STUDIO 54: NIGHT MAGIC at The Brooklyn Museum: Review By Polly Guerin

The first exhibition to trace the groundbreaking artistic achievements and social politics of the 

historic nightclub Studio 54 takes center stage in the NIGHT MAGIC: STUDIO 54 exhibition at The Brooklyn Museum through July 5, 2020.

With its lasting influence on nightclub design, cinema and fashion STUDIO 54 remains a nostalgic reminder of the revolutionary creativity, expressive freedom, and sexual liberation celebrated at the world-renowned nightclub. You can be there vicariously viewing over 650 objects ranging from fashion photography, drawings, and film to stage sets and music. Behind the velvet rope, partygoers of all backgrounds and lifestyles could come together for radiant nights of music, dazzling lights, and the popular song and dance, "The Hustle."  Image: Bianca Jagger riding a white horse at Studio 54. Photographer Rose Hartman. 
        LOCATION/LOCATION: Set in a former opera house in Midtown Manhattan, with the stage innovatively re-envisioned as a dance floor, Studio 54 became a space of sexual, gender, and creative liberation, where every patron could feel like a star.
     Studio 54's cutting edge décor and state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems set it apart from other nightclubs of the time, attracting artists, fashion designers, musicians, celebrities whose visits were vividly chronicled by notable photographers.     

The Brooklyn Museum presentation which takes cues from Studio 54's famed interior design, presents the nearly 650 objects drawn from both the Museum's collection and Studio 54 cofounder Ian Schager's personal collection. Featuring fashion photography, film, original blueprints, music and never-before-exhibited costume illustrations, set proposals, and designs, STUDIO 54: NIGHT MAGIC documents the 33 months that the club was open, and the talented stage and lighting designs, DJs, artists, fashion designers, and who brought the iconic showplace to life. Image: A party reveler in costume.
       Although it was open for only three years---April 26, 1977 to February 2, 1980---Studio 54 was arguably the most iconic nightclub to emerge in the twentieth century. Set in a former opera house in Midtown Manhattan with the stage innovatively re-envisioned as a dance floor, Studio 54 became a space to be seen and to mingle among the multiple personalities of stage, screen and celebrity. STUDIO 54 has come to represent the visual height of disco-era America: glamorous people in glamorous fashions, surrounding by gleaming lights and glitter dancing the night into dawn away in a magical night. 
       STUDIO 54 was founded in 1977 by Brooklyn-born entrepreneurs Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, who met while students at Syracuse University. They had dreams of opening of opening a nightclub in in the center of New York City, where roller-skating rings, Black and Latinx dance culture, and gary underground were gaining popularity.       

From the moment STUDIO 54 opened, its cutting-edge décor and state-of-the-art sound system and lights set it apart from other clubs at the time, attracting the fashion intelligentsia, musicians and celebrities to bask in its limelight. Celebrities including Andy Jackson, Bianca Jagger, Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minelli, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Truman Capote. Singers Grace Jones, Diana Ross, and Donna Summer all performed at Studio 54.  Fashion designers Stephen Burrows, Diane von Furstenberg, Halston, Norma Kamali, KENZO, Calvin Klein,  Issey Myaki, Claude Montana, Zandra Rhodes, Yves Saint Laurent, Fernando Sanchez,  and Georgio
Sant'Angelo were frequently present. Image: Celebrity visitors: Jerry Hall, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Truman Capote, and Paloma Picasso at Studio 54 in New York City. Photo: Getty Images.
      The design of th exhibition itself is inspired by SUDIO 54's original lighting and features innovative sets and audio elements that highlight the popular music and film of the era---including chart-topping songs like "Le Freak" famously written after the band Chic was denied entry to the nightclub's 1977 New Year's eve party, and "I Will Survive," Gloria Gaynor's B side that became an anthem after it was championed by Studio 54 DJ Richie Kaczor. STUDIO 54 IS A TIMED TICKET EXHIBIITON. The Brooklyn Museum, 290 Eastern Parkway. 718-638-5000. 8www.brooklynmuseum.org.
      Ta Ta Darlings! Let's wear some outrageous outfit and trip over to the Brooklyn Museum
where vicarious thrills of a bygone era will ignite STUDIO 54: NIGHT MAGIC once again.
Fan mail welcome email pollytalknyc@gmail.com 

THE NATURE OF COLOR at American Museum of Natural History: Review By Polly Guerin

Color is around us, shaping our emotions, our actions and our surroundings yet, we pass through each day unaware of the great impact color has on all aspects of our lives and the living species in nature.
      . THE NATURE OF COLOR, which opens today at The American Museum of Natural History, simutaneously celebrates its 150th anniversary.  The museum demystifies the meaning and influence of color , with a new interactive exhibition that  lets visitors explore the role and the power ot color in the natural world, in human cultures, and in our personal lives. It's vibrant, it's entertaining, and answers questions that stir up our emotions as we learn: Why do colors make us happy, while others make us, well blue?  How did pink come to be associated with femininity in Western culture and blue become America's favorite color?  This fun, family-friendly exhibition resonates with all the child-like wonder of discovery. It is immersed in color themes with models, cultural objects, interactive exhibits that invite visitors to play, experiment and explore the science of color, how colors make us feel, and how plants and animal use color to help them survive and reproduce.  

In

Interactive Color Paytime

FEELING COLOR: Color affects our mood, our perceptions and our behavior. The color red for example may elicit emotions and dramatic behavior, red correction ink may be negative but a stunning red gown by American fashion designer, Brandon Maxwell introduces a dramatic, entrance-making statement. The dress was the finale in Maxwell's Fall -Winter 2020 show, which was hosted by the Museum during New York Fashion week in February COLOR IN NATURE  Visitors will be able to see an example of camouflage in the Nature of Color with live leaf-tailed geckoes, which evolved to
blend with dried leaves and tree bark. Color is just as important in the plant world, where pollinators get cues on which flowers to visits based on the color. Humminbirds, for example, prefer red flowers, bees are attracted to blue, moths seek white and other light-colored blossoms, and flies are drawn to dark flowers. PHYSICS OF COLOR explores the physics of color in an immersive color-changing room and a ight lab with hands-on activities to discover that white light is actually a mixture of colors, play a video interactive---on kiosks or from their mobile devices---that examine how colors affect emotions and "paint" without the mess in a floor to ceiling color play interactive just by moving
your hands. 

FEELING COLOR; Colors affect our mood, our perceptions, even our behavior. There is plenty of evidence that colors inspire deep feelings in almost everyone.  For this reason
marketers choose colors carefully, as consumers often make up their minds based on color alone. An example, BLUE is the most popular color for corporate logos, as this color is often associated with trustworthiness and competence. In this section visitors will explore the different feelings colors can evoke by arranging colored tiles to create pleasing or clashing combinations and share their personal reactions to colors on a big screen. MAKING COLOR: The Nature of Color explores the rich history of BLUE PIGMENTS in particular, with objects from the Museum's anthropological collection and an interactive that will demonstrate the process of dying indigo fabric. Natural indigo has been used o create some of the blue hues of Japanese artwork, African textiles, and the first blue jeans. 
       Ta Ta Darlings. THE NATURE OF COLOR resonates with interest for everyone with exploration and entertainment whilst demystifying the colors in our daily life. Fan mail always
welcome: pollytalknyc@gmail.com. 
   

EILEEN GRAY at Bard Graduate Center Gallery: Review by Polly Guerin

The designer and architect  Eileen Gray, whose highly original and daring designs anticipated many of today's modern design, receives due homage at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, located at 18 West 86th Street on view through July 12, 2020.
      This is the first in-depth exhibition in the United States to examine her total oeuvre with
200 works, including never before exhibited furniture, lacquer works, architectural drawings and archival material. Gray's long and distinguished career began in the early 1900s and continued until her death in 1976.  On view are rarely seen architectural drawings and photographs of Gray's most famous house, E 1027, and other architectural projects. EILEEN GRAY was a pioneer in modern design and architecture, and one of the few women to practice professionally in those fields before WWII.  Although she was born into a distinguished household in Ireland Gray remained steadfast to her creativity at first in London and later in Paris. By 1910 Gray and fellow schoolmate Evelyn Wyld, established a workshop to produce carpets and wall hangings. Gray's interest in Japanese lacquer forged an alliance with Japanese craftsman Seizo Sugawara with whom she formed a successful partnership, and Gray's lacquer screens attest to her achievement as a superb lacquer artist.  
    

Eileen Gray Dresser 

In 1922 she opened in Paris, Galerie Jean Desert, at 217, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honore, where she sold furniture and rugs. Distinguished luminaries of the day including James Joyce, Ezra Pound and Elsa Schiaparelli were among her customers. The Galerie also served as an exhibition space for modern art, making Gray, albeit under a male pseudonym, one of the first female gallerists. Image: Eileen Gray Dresser, 1926-1929. Painted wood, aluminum, glass, cork, aluminum leaf. Centre Pompidou, Musee national d 'art modern, Paris. Purchase, 1922, AM 1922 -1-6, (c) Centre Pompidou, Mnam-CCI, Dist. RMN-GP, Jean Claude Planchet,
        From the 1920s Gray produced architectural projects for private the public commissions. In  1926 she started work on a new holiday home near Monaco on the French Riviera where she
planned to live with her lover the Romanian architect, Jean Badovici.  Together, they experimented with ideas about modern, vernacular architecture, and worked on Architecture Vivante, one of the first French magazines devoted exclusively to architecture.  The construction of thei house took three years was named E 1027, a code for the lovers' names.  
      

E 1027 Above the Bay of Monaco

The multiple facets of E 1027---an iconic work of modern architecture---are presented though drawing, photographs, and furniture. Located above a dramatic site above the Bay of Monaco, Gray created furniture for the house that elucidates her unique approach to modern design. Eleven pieces of furniture Gray designed specifically for E 1027 include the Transat Chair, an adjustable side table and a dressing table with pivoting drawers. Image: View of the South façade of E 1027 taken from the sea, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, n.d. Centre Pompidou, Bibliotheque Kandinsky, Paris. Fond Eileen Gray. A replica of E 1027 is on display. 
      The exhibition reveals Gray's versatility as a designer of many types of furniture including the Bibendum chair which resembled the Michelin man with tube-like shapes sitting on a chromed steel frame. GALLERY PROGRAMS and EXHIBITION TOURS and for information about hours and admission visit: bgc.bard.edu/gallery.
     Ta Ta Darlings!!!  Eileen Gray is as modern today as she was in the Art Deco era. Her designs
resonate with collectors and new buyers discovering her today will find her furniture a perfect fit in modern interiors.  Fan mail weleome: pollytalknhc@gmail.com