Vernissages NYC....................................| Fiona Tan at the Peter Freeman gallery

Dutch artist Fiona Tan paints her video portraits in rich shades of black and white, moving in a barely perceptible show motion. The viewer witnesses mundane rituals of everyday life, captured by her camera which appears to float in a vague circle. In "Downside Up" human subjects become confused with their own shadows, each a mirror image of the other. The overall effect is captivating.

At the Peter Freeman gallery, 560 Broadway.

Vernissages NYC...........................| Chelsea, May 13

Laurent Millet "The Last Days of Immanuel Kant" at Robert Mann

Justin Allen at Robert Miller

Video Projection at AC Institute Chapel

Robert Yasuda at Sundaram Tagore

Vernissages NYC ................................................

Camminando | NYC, Views from Belvedere Castle

A very unusual Central Park in a cold and rainy day ----is it spring?

I enjoy the solitude in places usually overcrowded, tonight only the birds saluting a (invisible) setting sun.

Music | NYC, An Evening of Greek Song

The Onassis Cultural Center, recently the host of a fascinating exhibition on El Greco’s Iconographical School, provided the space for a recital: VOICE VERSES: An Evening of Poetry Set to Music on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, at 7:00 P.M.

The Center is located in the Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue, New York, with the entrance on 51st street.

The Center’s exhibition/performance space is much more modest, being located on a lower level, with small rooms and dropped ceilings. A cascading waterfall and fountain visible through glass in the room does provide some visual interest to the setting.





The performers were Irini Karaianni, mezzo-soprano, accompanied by Nikolaos Laaris on the piano.



All of the works were sung very ably by Ms. Karaianni in the original Greek. Cinq Mélodies populaires grecques by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), with texts based on Greek folk songs closed the recital. The majority of the program, works not frequently heard in recital, were by twentieth-century Greek composers.

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The program opened with the U.S. premiere of four songs by the composer Sayvas Kassotis (b. 1948), with texts by C. P. Cavafy. A medical doctor by profession, Kassotis’ music hovered in the lower register with bass ostinati in the piano, and minor modes in the melody, complementing the melancholic poems of love.
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Two songs by Manos Hadjidakis (1925-1994) from his Magnus Eroticus song cycle, opus 30, with texts by Odysseus Elytis and F. G. Lorca (translated into Greek) followed. These likewise featured lower registers, with an almost elegaic tone—-a departure from his music for the film Never on Sunday.
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Mikis Theodorakis (b. 1925), who composed the music for the film Zorba, contributed the next four songs. These were brighter, lovely works, set in major keys. Writing for the voice was dramatic, with the piano doubling the melody in the voice.
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The next two works were by Periklis Koukos (b. 1960). The first, “Nocturne”, from Manuel Salinas, his children’s opera was in a lighter, brighter, sprightly setting.
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The poetry of C. P. Cavafy provided the text for two songs by Dimitris Papadimitriou (b. 1959). In contrast to the earlier works, there was prominent figuration in the upper registers of the piano, with modal melodies.

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The aforementioned works by Ravel ended the program.

The evening was a wonderful presentation of the songs. Many in the audience were familiar with the works, as humming and ahs of recognition were heard throughout the program. The songs were instantly accessible, on the whole diatonic, strophic, four-bar melodies, in a very popular vein. The piano provided a suitable accompaniment to the dramatic voice of Ms. Karaianni.

Thoughts | My entry in the NY Times "Moment in Time"

My entry in the NY Times photo blog is at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/03/blogs/a-moment-in-time.html?hp#/4bde2ed6224fe20c1d000343

It is definitely not one of my best self portrait for how posture, look and in terms of composition, exposure, focus ---and all the other requisites which make an aesthetically good photo. But for me this photo is very important as a metaphor of standing strong in front of adversities.

May 2 was an unusually hot and humid (for north-east spring standards) day; the light at 11 am was totally uninspiring: the sun too high and too far from being on its meridian. So uninspiring was also entering a photo in a such a conservative and exclusive publication like the NY Times where you have to extremely well connected ---or get shot or arrested with major charges--- to be featured. Yoga (as a belief system, beyond trying to stretch like a pretzel) helped, as it has already in many times in my life.

I chose the virabhadrasana II (warrior pose II): take a deep breath, gain energy and, most of all, live fully every moment in life!

Hazy, hot and humid at latitude 42d10', longitude73d40', 15:00 (U.T.C.). In this dully anonymous time of the day and unglamorous light I am aligning to the Sun --and to my shadow--- in warrior II, trying to regain energy.

My dedication is to acceptance.

Namaste'

Events | NYC, Public Art Fund / "Walk the Walk" Performance at Bryant Park

In Bryant Park (back of the NYC Public Library) you will be able to see for all this week, Monday through Friday 10-20:30, the installation/performance "Walk the Walk", created (but not performed) by the artist Kate Gilmore: several yellow dressed women walk on the top of a yellow cubic structure.

Quite colorful, nice to look at, although the performers seems to be quite tired. I could not understand if they were acting or it was real fatigue from several hours of walking and being looked at.

If you are in search for meaning I am doubtful you will find it here...but it's NYC

Vernissages | NYC, Roni Horn @ Hauser & Wirth