• Corey Annand as Grete was convincing as a young girl growing into an accomplished ballet dancer, who acquired by osmosis some of the insectoid behavior of her brother.
• Without Matthew Bourne, I don't think this type of movement-theater production would exist. Several cast members are vets of his productions as well.
• The music was composed and performed by Frank Moon, who created all the eerie sounds in addition to playing instruments.

Sara Mearns

New York City Ballet, Swan Lake

• The two-act Swan Lake, by Peter Martins (retaining of the original Petipa/Ivanov pas de deux, thankfully), is a good excuse to see ballerinas at their zenith. 
• Mearns so fantastically embodies this dual role, combining the right pathos, beguilement, and technique. 
• She needs her partner too, unlike many a competent NYCB female principal. In this case, it was Jared Angle, as solid and modest as partners come. G
• Gripes: the largely hideous decor by Per Kirkeby, especially the hall that looks like a courtroom, the long spans of lazy filler steps, the irritating jester, and the endless foreign dances when I think loningly of ABT's playful Neapolitan duet and Von Rothbart's fancy purple suede boots. 
• In NYCB's Swan, you are really coerced into focusing on Odette/Odile because the rest of the production is so uninspired. Which is not such a terrible thing when it's Mearns.
• I caught Sara Mearns twice in one week, first in Swan Lake, then at Fall For Dance in a new duet by Justin Peck. What luck.

Justin Peck's The Bright Motion, Fall For Dance

• Het Ballet's Casey Herd, who partnered Sara in The Bright Motion, the Peck premiere, is large and confident enough to support her both physically and psychically (see above). Mearns' vulnerability is part of her terrific appeal, and she leaned hard enough on Herd that he had to adjust his stance at one point, but it allowed her to more fully find and expand her beautiful line. 
• This brief dance was more grown-up feeling than Peck's previous works, which have emphasized youth. It showcased Mearns' sublime, archetypal arabesque, which she assumed in super slow-mo, and a bold fourth position on pointe with her torso twisted in opposition, so architecturally strong. 
• The white bathing suit leotard added to the sense of her being completely exposed. She came across as somehow both completely empowered and completely vulnerable, like Princess Grace at the beach.

The Devil in the Detail

Richard Alston's The Devil in the Detail, Fall For Dance

• A suite of dances to Scott Joplin, whose music breeds feelings of both hyper-familiarity on a pop culture level (thanks to The Sting), and unfamiliarity when used in dance; I can only think of Martha Graham's weird Maple Rag.
• The jaunty, whimsical rhythms give Alston's superb dancers a chance to play around with the phrasing, an intriguing proposition, as they can arrest movements mid-air. 
• Various combos and pairings to perhaps a half-dozen songs provided a glimpse of the crisp, barefoot style that deserves a better term than contemporary ballet. It relates at moments to Paul Taylor and Mark Morris.  
• A performance by Alston's London-based company is a rare treat; his last gig in the metro area was at Peak Performances in Montclair. 

America's Cup: Innovation + Technology = Thrills

Gilles Martin-Raget / America’s Cup

With the city's cultural season full speed ahead and accessible by the magical plastic device  called a Metrocard, my brainspace has been occupied by an event far away, and not even on land—the 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco.

It is quaintly called "yachting," but these fabrications can't rightly be called boats, or vessels, or machines, or anything familiar. AC72s are what they are: multi-hulled foiling thingies, raced by two teams: Oracle Team USA (owned by Larry Ellison) and Emirates Team New Zealand. 

The drama of the event was non-existent as a two-race penalty for errant tweaks put the Yanks in a hole before things even began, and got worse as the Kiwis went up 8 wins to 1. Then on a day when they could have clinched the cup, the race was called for high wind. The Americans had been improving their boat the whole time, and figured out the precise balance to be much quicker. They won the next 8 races to mark one of the stellar comebacks in sports history.

Okay, great story and all, but the biggest deal seemed to me to be the application of physics and high tech to produce vessels capable of insane speeds—50 mph or so—using wind and aero and hydrodynamics. Essentially, foiling means flying, which is what happens when the boats reach a certain speed. They lift up, like hovercraft, and freed of the drag from the water, fly. They corner on a virtual dime, at least for something with a 13-story flying wing attached to it. They also tip like the dickens, but danger is a big part of the event. (Sadly, a sailor was recently killed after his boat capsized; he was trapped under the structure.)

But the takeaway is not just fast boats, but innovation, and innovation in an ancient arena that had evolved in moderate steps until the last decade. Now, these boats are comparable to Formula One cars, and are perhaps even more impressive by utilizing the natural gifts of wind and water. Perhaps that innovation can be applied to energy production and conservation in ways previously unseen. 

And I never thought I'd look forward anxiously to the announcement of the next "deed of gift," but that day has come. Ahoy, mateys.

Blurred—Make that Erased—Lines

Olivia Ancona. Photo courtesy The Drawing Center

Artists commonly erase lines, a necessary step in the creative experimentation process. To some, it's an end in itself—Rauschenberg erased a De Kooning drawing. Perhaps as a result of not erasing enough lines, I've seen an artist destroy, with an X-Acto knife, several paintings deemed failures. (Painful to watch.)

At the Drawing Center earlier this week, Susan Hefuna and Luca Veggetti expanded on the ideas of negation and memory in a collaboration titled Notationotation. Hefuna used white chalk to make a grand drawing on the wooden floor of the main gallery; it resembled a loose fishing net. (A lovely show of Hefuna's drawings hangs in the back gallery, through Sep 20.) This process was videotaped and shown on the wall during the performance, in addition to footage of a Broadway intersection, where incessant occupation and displacement occurs. 

The human erasers were three articulate, lithe dancers: PeiJu Chien-Pott (a Martha Graham company member), Gabrielle Lamb, and Olivia Ancona.performing movement by Luca Veggetti. Wearing black socks below sleek pleated black pants and grey tank tops, the women slid their feet along the chalk lines as if walking on high lines  Particulars of Veggetti's style repeated: wing-like arms held in tension, feet in forced arches, deep lunges, high extended legs. (And for once, the habitual, trendy socked foot in dance performance—of which Veggetti is a proponent—was completely justified.)

While the dancers' workmanlike concentration and efficiency made for a poetic, if brief performance, the behavior of the crowd held some interest as well. We were allowed to move about at will while the dancers worked. The audience clustered and expanded around each dancer, grudgingly moving a foot or so when a dancer tried to claim a line to erase. Whether it was just New Yorkers being New Yorkers, or human nature, who knows—we became an indispensable, resilient element in the performance. 

Fall For Dance Among the Trees and Stars

STREB al fresco. Photo: Tammy Shell

Batteries recharged, dance returned to life last Monday with the advent of the 10th Fall For Dance. To celebrate, in addition to the standard five programs at City Center, the Public Theater hosted a veritable all-star FFD program at the Delacorte in Central Park. The weather turned out to be fall-perfect, with a bright harvest moon slicing through wispy clouds, and bats flitting mischievously above the trees, silhouetted in front of the Disney-lit Belvedere castle.

Unlike City Center's fare, which usually features well-known companies mixed with lesser-known ones, and some indigenous styles juxtaposed with ballet or modern, the Delacorte program—free!—consisted of bold-faced, primetime names. 

STREB led off with Human Fountain (inspired by the Bellagio fountain in Vegas) in which the dancers dove off of scaffolding onto a crash mat in various patterns and twisting moves. Their adrenaline was certainly inspiring, but after about 10 minutes, despite knowing they take certain precautions to prevent injury, I couldn't help but think about their brains bouncing around in their skulls, and their spines taking punishment as well. They looked awfully happy in bows, anyway, before continuing their duties as stagehands and striking the mats as the real stagehands dismantled the scaffolding enough to roll it in two parts to the side.

Evidence, right-side up in Upside Down. Photo: Tammy Shell

Ronald K. Brown/Evidence brought Upside Down, alluding to the loss of a soul and its impact on a community, accompanied by Oumou Sangare's music followed by live vocals and drums performing a number by Fela Kuti. (STREB and Evidence benefitted the most from the al fresco setting, as both can feel a bit caged inside.)  The two songs both ended with Cabaug being lifted and carried off solemnly, as if lying in state, but in between, the dancers showed off Brown's irrepressible African-based style in group sections and solos. Annique Roberts (nominated for a Bessie this year) radiated with calm luminosity, as usual.

Maria Kowroski and Adrian Danchig-Waring in Red Angels

New York City Ballet's dancers looked their best in their dark warmup clothes rather than the red spandex costumes for Red Angels, choreographed by Ulysses Dove, with live electric violin accompaniment. The striking cast of Maria Kowroski, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Jennie Somogyi, and Chase Finlay never looked at ease, perhaps to be expected on a chilly evening. Ballet seems like it wants warmth to encourage as much friction with the floor as possible, and elasticity in their hard-working muscles. Nonetheless, they danced and vogued their way through the showy moves well enough.

Paul Taylor Dance Company in Esplanade, but another cast.

Paul Taylor's Esplanade closed the program, deservedly—a self-contained, perfectly structured dance that garners applause simply when it begins. Despite its outward reputation as a sunny romp, there are some heartachingly solemn and intimate moments that touch on mortality and the fragility of human connections. Laura Halzack has taken the deceptively challenging role left by the retired Amy Young; it requires a series of rapid hinge-falls, and later, backwards plops into the hands of Michael Trusnovec. Michelle Fleet occupies the central role, running and flitting among the group, warmly bidding us hello and goodbye. It was a fitting cap to a showcase of the city's dance riches, if nothing we weren't already familiar with.

Hale Woodruff: Talladega Murals

The Mutiny on the Amistad, 1939. Oil on canvas Overall: 71 1/4 x 125 3/8 x 2 1/8in. Collection of  Savery Library, 

Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama 

Hale Woodruff's exhibition, Talledega Murals, are a bright spot in the late summer art season. The recently refurbished works, and several ancillary works by the underheralded artist, hang in NYU's 80WSE Gallery (that's 80 Washington Square East) through Oct 13. Don't miss the show.

The murals were commissioned by Talladega College in 1938 by President Buell Gallagher to commemorate the end of slavery. The intent was no doubt noble, but Woodruff's lively sculpting, eye for detail, and vibrant palette transformed the elegiac exercise into something far greater. Woodruff (1900—1980) went to Paris in 1927 to study, absorbing influences of Cubism that are felt in works such as Two Figures in a Mexican Landscape. And in 1936, he studied in Mexico with the great muralist Diego Rivera. When he returned, he taught for a couple of decades at NYU.

Opening Day at Talladega College, 1942. Oil on canvas. Overall: 70 1/8 x 243 7/8 x 2 1/16in. Collection of Savery Library, Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama 

Historical murals such as Rivera's and Woodruff's are rarities for most New York art viewers, unless you happen to work in a building that emerged during the Gilded Era or WPA; I have seen a handful of them. But when I saw Woodruff's Talladega series, I felt I had been ignorant of a concise education in both art and history. Every part of the paintings contains a piece of information that contributes to a greater dramatic story. The type of footwear (or lack thereof), a book, a clothing detail—all serve to flesh out the main characters. 

The Mutiny on the Amistad conveys the unbridled anger of the rebels, who had been enslaved in Sierra Leone and rebelled en route to Cuba, ultimately obtaining their freedom in Connecticut courts, and subsequent return to Sierra Leone. Hardwick does not soften the depiction; instead he captures the coiled violence and abject desperation of the moment. In Opening Day at Talladega College, you see the moment of transition between lives based on farming and formal education, and the American promise of a brighter future.  

Also on view are a selection of charming, strikingly graphic woodcuts, depictions of a rural Southern black homestead, and comparative studies: The Results of Poor Housing and The Results of Good Housing, perhaps the strongest reminders of the underlying social messages that provide the spine of the exhibition.

Dance Magazine piece on Wendy Whelan's Restless Creature

Wendy Whelan and Brian Brooks. Photo: Christopher Duggan courtesy Jacobs Pillow

On Wendy Whelan's new project, Restless Creature, in Dance Magazine:

http://dancemagazine.com/issues/August-2013/Dance-Matters-Stretching-Her-Wings