Tag Archives: 00y

MIXED BAG MAG DOES NEW YORK: Art Smart in NYC

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looking up at tall skyscrapers with sign on one that reads MOMA

From Haida artist Robert Davidson to American artist Kara Walker Mixed Bag Mag covered a lot of artistic ground.  

My art muscle is damn strong! In 4 days I was able to cover (almost) everything. It was a major marathon (Bed-Stuy to Manhattan – up to Harlem – back to Brooklyn) but I arrived at the finish line inspired by all that New York has to offer right now.

It was the small-but-mighty shows that grabbed my attention the most and made me regret that I wouldn’t be staying longer.

(in order of my schedule)

The MoMA – There Will Never Be Silence: Scoring John Cage’s 4’33” (on until June 22)

The National Museum of the American Indian – Robert Davidson: Abstract Impulse (on until September 14)

The MET – Now You See It: Photography and Concealment (on until September 1)

Acquavella Gallery – Jean Michel Basquiat Drawing (closing today!)

The Studio Museum Harlem – Carrie Mae Weems: The Museum Series (on until June 29)

The Brooklyn Museum – Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties (on until July 13)

& of course Surveillapocalypse with the 007 Collective and artCodex at Five Myles Gallery Brooklyn. The work of Brooklyn based artist David Wallace was beautiful to witness.

group of people sitting and sanding in front of brick building

words on a wall that say Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties

I have been around the world –  East Berlin during the Reunification of Germany, L.A. during the Rodney King riots, even Johannesburg leading up to the elections where Mandela’s win changed the course of history…

…but never New York! 

Sometimes living close by a place makes you take it for granted. This trip was about righting that wrong and finally showing some love to New York. And the timing couldn’t have been better for gathering MIXED BAG MAG style content! Also on the agenda was Kara Walker’s A Subtlety at the Domino Sugar Factory in Brooklyn as well as seeing Ai Wei Wei’s According to What for a second time at the Brooklyn Museum. It was interesting comparing this iteration of the show to last year’s at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Another chance at comparison will be when the AGO hosts Before and after the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes, currently on at the National Museum of the American Indian.

words on a wall that say Draped Down and a reproduction of a mixed media of a young black woman

When you deep dive into a city’s art scene to explore different neighbourhoods with their private galleries,  artist-run centres and national institutions you witness how much art enriches the lives of the inhabitants as well as the visitors. Life wouldn’t be as wonderful without artists!

I got a little lazy pulling out my clunky pro camera so I decided instead to capture New York thru the lightness of a cell cam. Here is just a small sampling of what I experienced. There will be more trips south of the border in an effort to uncover how artists transform urban spaces and cultural places but for this moment I was just a 21st Century flâneur with a phone.

sculpture made out of rough wood posts and bent shiny metal, people walking by
White painted canvas wrapped with knotted fabric that projects out from the canvas
City scape of large skyscrapers and smaller residential buildings
Large stone sculpture of woman and man with larger classic style building and skyscraper behind it
Two entrances to two art exhibits
Panel of actors on stage, mixed men and women
two women stand with back to the camera looking at a gallery with an installation in progress, ladders, tables
Woman standing in front of a brick facade gallery with the address and sign that says Five MylesMaria Hupfield stands in front of “Splash” a sculpture by Haitian-American artist Engles.
The inside of a gallery with classic architecture, a greek style female sculpture and framed abstract drawing to its right
Up close photograph of a abstract drawing
two front stair cases leading up to fancy doors, plants lining the stairs
Black man busking in front of street side display of paintings
Skyscape of modern buildings with older style architecture, the profile of the Guggenheim
inside the Guggenheim Museum with people sitting in the centre area and the words Italian Futurism on the wall
Looking up to the large skylight in the atrium of the Guggenheim
The modern architecture of the Guggenheim Museum against the sky with clouds
Poster advertising for the Metropolitan Museum, old painting of a young black man with ornate headdress facing an antique photograph of a middle age white woman
Black and white photograph series of a naked white man walking with classic Greek painting of nude black male figures running
Posters for the Metropolitan Museum with photograph of classic bust of white man mouth open screaming on left and classic Japanese style painting of a Geisha
Advertising for the Met with painting of white woman and photograph of a pharaoh on right. Words One Met Many Worlds on the posters.
The staircase leading up to the Metropolitan Museum with people milling about, day on left, night on right
two classic greek or roman marble sculptures in an elaborate hallway, man on left, woman on right
Crystal decanter on left, marble statue of a nude woman, her back to camera, on right
The outside of a theatre with the marquee and sign saying Apollo
American flag waving from a building in black and red stripes, green background with black stars against a blue sky
Painting on a metal pull down door with mural of Malcolm X, Obama, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Reads Share the Dream, Welcome to Heavenly Harlem
Photograph of a tv screen with video of 3 black men singing and performing. The ages of the 3 men vary from middle age to old
Large scale painted canvas, black background with white lettering from top to bottom
Young black woman laughing and talking to young white man with beard, standing in a subway station
Street scene in an industrial area, people waiting at the corner, poster that reads Kara Walker
Little girl picking up another little girl to look in basket of a sculpture of a child. Black woman looking at the sculpture of a black child labourer
Large white sculpture of a black woman with a handkerchief wrap on head, people standing looking at the sculpture
Brick work and ornate decorative patterns carved in stone and white text painted that reads Watch Your Head
Street art project with words Before I Die I Will painted with chalkboard paint and peoples answers scribbled in chalk
Street art project with words Before I Die I Will painted with chalkboard paint and peoples answers scribbled in chalk
Old white brick building boarded up against blue sky full of clouds
One story high brick industrial buildings painted in yellow and other bright colours against a blue sky
Large neo-classical building with clouds in the background, The Brooklyn Museum
Photograph of a museum show reading Connecting Cultures
Photograph of a museum show reading Connecting Cultures
Young black boy with notepad and pencil looking up at classic European painting of a white woman
close up shot of wood paneled structure with holes that show other structures behind it. The shape repeats a crescent moon
A poster on the ground that says This Is Indian Land. Cardboard stencil with words Surveillapocalypse cut out of it and lying on poster
Spray painted outline of a motif that is an Ojibwa Thunderbird
Cut out of birds attached to a mobile that moves around a screen with a photograph of a man projected on it
A bridge at night, lined with lights that are out of focus.
Drag show in nightclub, white queen descending the stairs with black queen in back with microphone
stone and pavement on a street with the words Protect Your Magic painted on it

BEFORE I DIE I WILL: Go to New York City


Woman's feet in sandals standing on concrete slab that reads Brooklyn Concrete Made In CanadaAbove images by Leah Snyder for Mixed Bag Mag.