Moore in America: HENRY MOORE SCULPTURE at the NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

Reclining Mother and Child

Oval With Points

Hill Arches

Reclining Figure

Goslar Warrior

Working Model for Standing Figure: Knife Edge

Earlier today, I visited the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx where the British sculptor HENRY MOORE's creations are on exhibit. Born in England, Moore (1898-1986) is known for his large-scale abstract sculptures set among natural landscapes. The exhibit is called MOORE IN AMERICA.

Randy Kennedy writes: The New York Botanical Garden’s “Moore in America” exhibition, with 18 of Henry Moore’s big, beloved bronzes is the largest outdoor collection of the sculptor’s work in a single venue ever presented in New York or anywhere else in the country. And it serves as the garden’s announcement of its intention to be seen as not simply as a nice, blossomy place but also as a museum in itself.

Moore, who died in 1986, most likely would have approved. “Sculpture is an art of the open air,” he once said. “And for me its best setting and complement is nature. I would rather have a piece of my sculpture put in a landscape, almost any landscape, than in, or on, the most beautiful building I know.”

The International Center of Photography Museum

I recently visited the International Center of Photography (ICP) to view some contemporary works of art by young Japanese artists. The ICP is located at 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street in Mahattan .

Current exhibitions: (http://www.icp.org)

May 16–September 7, 2008

Heavy Light: Recent Photography and Video from Japan

Heavy Light will present the exciting and highly individualistic work of a new generation of Japanese artists who have come of age following the Asian economic crash of 1990. For the last several years, China has been the focus of attention for contemporary Asian art, while the remarkable and distinctive younger generation of Japanese artists who are working today has been largely ignored. This exhibition will be the first major U.S. presentation of contemporary photo-based artwork from Japan in over ten years. Curated by ICP curator Christopher Phillips and Noriko Fuku of the University of Art and Design in Kyoto, Heavy Light will be accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue and a range of public programs.

Bill Wood's Business

Bill Wood's business was photography— and he produced tens of thousands of images over the course of his career. From 1937 through the boom years that followed World War II and until his death in 1973, the Bill Wood Photo Company supplied local snap shooters and amateur photographers with cameras, flash bulbs, accessories, and quality photo finishing. In addition, the business provided commercial photographic services: using large format cameras, and shooting mostly black-and-white film, Wood offered studio portraits and professional photographs. The variety of subjects and situations he captured provide an in-depth photographic record of life in Fort Worth, Texas, a post-World War II American city just hitting its stride. Bill Wood's Business, a document of the encyclopedic range of his work, is organized by Diane Keaton and Marvin Heiferman.

Arbus/Avedon/Model: Selections from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection

This exhibition brings together works by three of the most important photographers of the 1960s: Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, and Lisette Model. The intense creative relationships between these three artists helped to generate a new look in photographic portraiture, an idiosyncratic approaches to both style and subjects. Even today, their works are shocking in their boldness, and at the time their works, widely seen in magazines as well as on gallery walls, were revolutionary. The fifteen now-classic works in this exhibition are drawn from the exceptional corporate collection of photography initiated at the LaSalle Bank of Chicago by Beaumont Newhall in 1969, and recently acquired by Bank of America. The exhibition is organized by Brian Wallis, Chief Curator at the International Center of Photography.

OLAFUR ELIASSON at MOMA: Room For One Colour

In this exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, OLAFUR ELIASSON uses monochromatic bulbs that emit light at such a narrow frequency that they affect one's normal color perception. The ELIASON exhibit called TAKE YOUR TIME runs through June 30 throughout the third floor of MOMA.

DANCING AT THE CROSSROADS - Stepping It Up in Times Square

Last Sunday, June 8, a free performance featuring more than 20 dance companies took place in the heart of Times Square, on the island at the insersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue between 43rd and 44th streets. The event was a collaboration among the Times Square Alliance, Dancers Responding to AIDS, and the many astonishing dance groups and artists who worked with that organization to bring creativity to the Crossroads of the World. Among the many dancers and companies that participated include the Ajkun Ballet Theatre, Angel Feliciano - The Movement, Balam Dance Theatre, Bollywood Axion, the cast of the Broadway musical Cry-Baby, Buglisi Dance Theatre, Darrah Carr Dance, Darrell Grand Moultrie, David Dorfman Dance, Drew Jacoby, Farmington Dance Company, Keigwin + Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Monroe Dance Company, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre, Pilobolus, R.Evolucion Latina Revolution, Wendy Seyb, and the United States Dance Team.

MUSEUM MILE FESTIVAL

These are some street scenes from the 2008 Museum Mile Festival held last June 3rd.

From the museum mile website:

One day a year, for the past 29 years, nine of the country's finest museums, all ones that call Fifth Avenue home, collectively open their doors for free to New Yorkers and visitors for a mile-long block party and visual art celebration. This traffic-free, music- and art-filled celebration fills the street and sidewalks of Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th street, the mile now officially designated as Museum Mile. Over 50,000 visitors attend the festival annually.

Begun as an initiative to spur the development of new museum audiences and to increase support for the arts during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, Museum Mile was formed as a consortium by the museums that share the Fifth Avenue address. The first festival, held in June of 1978, was an instant success. Not only did it expose New Yorkers and NYC visitors to an incredible collection of New York's artistic riches, it also brought together disparate New Yorkers. From the barrios of East Harlem and the townhouses lining the Upper East Side, to the winding streets of the Village and the clustered neighborhoods of the outer-boroughs, people came to celebrate their shared pride in their city. Museum Mile Festival promoted public awareness through increased visibility, accessibility and attendance at all the museums, and brought many New Yorkers to upper Fifth Avenue for the first time. Museum Mile Festival's reach now goes far beyond New York City. Thousands of tourists from around the country and world make their trip to Museum Mile Festival a yearly vacation tradition. Total attendance records over its twenty-six years have surpassed one million visitors, and because of the success of the festival and the work of consortium, the City of New York officially designated Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th streets as "Museum Mile"­ further cementing the area as one of the city¹s major cultural resources.

SEX AND THE CITY New York City Hotspots

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Bryant Park

Magnolia Bakery at 11 th Street and Bleecker Street in West Village

Manolo Blahnik's Boutique on 54th Street, across from the Museum of Modern Art

Brooklyn Bridge

Bryant Park

Location of the wedding drama from the movie

The New York Public Library

With the success of the HBO series and movie SEX AND THE CITY, several New York City local favorites and well-known landmarks have become part of pop culture or favorite tourist destinations. The Sex and the City hotspots include Bryant Park (Fashion Week), the New York Public Library, 40th Street where the “you’ve humiliated me” wedding scene was filmed, Magnolia Bakery, Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Shoes by Manolo Blahnik have also stormed the gates of pop culture. For fans of Sex and the City, there is a three-and-a-half hour guided bus tour that twists and turns through the Sex and the City girls' stomping ground, visiting the restaurants where they wine and dine, the shops at the center of Carrie Bradshaw's shoe fetish, the bars they frequent, and much more. The tour is called Sex and the City Hotspots Tour.