Frank Gehry's InterActive Corp

NYC's first Gehry Building is nearing completion. Several more (including the much-delayed Nets Stadium in Brooklyn) are in the planning stages.

See more photos of IAC@brianrose.com

Cézanne to Picasso exhibit@the Met

Cézanne to Picasso exhibit@the Met showcases the usual suspects in all their splendor: a great opportunity to see Van Gogh, Gaugin and Cézanne alongside their progeny: The early Matisse, Vlaminck and Picasso. This exhibit serves as a mini-primer of Post-Impressionism (sans Seurat), Fauvism (sans Derain) and even Cubism (sans Braque). For the missing pieces trek to the Met's modern galleries one flight down.





Sean Sculley@ The Met:

"The works in “Sean Scully: Wall of Light” are paintings of imagined walls made of rectangular blocks. Inspired by the light Scully saw on the stones of Mexican pyramids, the series is an exercise in repetition and variation. But it is also a push backward and forward at the same time.

Scully, 60, was born in Ireland, raised in England and began his career as a figurative painter. But he became interested in the work of Mark Rothko and moved to the United States, where he is now a citizen. Inspired by Rothko’s spiritual abstractions, Scully became an abstract painter who clearly acknowledges his debt to those who came before him."

http://www.sheldonartgallery.org/about/news.html?topic=details&news_id=132



Read More:
-from an earlier exhibit of Sean Scully paintings:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/David_Winton_Bell_Gallery/scully.html

NY Times Review of Sean Scully at The Met

Dylan@The Morgan Library

O. K. So I went to the Morgan Library, ostensibly to see the Bob Dylan show (somewhat of a bore, to tell the truth) but I was most impressed by the new addition designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano.
The space was bright and modern but not cold and austere like the new MoMA. The warmth was due in large effect to the use of an indoor tree, ample sky lights and light-colored wide planked wood flooring throughout.

Jeweled bookcover of the Lindau Gospels
http://www.themorgan.org/collections/collections.asp?id=62
The enameling technique know as 'champleve' in this exquisitely be-jewelled binding was impressive in the new gallery which is essentially a jewel box within the larger space.

"Basse Taille: French for “low cut.” A technique in which a pattern is created in the metal backing before enameling.

Champleve: French for “raised field” or “raised plain.” A technique in which enamel is inlaid into depressions in the metal, leaving metal exposed. The depressions are typically made by an etching process, although other methods exist. First done in the 3rd century AD by the Celts decorating their shields, this technique has been one of the favorite forms of enameling."

Art of Fine Enameling

Cimabue@ The Frick

Looks like another stunning exhibit at The Frick.
Mirror images of two extremely rare paintings by the early Italian master, Cimabue. Shown here to emphasis the formal clarity and compositional elegance to best effect.

Romare Bearden@Michael Rosenfeld

Mr. Blues Leaves a Calling Card, 1981

Always a treat for the eyes, this latest Romare Bearden exhibit looks very promising: I plan to visit the gallery in the near future. Bearden took collage to a new level and his incluson in the "Picasso and American Art" exhibit @The Whitney would have been instructive.