“Broadway State of Mind – Part 2″

This week I had the chance to see two different shows – one on Broadway, and one on Brooklyn’s “Broadway” — The Brooklyn Academy of Music.

‘Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo‘ was absolutely amazing. Robin Williams‘ performance as its main character – a caged Bengal Tiger – was spectacular. He was a healthy of mix of hysterical and sentimental, and the play’s script brought up some ‘big’ life questions – one of the many reasons why it was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize last year. The story follows the ramblings of Williams as the caged tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, while America is invading the city to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.  I think the New York Times review of the show said it best about Williams’ performance:

Mr. Williams, the kinetic comic who has sometimes revealed a marshmallowy streak in movies, never indulges the audience’s hunger for displays of humorous invention or pinpricks of poignancy. He gives a performance of focused intelligence and integrity, embodying the animal who becomes the play’s questioning conscience with a savage bite that never loosens its grip.

I also saw BAM’s production of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’, one of the many spectacular shows the Academy has in their line-up for this spring and summer. The show stars Derek Jacobi, who does a fantastic job playing Lear, the tragic lead, and the rest of the cast playing his daughters does a fine job showing a family torn apart by the treachery they displayed towards one another. A depressing show, but a good one!

Aside from seeing shows, I’ve been teaching my class, ‘The Art of Fashion Photography” at the International Center For Photography. Walker Waugh, the Director of the Yancey Richardson Gallery in Chelsea spoke at my class the other night. Articulate, erudite and serious-minded, he spoke of the fine art photographers are doing in fashion. A good example being Alex Prager who has worked for Bottega Veneta, the New York Times and W doing fashion. Her work is beyond spectacular.

Art: Accessible to All

I recently had the opportunity to gorge on art, both visual and performance, for an entire weekend. Not only was I in my glory, but I also made some interesting observations along the way.

I caught Gerhard Richter’s show at the Marian Goodman Gallery in midtown Manhattan. Richter is a master of the abstract. Large-scale canvases showcase his impeccable palette knife work.

I was particularly impressed by a piece entitled Sinbad (2008), an entire room of colorful lacquer pieces pressed between panes of glass. There are 90 segments, each with a price tag of $1000. Sounds reasonable, until I read that one buyer must purchase the entire collection–for a total of $900,000!

This price seemed steep, until I attended contemporary fine art auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. With works by modern masters such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jeff Koons, and Joan Mitchell, Richter’s Sinbad was a relative bargain!

The 2009 Editions Artists’ Book Fair in Chelsea was a breath of fresh air. Publishers and dealers displayed a variety of prints, some from recently published volumes and others from up-and-coming artists.

The show served as a poignant reminder that some artists make their living entirely from reproductions. This is not necessarily negative. Everyone should be able to own a piece of artwork, should they so desire.

My final venture was Robert Wilson’s Quartett at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Wilson is known for his avant-garde staging, and this production is no exception.

The set is stark and austere; the pulsing lights and repetitive sounds are jarring yet appropriate to the themes of infidelity and betrayal. The play is a remake of Heiner Muller’s script; itself based on the novel Dangerous Liaisons.

Isabelle Huppert, best known for her role in I Heart Huckabees, delivers a brilliant performance. I was deeply moved. And tickets prices are reasonable.

I was pleased to note that affordable visual and performance art does exist in New York City. More expensive art is not necessarily better art. While galleries and auctions have their place, let us not forget that art is and should be accessible to all.