Tag: Frank Stella

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7 World Trade Center Welcomes New Frank Stella Installation

Larry and Klara Silverstein stand with Frank Stella in front of his Caspers Split Star Culture. Photo: Joe Woolhead

Larry and Klara Silverstein stand with artist Frank Stella in front of his new sculpture, Jasper’s Split Star, at 7 World Trade Center. Photo: Joe Woolhead

Silverstein Properties has announced the installation of a new sculpture – Jasper’s Split Star by legendary artist Frank Stella – in the Silverstein Family Park at 7 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

Larry Silverstein, Chairman of Silverstein Properties, acquired the artwork to display in the center of the park’s fountain, a location that was previously occupied by Jeff Koons’ Balloon Flower (Red). Mr. Koons’ sculpture was on loan from the artist since 7 WTC opened in May 2006 until late 2018.

One of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, Frank Stella has explored the formal imperatives of art, including line, color, and form. Mr. Stella has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including the National Medal of Arts, which was bestowed on him by President Obama in 2009. Mr. Stella lives and works in New York City, and his work can be found in prestigious collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Tate Gallery, London.

Mr. Silverstein had previously purchased two paintings by Frank Stella in the late 1990s that he displayed in the lobby of the original Seven World Trade Center. Laestrygonia I and Telepilus Laestrygonia II were both destroyed on 9/11.

“Art has always played a big role in my personal and professional life,” said Mr. Silverstein. “It adds an exciting dimension to our lives and everything we do. It expands our thinking and offers a glimpse into the creative minds of the artists. I am thrilled to bring this stunning piece by Frank Stella to the World Trade Center so that Downtown’s workers, residents and visitors can enjoy it.”

Jasper’s Split Star was inspired by a painting Mr. Stella made in 1962, Jasper’s Dilemma, itself a tribute to his contemporary Jasper Johns. Six of the star’s sides are solid aluminum, and six are open and spray-painted pale shades of blue, purple and grey. Mr. Stella created the 202” x 257” x 249” sculpture in 2017. Most recently, Jasper’s Split Star was included in an exhibition of 25 works by the artist at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, from September 2020 to September 2021.

Frank Stella commented: “Jasper Johns often played a grey-scale against an obvious chromatic scale of red, orange, yellow, green and blue. For the most part, it was on a two-dimensional surface. It was hard not to think of transposing that kind of dynamic into three dimensions. So the split star came rather naturally into being as a play of Jasper’s early paintings.”

Silverstein Properties has supported art and artists in its office buildings for over 30 years, ensuring they remain an integral part of the fabric of Downtown Manhattan.

When Larry Silverstein opened the original Seven WTC in 1987, Larry and his wife Klara spent several years filling the lobby with contemporary art. Installations included The Third Circle by Al Held, a Roy Lichtenstein entablature, Cloud by Louise Nevelson, Crusading Euphoria by Ross Bleckner, the two large paintings by Frank Stella, and others.

When the company opened the new 7 WTC in 2006, Silverstein collaborated with Jamie Carpenter and architect David Childs on the building’s stainless steel façade, as well as on the lobby art installation, For 7 World Trade, by Jenny Holzer. The lobby also features two metal sculptures, Easter Monday and Equilateral Quivering Tower, by Kenneth Snelson; two large paintings, Element No. 1 and Element No. 31, by Ran Ortner; as well as work by Richard Jolley, Nicole Chensey, Andrew Kuo, Greg Bogin, Regina Sculley and Scott Reeder. The other World Trade Center buildings feature large art installations including Joystick by James Rosenquist at 3 WTC, and Sky Memory by Kozo Nishino at 4 WTC, among others.

Last year, Larry Silverstein’s grandson Cory and his friend Josh Pulman launched Silver Arts Projects, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting emerging artists. Each year, 25 young artists work out of a studio on the 28th floor of 4 WTC. The residency space is dedicated to art making, providing artists with customized studios and the tools, platform, and resources to expand their practices and further their careers. The floor also features community spaces for study and dialogue, and allows artists to collaborate while enjoying sweeping, 360-degree views of the New York City skyline.

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Dining

Today’s Epicure names top New York City restaurants

Photo courtesy of Pexels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvSCeSVr-c

With the coming of spring, a wave of new restaurants has come to lower Manhattan. Below are some recommendations from Pascal Riffaud and Today’s Epicure:

  • AbcV – Four years in the making, the highly-anticipated third restaurant from Jean-Georges’ Vongerichtenand and Paulette Cole is now open for breakfast and lunch, with brunch and dinner set to launch soon. Chef Neal Harden — who made a name for himself at the raw-food restaurant Pure Food and Wine — serves up vegetarian and vegan dishes like Deepak Chopra’s kitchari with fermented carrots and mint as well as an array of Vongerichten’s signature dishes.
  • Pig Bleecker – Pig Bleecker combines Pig Beach’s “populist leanings” with more upscale fare that chef Matt Abdoo (formerly of Del Posto) describes as “smoke-centric comfort food.” The venue closed briefly for a patio renovation, but is now back serving up dishes like brisket ravioli, Chicken Wing Lollipops with Hatch Vinegar, brisket ravioli, Cavatelli with Nduja Sausage, Chili & Clams and, to top it all off, a peanut-butter-and-chocolate “Buckeye” Milkshake.
  • Chumley’s – After a section of the original building collapsed in 2007, restauranteur Alessandro Borgognone took the helm of the legendary former watering hole of literary giants like F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner in December 2015. He has since collaborated with chef Victoria Blamey on a deceptively simple menu. The terrine is excellent, as is the Foie gras, shredded ham hock and superb Dungeness crab potpie. But the highlight is the decadent double decker, marrow soaked burgers that GQ reports “might be the best burger in New York.” Reservations are recommended.

  • Union Square Cafe – Danny Meyer’s much-anticipated reboot of the original Union Square Cafe, which he launched at age 27, has opened its doors in spacious new digs. Like the original, the new space has warm cherrywood floors and Frank Stella prints adorn the walls. The old Mediterranean-themed favorites are still on the menu but now the calamari is artfully tossed with scallops, snapper and red pepper and the tuna burger has morphed into a succulent Yellowfin Tuna burger. Today’s Epicure recommends the perfectly-prepared New York Strip Steak, pork rack, red snapper, and pappardelle with duck and chanterelle. Like most of Meyer’s other locations, there is a no tipping policy.
  • Loring Place – Farm-to-table master Dan Kluger of ABC Kitchen and ABC Cocina fame offers up a mix of American and global cuisine that celebrates raw ingredients. W Magazine calls his 120-seat new space “irresistibly hot” and the New York Times reports it was well worth the two year wait. Main dishes consist of decadent pizzas, whole cooked fish and tender meats, but do not miss the phenomenal beet salad with vivace cheese, cashew and granola, and the baked ricotta and roasted kabocha squash.

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    Entertainment

    Elie Hirschfeld Hails Opening of Frank Stella Exhibit At Downtown Whitney

    whitney-museum-september-2014-ed-ledermanThe celebrated and groundbreaking creations of iconic American artists Frank Stella were put on display this weekend at the new Downtown Whitney Museum of American Art.

    The exhibit offers the most comprehensive collection and presentation of the artist’s career – showcasing his prolific output from the mid-1950s to the present including approximately 120 works, including paintings, reliefs, maquettes, sculptures, and drawings.

    “Stella’s revolutionary work has inspired a new generation of American artists and setting the foundation for a new approach to painting,” says iconic New York developer Elie Hirschfeld, whose own impressive art collection has hailed as one of the finest in the United States and includes a piece by the artist.

    The Massachusetts born, but longtime New Yorker has been hailed for his breakthrough work in geometric and abstract paintings with no pictorial illusions has been called “inspired” by experts.

    Stella’s technique emphasizes “the picture-as-object” rather than a representation of something else was unique and instrumental in launching a new art form.

    His work has always been recognized and showcased prominently in New York.

    In 2007, The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated its roof to display Stella’s sculpture, inspiring another New York luminary to purchase one of his masterpieces.

    Approximately 100 works, including icons of major museum and private collections (including Hirschfeld’s), are on display.

    Stella Photo
    Frank Stella’s Gray Scramble X which was purchased by New York’s eminent Hirschfeld family in 1973.

    Along with paintings, reliefs, sculptures, and prints, a selection of drawings and maquettes have been included to shed light on Stella’s conceptual and material process.

    “For any New Yorker with an appreciation of art, this is a can’t-miss opportunity,” says Hirschfeld,

    The Stella exhibit isopen to the public at the new Whitney through February 7, 2016.

    It occupies the Whitney‘s entire fifth floor, an 18,000-square-foot gallery representing the Museum’s largest space for temporary exhibitions.

    For more information, please click here.

    Categories
    Culture Entertainment

    Whitney Musuem Features Artist Frank Stella

    Jt_frank_stella_Prince_Frederick_Arthur_of_Homburg
    Photo: Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

    According to the New York Times, “Mr. Stella has done more than any other living artist to carry abstract art, the house style of modernism, into the postmodern era.”

    Frank Stella, a minimalist painter and printmaker will feature his works in an exhibition called, A Retrospective, at the Whitney Museum from October 15th 2015-February 7th 2016.

    The artist, a Massachusetts native and Princeton graduate, is revolutionary in his attempt to change the views of artists during the 1950s; a time period that favored Abstract Expressionism. His attempt was to move away from this style of painting while also expanding on the idea. Rather than try to evoke a particular emotion or meaning from his work, he focused more on the object itself. Many of his paintings are based on the experimental idea of working with the “flatness,” of the canvas.

    One of his most praised works, Black Paintings (1960’s) is composed of  a black background and white lines in which Stella creates an, “illusionistic space out of the painting at a constant rate,” according to the MoMA. It first appeared at the MoMA in an exhibition called Sixteen Americans (1959).

    Another well known piece of Stella’s is Harran II (1967). This contrasts Black Paintings in its use of vibrant colors, but follows closely the same theme which is to experiment with the canvas as a flat surface. The painting is composed of various connecting rectangles and circles.

    The exhibition will showcase 120 of Stella’s works, which includes not only paintings but also various sculptures and drawings.

    According to theartstory, Frank Stella states, “I like real art. It’s difficult to define ‘real’ but it is the best word for describing what I like to get out of art and what the best art has. It has the ability to convince you that it’s present – that it’s there. You could say it’s authentic… but real is actually a better word, broad as it may be.”

    To learn more about Frank Stella and his work click here.

    -by Samantha Rice

    Categories
    Culture Entertainment

    Downtown Whitney Museum To Host Breakthrough Works of Artist Frank Stella

    whitney-museum-september-2014-ed-lederman
    Downtown’s Whitney Museum of American Art will hold an exhibition of the works of groundbreaking American painter, Frank Stella.

    The groundbreaking and breathtaking works of celebrated American artist Frank Stella will be on display at the new Downtown Whitney Museum of American Art this fall.

    The exhibit will offer the most comprehensive collection and presentation of the artist’s career – showcasing his prolific output from the mid-1950s to the present including approximately 120 works, including paintings, reliefs, maquettes, sculptures, and drawings.

    The Massachusetts-born Stella, has been New York-based since 1958 – a period which has seen him become one of the most highly regarded artists of his generation.

    Stella, Grey Scramble
    Frank Stella’s Gray Scramble X which was purchased by New York’s eminent Hirschfeld family in 1973.

    His breakthrough work in creating geometric and abstract paintings with no pictorial illusions has been hailed as innovative and inspired.

    His technique emphasizes “the picture-as-object” rather than a representation of something else was unique and inspired a new generation of American painters.

    Stella was recognized as a master in the art world before the age of 25.

    In 1959, several of his paintings were included in “Three Young Americans” at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, as well as in “Sixteen Americans” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (60).

    His work has always been recognized and showcased prominently in New York.

    In 2007, The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated its roof to display Stella’s sculpture, inspired another New York luminary who is the proud owner of one of his masterpieces.

    “Stella’s work has become a blueprint for an entirely new direction in painting,” says iconic New York developer Elie Hirschfeld, whose own impressive art collection has been hailed as one of the finest in the United States.

    “My family purchased the famed Gray Scramble X back in 1973 and I’ve been an admirer ever since,” says Hirschfeld.

    “The piece means a great deal to me as I had just moved into my new apartment directly across the street from the Museum and that rooftop exhibition felt like an extension of my new home.”

    As a result, the pictured Stella piece now proudly adorns a room in that home – occupying a full dining room wall which serves as a special private museum tribute to an American master.

    The Stella exhibit will be open to the public at the new Whitney beginning October 15 and run through February 7, 2016.

    The exhibit will occupy the Whitney‘s entire fifth floor, an 18,000-square-foot gallery representing the Museum’s largest space for temporary exhibitions.

    For more information, please go to: whitney.org/Exhibitions/FrankStella