Since its accidental discovery by Henry Hudson 400 years ago, Manhattan has been the island at the center of the world. Claimed by the Dutch, whose dominance lasted a mere half century, Niew Amsterdam, or New York, was founded in the spirit of Dutch society and culture, with tolerance and international trade its cornerstones.

A celebration of New York’s Dutch heritage is currently underway at the Museum of the City of New York, Today DART offers a look at Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered. Initiated by Foam_Fotographiemuseum Amsterdam, the show was curated by Kathy Ryan, director of photography at The New York Times, who invited the participation of twelve Dutch photographers with strong bonds with their subject city. Most created new work, with the exception of Reinke Dijkstra (often referred to the godmother of contemporary Dutch photography) and Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin (who have been working here for over a decade).

Left: Hendrik Kerstens, Napkin, 2009 copyright Hendrik Kerstens; Courtesy Witzenhausen Gallery Amsterdam/New York. Center: Wijnanda Deroo, Milon, 93 First Avenue, New York, New York, NY; copyright Wijnanda Deroo, courtesy Robert Mann Gallery, New York. Right: Hendrik Kerstens, Bag, 2008, copyright Hendrik Kerstens; Courtesy Witzenhausen Gallery Amsterdam/New York.

In her introduction to the handsome catalog, Kathy notes, “No artists coming from the place that gave the world Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Frans Hals can claim to have risen out of virgin territory….But of course all artistic traditions are only meaningful to contemporary artists in so far as they can be upended….these Dutch artists have succeeded tremendously at embracing their ghosts even as they confront them. They tease, challenge, and play with every bit of their artistic ancestry.”

The entrance to the exhibition is framed with mural-size portraits by Hendrik Kerstens of his lifelong muse, his daughter Paula. Here he makes what he calls a “time leap,” costuming his subject in 17^th century head gear fashioned from found objects, including a table napkin and a plastic shopping bag. The lighting, the gravity his daughter brings to the sittings, and some contemporary artifacts, including  a Yankees baseball hat, create a stunning effect that recalls portraits by his antecedent Rembrandt van Rijn. Kerstens’ work, making it New York debut, can also be seen at Chelsea’s Witzenhausen Gallery through July 11th.

Wijnanda Deroo known for unpeopled interiors that evoke poetic narratives, visited eateries scattered throughout the five boroughs. From a classic downscale Chinatown eatery on Doyers Street to Tavern on the Green, the connection New Yorkers make to their multiethnic neighbors is revealed. Her work was most recently seen here at Robert Mann Gallery in 2007.

Arno Nollen and Morad Bouchakour have each taken a different approach to street photography - a form that was arguably born in New York. Nollan’s head shots were originally conceived as a group of portraits of people he found who had a “Dutch look.” As he went around town he added people of various ethnic backgrounds. The project reflects on the fact that Niew Amsterdam originally consisted of only 500 people, but they spoke 18 languages. Bouchakour, on the other hand, shows his subjects in their native environment, and chooses people who usually pass without notice. “As an outsider,” he wrote in the catalogue, “I revel in things most New Yorkers take for granted.” Both photographers are making their New York debuts.

Also on view is a new series by Erwin Olaf, who recreated scenes from the1900 Hamptons Album by Frances B. Johnson depicting middle-class African Americans. His staged tableaux, shot and printed in black and white, are a departure from the color work he is known for. Images from his recent book, Grief (Aperture 2007) were exhibited at Hasted Hunt.

Consisting of roughly 100 thoughtfully chosen works, the show is expansive in its subject matter and the photographers’ diverse points of view. The exhibition design by Peter Buchanan-Smith is an exercise in minimalist purity, with the carefully orchestrated use of black or white frames defining groupings and eventually, the exhibit space itself. The catalogue, produced by FOAM, is available in the museum gift store.

Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered continues at Museum of the City of New York through September 13. Please visit the website for information and public programs.

Next Wednesday, July 8, 6:30 pm
FREE for DART subscribers: The Making of Mannahatta

Join Dr. Eric Sanderson, author, and Markley Boyer, illustrator, of Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (Abrams, 2009) to hear the inside story of the science and visualization of Manhattan Island 400 years ago. Presented in conjunction with Mannahatta/Manhattan: A Natural History of New York City.
Reservations required. Please call 212.534.1672, ext. 3395.
Just mention DART and your tickets will be held for you at the front desk.
Museum of the City of New York is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street.
By bus:
M1, M3, M4 or M106 to 104th Street, M2 to 101st Street.
By subway:
#6 Lexington Avenue train to 103rd Street, walk three blocks west, or #2 or #3 train to Central Park North (110th Street), walk one block east to Fifth Avenue, then south to 103rd Street. Ramp access is available at the 104th Street entrance.

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The summer has finally showed itself here in New York, just in time for a rare treat in the world of photography. Thirteen of the city’s top galleries have combined forces to present views of the city, made since the days when photography first landed on our shores up to the present.

I contacted Bill Hunt, of Hasted Hunt, to get the story. He replied by return e-mail, “In mid-April, Sarah Hasted, one of the partners in Hasted Hunt, suggested contacting some colleagues, other major New York galleries specializing in photography, and inviting them to a meeting.

Left and center Paolo Ventura, Souvenir from New York; Nathan Harger, Untitled (Statue of Liberty), New York; both copyright the artist and courtesy Hasted Hunt Gallery. Right: Andrew Moore: Target Times Square. Copyright the artist, courtesy Yancey Richardson Gallery.

“The group,” he said,  “included Deborah Bell, Bonni Benrubi, Janet Borden, James Danziger, Howard Greenberg, Sarah Hasted and Bill Hunt, Edwynn Houk, Peter MacGill, Bob Mann, Larry Miller, Yossi Milo, Yancey Richardson, and Julie Saul.

“Two things came out of that meeting,” Bill continued. “The group had the idea to collaborate on a citywide photography exhibition called New York Photographs. Each of the participating galleries organized a show that deals with images unique to New York, landmarks or events or artists.

In addition, the collaboration was designed to be something of a recession-buster. By teaming up as a group and approaching framers, advertisers, and shippers, they were able to negotiate discounts that have been passed along to collectors in the form of reduced pricing on the prints.

Yancey Richardson, who opens Glitz & Grime: Photographs of Times Square next Thursday, is delighted with the results of the collaboration - and the process. “When we were all starting out — was it 20 years ago?” she said today in her gallery, “we weren’t married, we didn’t have kids, so we had time to hang out together at auctions and openings. Now, we’re all so busy we’re lucky if we see one another a few times a year. So this has been a great way to re-establish our bonds.”

Currently on view at Hasted Hunt is a selection of images of the Statue of Liberty, from the 19^th century to today. If you’ve ever wondered what is inscribed on Lady Liberty’s open tablet, visit this exceptional show for inspiration and information. Among the artists on view are Paolo Ventura, Bruce Davidson, and Ralph Seneca Stoddard, among others.

For information about New York Photographs, please follow the links to the galleries listed below.

Deborah Bell Photographs: Sid Kaplan - Urban Stonehenge
Bonni Benrubi Gallery: Live From New York…
Janet Borden, Inc.: Helluva Town
Danziger Projects: Location
Howard Greenburg Gallery: William Klein, 1954-55
Hasted Hunt Gallery: New York Photographs - The Statue of Liberty
Eddwynn Houk Gallery: Joel Meyrowitz - New York
Yossi Milo Gallery: Sexy and the City
Pace/MacGill Gallery: Todd Papageorge - American Sports 1970
Yancey Richardson Gallery: Glitz & Grime - Photographs of Times Square
Julie Saul Gallery: Bill Jacobson’s New Year’s Day
Note: Lawrence Miller and Robert Mann have since closed their New York Photographs exhibitions.

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According to the borough president’s office, Queens is the nation’s most multi-ethnic county, where over 100 languages are spoken. The 7 train, which runs through it, is commonly referred to as the International Express, although it stops every few minutes. Even the site of the Queens Museum of Art, in Flushing Meadow Park, was home to not one, but two, World’s Fairs. The colossal Unisphere, centerpiece of the 1964 fair, still stands nearby.

Currently on view at the museum, which hosts the highly anticipated Queens International every two years, is a show designed to cross borders. Tarjama/Translation features artists from the Middle East, Central Asia and its diasporas through the different ways in which artists engage with people, objects, images, and ideas traveling across geographic spaces, media forms, histories, and personal contexts.

Left to right: Photographs by Yelena Vorobyeva and Viktor Vorobyev, from Kasakhstan, from the Blue Period series. Still from Predator, a video by Mitra Tabrizian. Still from The City of Panther Fashion, a video by Gulsun Karamustafa

Curator Leeza Ahmady who was born in Afghanistan and arrived in New York in 1987 as a teenager, has brought together art in a variety of media by over 25 international artists. “The exhibition foregrounds how contemporary artists negotiate the continued dislocating forces of globalization,” she says, “and how they track newer dilemmas engendered by their migrations.” The title, Translations, refers to “artists engaged in various acts of translation: reading between the lines, probing the obvious, and burrowing through the camouflage of appearances to contemplate universal relevance.”

In addition, the museum is currently providing a working studio for Dorothea Rockburne, who is creating a mural commissioned for the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica. For the next two months, visitors can observe the artist and her team of assistants as the work progresses. After the mural is shipped away, the wall on which it hangs will be demolished as part of the museum’s upcoming expansion program. Read more.

Tarjama/Translation continues through September 27 at Queens Museum of Art, with a host of public programs ranging from calligraphy and ethnic dancing to films from Central Asia. Please visit the website for information and directions.

The heartbreaking story of the young woman brutally shot on June 20th in Tehran continues to inspire Iranians who believe the June 12^th election was rigged. Neda Agha-Soltan, whose final moments were caught by cell phone video and globally circulated on YouTube, had the misfortune of being out during one of the post-election demonstrations.

Tensions were running so high after her death, reported the LA TImes, that authorities told the woman’s family to quickly bury her without a funeral or memorial service, which they believed would provoke more demonstrations. They were also told to remove the black mourning banners in front of the family home and to not speak publicly about her.

Tim O’Brien, a Brooklyn-based artist and illustrator known for his portraits, made a drawing of the young woman and posted it on his blog at Drawger.com.

Left: Tim O’Brien’s drawing of Neda Agha-Soltan. Right: Screen grab from video of her final moments.

I asked Tim how he came to do the portrait. “I, like millions of others, saw the shocking death of this woman on the web. I was troubled deeply with what I saw. I was actually away from my studio for 10 days when the protests began in Iran,” he wrote, “but I was able to access the New York Times and the Huffington Post, which I read on my iPhone. I found the video clip of Neda’s shooting and watched it several times. I began to wonder what I might offer if I were in my studio.

“After I posted this image on Drawger, the piece was discovered by someone from Iran and what followed was unbelievable. Over 300 people, mostly Iranian, posted their appreciation for the image and more interestingly, spoke of the comfort of finding out their plight was understood,” Tim continued. “I also received almost 500 e-mails from people who were less than comfortable posting in a public form.

“The reaction from Iranians both inside and outside Iran was almost universally appreciative. The great shock to me,” he continued, “was how many said they had no idea we cared. That was amazing to me.”

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With panoramic harbor views, nearly 6 miles of bike trails, and fresh air unspoiled by urban traffic, Governors Island has become a don’t miss daytrip for New Yorkers. Just a quick hop from Manhattan on the free ferry, the island welcomes visitors Friday through Sunday during summer months.

Left: Bird’s-eye view of Governors Island today. Right: Architect’s vision for the 40-acre park currently under design. Courtesy GovernorsIsland.org

Starting this weekend there’s even a better reason to make the crossing. A new public art exhibition of work by 19 international artists, organized by Creative Time, opened today. Called “Plot/09: This World and Nearer Ones,” the show includes art that references the island’s military past - it was a long term Army base, later taken over by the Coast Guard - as well as its physical grandeur, and moodier aspects of its nautical past. It includes sound works, sculptural installations, videos, and artist interventions with the island’s infrastructure.

On the Manhattan side, New York artist Lawrence Weiner urges visitors to live for the moment in a text piece placed on the pilings alongside the ferry dock. Once you arrive on the island, sounds from the musical Godspell, eerily channeled by Scottish artist Susan Philipz, seek to create a collective connection to the surroundings. German artist Klaus Weber created a massive wind chime whose deep resonant sound, consisting of three dissonant tones sometimes referred to as the “devil’s interval,” recalls the sounds made by diving whales.

The New York art collective, Bruce High-Quality Foundation, which was created to “offer an alternative to everything,” presents an alternative to the cult movie, “Night of the Living Dead.” Subtitled, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Death of the Art World,” this sendup skewers art world antics and concludes with zombies intoning the Bryan Adams classic, “Summer of 69.” The film’s trailer can be seen on YouTube.

In addition to the site-specific installations, opening weekend festivities include live performances by Teresa Margolies and Tris Vonna-Michell, complimentary beverages, and live music by three veranda bands - Tuba Skinny, Fallujah, and Ellery Marshall & Micah Keren-Zvi. For information, please visit Creative Time’s website.

The free Governors Island ferry departs hourly from the Maritime Building, just north of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal; cyclists are welcome. Bike rentals are available on the island, with bikes available free on Fridays.

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“In the real world there are all kinds of boundaries, everywhere. In art there are none,” said Yinka Shonibare at the preview for his exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum today. His meaning can be taken on several different levels.

Born to well-off Nigerian parents in London, raised in Lagos, then educated in London, Shonibare considers himself bi-cultural and privileged. Struck by a rare virus shortly after he entered art school in the early 1980s, he overcame his paralysis but is considerably disabled, a fact that he has used to advantage in directing assistants to physically execute his projects. Being a conceptual artist, he says, this in no way undermines his credibility. And his major museum exhibitions have crossed borders, from Sweden to Austrailia, to Germany and the United States.

Left: Scramble for Africa, 2003. Center: How to Blow Up Two Heads at Once (Ladies), 2006. Right: The Victorian Philanthropist’s Parlour, 1996-97. Photos: Peggy Roalf.

As an art student, Shonibare was exploring ideas about peristroika and the fall of Communism when one of his teachers said, “Why don’t you make authentic African art.” This struck him as almost comical, as he hardly thought of himself as authentically African. “You know,” he said in a recent interview, “no one ever questioned Picasso’s use of African art, but Africans are always expected to just do ‘African’ things. In the contemporary world where we all travel, that’s just not realistic.”

In London’s Brixton Market, where high and low mingle every day, he found so-called African textiles known as Dutch wax fabric. These were originally produced in the Netherlands for sale in Indonesia, but they were never commercially successful there. They were then sold the English, who copied them and sold them in West Africa, where they immediately caught on. When African countries claimed independence from their colonial rulers in the 1950s and 60s, these colorful prints became synonymous with African-ness and remain so today.

Shonibare enjoys the politics of inauthenticity that marks these textiles, likening it to the politics of dress. “The best-dressed people always tend to be outsiders, or gay, or have-nots,” he said in his remarks at the preview. In adopting the Dutch wax fabrics as his signature material, he has combined ideas about attire and politics that go back to the colonizing era in Europe.

One of the most compelling works in the exhibition is Scramble for Africa (above left), in which 14 life-size figures are seated around a map of Africa engraved onto a conference table. The figures are headless, signifying the mindless land grabbing that took place during the 18^th century. The men wear the attire of nobles, but executed in the colorful “African” fabrics.

The exhibition includes a number of life-size tableaux as well as his work in film, which further explores ideas about identity and appearance. As his work evolved, Shonibare continued to shape narratives about the outsider masquerading inside the dominant culture, which is the theme of Diary of a Victorian Dandy. In this tableaux, set up for the purpose of being photographed, a black dandy (the artist himself), is surrounded by white attendants and hangers-on; he disrupts the social balance as much as possible through indolence and game playing.

Also on view is The Victorian Philanthropist’s Parlour, in which the Dutch wax fabric is used as wall covering. On close inspection, a commentary about the haves and the have-nots becomes evident in the fact that the repeat pattern of the fabric includes black soccer players amid the bright floral motifs.

Yinka Shonibare MBE continues at the Brooklyn Museum through September 20, 2009. 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY. 718-638-5000. Please visit the website for information and directions. The exhibition will then travel to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., where it will open in November.

A self-proclaimed “troubled teen addicted to Sartre,” Nausea, in particular, Dan Graham has built a career around his off-center ideas about self-perception. A self-taught artist who never attended college, Graham considers himself a writer who also makes things. His work in an array of media, including print, film and video, sculpture, and architectural structures can now be seen in a retrospective that opens tomorrow at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Dan Graham, at left, tells it like it is at the Whitney. Center: Things are not what they seem. Right: The author, now and just past. Photos: Peggy Roalf

Starting in the early 1960s when New York began taking the lead as the art center of the world through Abstract Expressionism (including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning among others), Graham was among the young artists who came up with new art forms that were critical of the establishment. Using ordinary materials like house paint, cheap cameras and photocopies, their work soon became known as Conceptual Art. At the preview today, Graham said that critics hated their work; even fellow artist Sol LeWitt said that it should be used as firewood.

Graham first became known for his “magazine pages,” which were anti-consumerist visual statements that he ran in magazines for the price of an advertising page. Next came Homes for America, an index of suburban tract houses he made with an Instamatic camera and also published as a magazine page. He had come up with something new - the subject was banal, it embodied cultural commentary, mass circulation, advertising, and it disdained craft through the cheap drugstore prints he used for reproduction.

At the same time, Graham and his contemporaries were creating a new kind of performance art, which continues to influence young artists today. Graham’s use of film and video to reveal different perceptions of the same activity is first seen here in Roll, a film displayed on adjacent walls using two projectors. The artist filmed himself rolling around in a pile of fallen leaves through a camera strapped on his chest. He also had a friend film the same activity from a short distance away. Simultaneous and completely different points of view show the artist a) having fun in a dumb, childlike way and b) engaged in an activity that seems odd for an adult.

The culmination of his work in film and video is the nearly hour-long Rock My Religion, a striking commentary on youth culture that includes footage of Patti Smith, Sonic Youth and Black Flag mixed with historical images of the Shakers. As with all of his art, the film blurs distinction between actors and audience as it makes its viewers into collaborators. Another piece, Opposing Mirrors and Video Monitors on Time Delay (above, right), juxtaposes present time with what Graham calls “just past.” This deceptively simple installation recombines the viewers as subjects in a “hall of mirrors” where everyone can see and be seen.

This type of audience engagement is key to Graham’s architectural structures, which he calls Pavilions, a number of which are included in the show. Mostly created for museum lobbies, the Pavilions use two-way mirrors to disarmingly alter the viewer’s sense of place. In one piece, which has two separate spaces each with its own entrance, viewers on one side of the two-way mirror suddenly appear to be in the opposite space (above, center). Graham clearly takes the disdainful critique that something is “nothing but smoke and mirrors” as serious fun.

Dan Graham: Beyond, June 25 - October 11, 2009. The Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue at 75^th Street, New York, New York, NY. 212-570-3633. Whitney Live is presenting a series of Indie Rock Concerts on Friday nights in June and July, which are on  pay as you wish basis. This week’s installment features The Feelies. A series public programs includes a conversation with post-punk musician Glen Branca and more. Please visit the website for information, hours, and directions.

I’ve been waiting to walk the High Line ever since photographer Joel Sternfeld offered a view of this hidden urban wilderness eight years ago on WNETs New York Voices. The first section of the restored rail line opened June 9th, with thousands of visitors queuing up to get in at the Gansevoort Street entrance. Today, under overcast skies, there was unrestricted access to the city’s newest park at four of its five entrances, from Gansevoort to 20^th Streets.

Left: The High Line, looking towards the Standard Hotel. Right: Wildflowers and grasses. Photos: Peggy Roalf.

Designed by James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio & Renfro, the High Line is a place to walk, to relax, and to contemplate the magnificent surroundings. The West Chelsea area is still a microcosm of industrial architecture, with skeletal remains of its working waterfront visible from the walkway, three stories high. From this prospect, the Hudson River views are spectacular and evidence of habitation in the old red brick buildings was offered today in the form of freshly laundered dresses drying in the breeze.

The future is evident in a glut of new structures, including Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActive Corp, designed by Frank Gehry, and the Standard Hotel, which bridges the High Line at Gansevoort Street. Elsewhere, shiny glass buildings of all sizes and styles are popping up as if these were, in fact, high times.

The walkway is formed of many different surfaces, from sculptural concrete to redwood planks to industrial grating. The plantings closely mimic the original wildflower fields that had stealthily taken over the abandoned rail line: native plants have been newly installed with a subtle hand as if their seeds were naturally broadcast. They’ve taken root in a somewhat random, slightly scraggly way in beds sliced through the concrete paving and amid sections of rail left behind as artifacts. Lighting, simple yet sophisticated, takes the form of three foot high rods set among the plantings.

At 16^th Street, a section of the building housing Chelsea Market extends over the park, offering a cool, dark shelter from the elements. Inside is a massive stained glass installation by Spencer Finch that echoes the ebb and flow of the Hudson estuary. Sponsored by Creative Time, Friends of the High Line, and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, it forms a continuous backdrop in shades of aqueous blue along the building’s western wall.

As a place to chill, the High Line has everything a loafer could want, from simple wooden benches along its perimeters to enormous chaise lounges ideally positioned for sunset viewing. One of the neat features is a redwood amphitheater that swoops down toward 10^th Avenue, around 17^th Street.

The High Line is open from 7 am to 10 pm and can be entered along 10 Avenue at Gansevoort Street, 14^th Street (often closed due to construction), 16^th, 18^th and 20^th Streets. Elevator access is available at 16^th Street, with a second elevator due to open at 14^th Street in July. For information, please visit Friends of the High Line’s website.

Today’s DART Pick:
The Female Gaze Women Look At Women. The show seeks to present work by women artists, in a variety of mediums, which reclaim the traditional domination of “the male gaze.” Opening Thursday June 25, 6-8 pm at Chelsea’s Cheim & Read Gallery. 547 West 25^th Street, New York, NY. 212-242-7727.

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As two out of America’s Big Three automakers continue their downward spiral, our car culture shows little sign of taking a reality check. While many home buyers are seizing on real estate foreclosures and flipping to a more upscale lifestyle, car buyers are also taking advantage of overcrowded dealership lots for bargains on gas guzzling SUVs.

If we are what we drive, and bigger remains better for many, then a visual reality check loaded with social insight can be had in a photography exhibit closing this weekend at Yossi Milo Gallery, in Chelsea.

Two by Andrew Bush, from Vector Portraits, at Yossi Milo Gallery. Copyright the artist, courtesy the gallery.

Andrew Bush: Vector Portraits is an exploration of what it is to be behind the wheel. Done over a roughly 20-year period starting in 1989 on the streets of Los Angeles, these photographs reveal telling and often-painful truths. Made using a 4 x 5 camera and strobe light installed in the passenger seat of his car, Bush’s large color prints depict his subjects at pretty much the same distance and scale.

As well as revealing the trance-like state that many road warriors succumb to, the finely recorded details here tell much about the choices these drivers have made. Pride of ownership and its opposite are on full view, with the personal style of the drivers a close match to their rides. Long, detailed captions contribute a tongue-in-cheek narrative to the images, which challenge ideas about privacy and what constitutes private versus public space.

Here the American muscle car is the star, with Camaro, Impala, Le Mans and Trans Am leading the pack. Foreign makes, including the occasional Porsche and even a VW Beetle unwittingly become pariahs of design quality and good maintenance when compared to so many other cars that appear to have survived natural disasters and other abuses.

In Woman gliding southeast at 64 mph on U.S. Route 101 near Santa Barbara at 4:39 p.m. sometime in March 1990, a quintessentially California blond zooms along in a perfectly maintained Japanese-made sub-compact, her expression one of questioning contemplation. Man traveling southeast on Route 101 at approximately 71 mph somewhere around Camarillo, California, on a summer evening in 1994 depicts macho-ness in everything from the burly man’s pork chop sideburns and tattoo to his buffed Camaro.

The high definition of the images tells much, yet sometimes blurs reality, as in Woman going about her business at 62 mph on southbound Interstate 5 near San Diego at 9:38 a.m. on a Tuesday in February 1992. Without reading the caption, viewers might dispute the sex of the driver.

So much detail occasionally puts the subject in a kind light, as in Woman heading West at 71 mph…in January 1991. She glances distractedly at the camera, her expression conveying an intense sense of mission. For the most part, though, the opposite is true. Some drivers are oblivious. Some appear angered by the intrusion on their joy ride. Some are running low on everything, including a place to live. Just about as bad as it gets plays out in Man heading west at 78 mph…in 1990. Lack of sleep and nourishment mark the wan face of a young man with uncombed long hair, driving a battered Mustang that looks as if it had just careened off a guardrail.

Andrew Bush: Vector Portraits, through Saturday, June 27 at Yossi Milo Gallery. 525 West 25th Street, New York, NY. 212-414-0370. Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-6 pm. The monograph, Andrew Bush: Drive (Yale University Press 2009) is available at the gallery. The exhibition was organized in conjunction with Julie Saul Gallery.

Today’s DART Pick:
The Rema Hart Mann Foundation’s 10% Party: A fundraiser during gay pride week, featuring a silent art auction with over 70 works donated by LGBT artists.

Wednesday, June 24, 6 - 9 pm at 28 Wooster St (at Grand St), New York, NY
Featuring free wine and liquor bar + food and DJs Telfar and Nita Aviance.
Tickets are just $20 tickets, available at the door only.

Auction highlights include work by Ross Bleckner, Terence Koh, Jack Pierson, Kenny Scharf, Andy Warhol and many more.

If you can’t be there in person, proxy bids are due by Tuesday, June 23 at noon. Please check the website for information.

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How many legends can you think of who are known by a single name? Shakespeare, Caruso, Elvis, Cher, Madonna, Bono, Jesus…The list goes on, of course, and in the world of art and design it includes Leonardo, Daumier, Hopper, Warhol, Milton, Crumb…and Seymour.

 Left to right: Self-Portrait as Map; Hell, Really; Einstein. Copyright Seymour Chwast.

Seymour Chwast, who with Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel founded Pushpin Studios in 1954, arrived on the scene at just the right moment. In the 1950s, advertising art and design, more commonly known back then as “commercial art,” was somewhat like an outcast, with one arm in the grip of an increasingly outmoded form of nostalgia and the other being tugged at by the forces of Swiss-style Modernism of the Helvetica kind.

By the time Seymour (who had his work published in Seventeen magazine when he was still in high school) had survived some notably unsuccessful ventures, comically recounted by Steve Heller in his Introduction to Seymour’s new book, The Obsessive Images of Seymour Chwast (Chronicle Books 2009), he also had developed his signature approach. Not to be confused with an artistic style, Seymour’s approach has to do with a way of exposing (Seymour’s term) the content and meaning of his subject rather than by illustrating the subject itself.

He had come up with something new - no, revolutionary, according to Heller - and over the next five decades he opened doors to succeeding generations of artists and designers. Seymour says that he is inspired by great poster art. “I studied their concepts and compositions along with scale, color, and form. [Posters] evoke drama, mystery, humor, and poetry.”

These elements consistently mark his work, which is virtuosic but never slick, and ranges from illustrations for the New Yorker to art done solely for the sake of exploring an idea, such as the 54-sheet Brylcream Man series. Seymour is not one to sit around waiting for an art director to call on him. He is constantly at work creating paintings, cut metal pieces and his newly animated online quarterly, The Nose.

At a presentation sponsored by the AIGA New York last Tuesday, a conversation took place between Steve Heller and Seymour Chwast that rocked the audience, made up of art directors, designers and artists of all ages. He projected movie-screen sized images from the book while the two recounted historic and hysterically funny episodes from Seymour’s career.

Seymour, who grew up in Coney Island, seems to be 99.8% directed by his funny bone. When asked by a young member of the audience if he was ever put off by the seriousness of the design and art worlds, where everything becomes so important that laughter might be taken for rudeness, Seymour answered, “Not at all. If everyone else joked around like I do, I’d be out work.” When asked, “Do you feel that your success was inevitable,” he humbly replied, “No, I feel lucky,” whereupon an ad hoc discussion of what constituted genius erupted amid the audience. He who had the final word said, “It’s so simple. Seymour’s on stage and we’re out here.”

On July 11, Seymour will be signing copies of The Obsessive Images at Oblong Books & Music, in Millerton, NY at 3:00 pm and in Rhinebeck, NY at 7:30 pm. Please check the website for directions and information.

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