Saturday, April 7, 2012

New Art in Chelsea - Spring Exhibitions (3) + Mad Men's Cocktails







Fred Sandback's colorful STRINGS create delicate sculptures and define their space. *


ART
FRED SANDBACK
"DECADES"
at David Zwirner Gallery 
525 West 19th Street, NYC
Works from 1968-2000
Exhibition up until April 21, 2012


Image © Fred Sandback. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York.



Drawn Images © Fred Sandback. Photo courtesy of David Zwirner, New York.









The exhibition includes a number of drawings and sculptures by the artist which explore series or sequences and transformation themes, among them 16 Variations of 2 Diagonal Lines, 1972, a significant large-scale work which     




A close up of the cord creating these sculptures.*

The exhibition includes a number of drawings and sculptures which explore series or sequences of forms and transformation themes. Among them are 16 Variations of 2 Diagonal Lines, 1972, a significant large-scale work which changes over time. The sculpture consists of two lengths of yellow acrylic yarn which are installed in a series of sixteen possible arrangements (each day, of the last sixteen days of the exhibition, will feature a different variation of this work). 

Among the more recent works included in the exhibition are Untitled (Sculptural Study, Four-part Mikado Construction), 1991/2011, which belongs to a group of works inspired by the chance-generated game of Mikado, or “pick-up-sticks.” While many works from this series are presented flat against a wall, this three-dimensional construction is comprised of lengths of blue acrylic yarn suspended at non-intersecting angles in space. 
Wire sculptures form intriguing spaces 
at the corner of a gallery room.*



Wire corner sculptures (detail).*




Sandback’s work has been exhibited internationally since the late 1960s. His first solo shows were held at Galerie Konrad Fischer, DĆ¼sseldorf, and Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Munich, both in 1968, followed by an exhibition at Dwan Gallery, New York, in 1969, while the artist was still a graduate student pursuing his MFA at the Yale School of Art and Architecture. Many of us enjoy his work, which is on permanent display at Dia:Beacon.

Stan Douglas
"Disco Angola"
at David Zwirner Gallery 
525 West 19th Street, NYC
Exhibition runs through April 28, 2012
Opening night for "Disco Angola" at David Zwirner.*

Photos pictured © Stan Douglas. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York.





Photos pictured © Stan Douglas. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York.



For this exhibition, titled "Disco Angola", Douglas has again assumed the fictional point of view of a photo-journalist. This time, half of the works (4 photographs) recreate the burgeoning disco underground of the early 1970s in New York. For Douglas’s alter-ego, a press photographer, the scene is a cathartic respite from the urban grittiness of a city on the verge of bankruptcy. Evolving out of the funk and soul of the disco lifestyle, the city's marginalized communities embraced the glamour and fashion of the 70's, disco music era, which was a complete reversal from the 1960’s counterculture movement. 

Stan Douglas's photographs reveal subtle parallels between the burgeoning disco culture and the Angolan liberation struggles. Photos pictured © Stan Douglas. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner, New York.


The second half of the exhibition (4 photographs) are politically invigorating. They depict the time immediately after Angola's bloodless coup d’Ć©tat to end Portuguese rule. The political outcome, of that destabilizing coup, came in 1974, when a civil war broke out which lasted 28 years.

"Disco Angola" is Stan Douglas's eleventh solo exhibition at David Zwirner. It explores this dichotomy between the disco scene in New York City and the liberation struggles in Angola. Two separate and opposite historical moments of 1973, but actually photographed in 2012, with actors playing the roles. The photographer researched archival photographs, period costumes, and decor to meticulously recreate these scenes. The moments depicted were separated from each other by the Atlantic Ocean and are separated from us, today, by almost 40 years. Douglas's effect is complete, it is hard to believe the photographs on view, were taken this year.

(Sources: Information for both articles came from David Zwirner's press releases. Photos provided courtesy of the gallery © David Zwirner, New York. *Connotes photos taken by Jack A. Atkinson, with permission. To see larger jpegs of Stan Douglas "Disco Angola", here is a link to "Photo District News" http://www.pdnphotooftheday.com/2012/03/13188 )

FOOD




MAD MEN 
INSPIRED COCKTAILS


Imagine you are in a New York City, Madison Avenue lounge during the 1960s -having a cocktail with the men and women associated with the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. These advertising executives are at the top of their game, in an industry full of politics and pressure, but with a memorable lifestyle. Cocktails are a big part of that lifestyle!



Old-Fashioned
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon water
Two dashes angostura bitters
One slice orange rind
2 ounces Canadian blended or Bourbon whiskey
Ice
One maraschino cherry
Preparation: In an old-fashioned glass, muddle the sugar, water, bitters, and orange rind together until the sugar has dissolved. Fill the glass with ice, add the whiskey, and garnish with the cherry. Serve with a cocktail straw.

Dry Gin Martini
Ingredients:
2 parts Premium Gin
3/4 parts Dry Vermouth*
One green olive, or lemon zest twist for garnish
Preparation: Shake ingredients with ice and pour into a very chilled cocktail glass. Garnish.
*More vermouth makes a “wetter” drink; more gin dries it out.

Vodka Gimlet
Ingredients:
3 parts Premium Vodka
2 parts lime juice
1 part simple syrup
Preparation: Shake and pour into an ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with lime.

J&B Sour
Ingredients:
1 3/4 oz J&B Scotch Whiskey
3/4 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz sugar syrup
Half egg white (optional)
Dash Angostura bitters
Preparation: Add all ingredients, apart from the bitters, to a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake hard. Strain into a 10-ounce tumbler filled with fresh ice. Add the dash of bitters and garnish with a lemon wedge.

Mai Tai
Ingredients:
1 part Superior White Rum
1 part Premium Gold Rum
1/2 part orange curaƧao
4/5 part freshly squeezed lime juice
4/5 part orgeat syrup
Several cubes of ice
Scoop of ice
Tumbler
Hawthorne strainer
Fine Strainer
Preparation: Put all ingredients into a mixing glass, add ice, and mix well. Using both a Hawthorne strainer and a fine strainer, strain mixture into a glass full of crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig and orange wedge.

Bloody Mary
Ingredients:
1-1/2 parts Premium Vodka
3 parts Bloody Mary mix
1/2 parts lime juice
Preparation: Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled collins glass filled with ice and add cocktail onions.


Until later,
Jack

ARTSnFOOD, All rights reserved. Concept & Original Text © Copyright 2012 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.


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