Visual Art
“Race Riot,” a notable painting by Andy Warhol, is the centerpiece of Christie’s upcoming postwar and contemporary art sale. Andy Warhol, while well known for his Pop Art works depicting advertising and celebrities, such as the Campbell’s soup can and Marilyn Monroe, also produced a body of significantly darker works, among them “Orange Car Crash” and “Race Riot.” These images, while still depicted in Warhol’s typical neon colors and lighthearted style, focused on the chaos and violence in American society at the time. “Race Riot” is an acrylic and silkscreen work showing a reproduced version of a 1963 photograph of police dogs attacking civil rights protesters in Birmingham, Alabama. The work is expected to fetch around $50 million at auction.
Music
Osmo Vanska was reinstated last Thursday as music director of the Minnesota Orchestra after resigning last October. He will start work officially this Thursday but is getting an early start, meeting with the players’ artistic committee about the upcoming season on yesterday. Vanska had originally resigned out of frustration with the Minnesota Orchestra’s management team for locking out the players for 16 months due to a contract dispute. Due to the chaos resulting from the lockout and Vanska’s resignation, the orchestra did not announce its 2014-2015 schedule in February, as most other major American ensembles did. However, a draft of the 2014-2015 schedule has been in place for around a month. The draft was drawn up before the orchestra’s President and Chief Executive Michael Henson announced his resignation, which will take effect in August.
Dance
The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance will move to a new location after 14 years in Hunts Point, New York. The group, founded by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzalez, was priced out of its previous location in the historic Banknote Building. However, its new location is equally notable and historical: a Gothic revival stone chapel on the grounds of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Westchester Square. The organization is known for throwing festivals that focus on gender, race and sexual orientation and will likely continue to innovate and draw on the many cultures of their new environment as they attempt to engage their new neighbors.
New York Live Arts is hosting its annual Live Ideas festival. The festival is an opportunity for the dance-focused institution to branch out and include other media and a broader range of programming. The theme, therefore, is generally the work of a cultural figure who bridges many fields of inquiry. Last year’s theme was “The Worlds of Oliver Sacks,” which explored the contributions of the writer whose case studies on psychology and neuroscience made the fields more accessible to the public. This year’s theme is “James Baldwin, This Time!” Baldwin, a writer and activist born in Harlem, is best known for his books and essays on race and national identity. The festival will explore Baldwin’s works through live readings, songs, spoken word and visual arts, including notably, 13 large tapestry-quilts.
