This Week: Meryl Meisler & Beat Nite Brooklyn

Meryl Meisler, Self-Portrait, The Girl Scout Oath, North Massapequa, NY, January 1975, Vintage gelatin silver print, printed 1975, 20 x 14 1/2 in

James writes: 

My Critic's Picks this week- Meryl Meisler at Steven Kasher Gallery, opening this Thursday (February 25–April 9): For the last several years, Meryl Meisler, a retired public school teacher from Bushwick, Brooklyn, has released a treasure trove of her photographs from the 1970s that recall the oddities of Ralph Eugene Meatyard and the intimacies of Diane Arbus. Her recent books, “A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick” and “Purgatory & Paradise: SASSY ’70s Suburbia & The City,” document the juxtapositions she often found with her camera—of the high and lows of a city in decadence and decline. This Thursday, the esteemed Steven Kasher Gallery will open with a solo exhibition of Meisler’s earliest work, luxuriating in the patterns and characters that once filled the hair salons, Bar Mitzvah halls, and rec rooms of her suburban Long Island upbringing and standing in contrast to the grittiness of downtown New York.

“Beat Nite,” presented by Jason Andrew in collaboration with BRIC (February 26): The fourteenth iteration of “Beat Nite” returns to Brooklyn this Friday evening from 6–8pm, with a new focus on the arts spaces of Downtown BK. Venues will range from the MoCADA Museum to UrbanGlass, with an afterparty at BRIC. Following the “collaborative” mandate of Norte Maar, the event’s nonprofit organizer, one of this season’s highlights will be the ability to see the performance group BOOMERANG in open rehearsal at the Mark Morris Dance Center. More details here.

Photo: Mark Davis / BOOMERANG

The Illusive Eye

Marina Apollonio, at El Museo del Barrio

James writes:

Few people now remember William Seitz's 1965 MOMA show "The Responsive Eye," but at the time it was one of the original blockbuster museum exhibitions, making Optical Art the style of the moment. It was also far from inclusive. Optical art was truly an international movement, with remarkable work spanning from Latin America through India and Iran. Yet "The Responsive Eye" looked mainly to Anglo-American artists. Now, with hindsight, we can look back to the Optical Art movements of Latin America with fresh eyes thanks to The Illusive Eye, an exhibition on view at El Museo del Barrio through May 21. For more, I spoke with the art critic Juana Libedinsky in Argentina's La Nacion about the new and important perspective "The Illusive Eye" brings to Op. 

Cincuenta años atrás, el MoMA organizó una exposición de arte óptico (Op Art) y cinético titulada The Responsive Eye. Los artistas seleccionados habían abandonado el uso naturalista del óleo sobre la tela. Inspirados en la intensidad de las nuevas pinturas acrílicas, apelaron a líneas contrastantes y colores complementarios para acentuar la biomecánica de la percepción. "Los resultados fueron inmediatos -recuerda James Panero, crítico de arte de The Wall Street Journal y director ejecutivo de The New Criterion-. Aunque estaban basadas en más de un siglo de estudios, las obras centellantes y pulsantes requerían poca explicación; la muestra fue un éxito de audiencia y la sensación del momento."

Translation:

Fifty years ago, the MoMA organized an exhibition of optical art (Op Art) and kinetic art entitled The Responsive Eye. The selected artists had abandoned the naturalism of oil on fabric. Inspired by the intensity of new acrylic paints, they used contrasting lines and complementary colors to accentuate the biomechanics of sight. "The results were immediate" recalls James Panero, art critic of The Wall Street Journal and Executive Editor of The New Criterion. "Although grounded in over a century of study, the flickering, throbbing, pulsating works on view required little explanation. The show set attendance records. It was a sensation."

Catch the full article here. 

In the Fishbowl: "Print is Forever"

JAMES PANERO, DIANE CLEHANE AND LISA LINDEN

James writes:

Heads turned at Michael's yesterday as I sat down with Diane Clehane of AdWeek's "FishbowlNY" and Lisa Linden to explain why print is here to stay. Diane writes:

I was joined today by James Panero, executive editor of The New Criterion. Our mutual friend, Lisa Linden, CEO of LAK PR, arranged our get-together. James and his wife, poet Dara Mandle  author of the new book, Tobacco Hour, live in the same storied building that Lisa calls home. When she suggested I meet James, she described him as “fabulous, fascinating … a quintessential New York star.” I wasn’t disappointed...

“We haven’t changed the look of the magazine in 34 years and it’s helped us,” James told me. “We haven’t had to do a redesign, we got it right the first time."

Here is Diane's full account of our print-power luncheon.