Make It An Art Weekend – Philip Seymour Hoffman, SculptureCenter, Fisher Landau

There’s a lot of great art to enjoy this weekend right here in Astoria and LIC, including a Philip Seymour Hoffman retrospective at MOMI, two solo exhibitions opening at SculptureCenter, and “The Women’s List: 50 Portraits & Film Projection” currently showing at the Fisher Landau Center for Art—an excellent art space that always seems to fly under the radar.

Philip Seymour Hoffman Retrospective

If you subscribe to our newsletter (Do you subscribe? You should!) you’d know we talked up the upcoming Philip Seymour Hoffman retrospective at MOMI, September 16-October 2.

Due to sad circumstances, this great actor left us way too early, but thankfully he left behind an excellent body of work. MOMI’s retrospective includes some of his best work, including Jack Goes Boating, which he directed. I love what the staff wrote about the retrospective, so I’m sharing it here:

The great actor Philip Seymour Hoffman had an uncanny ability to disappear into a role yet at the same time to invest his performances with such complexity, depth, and empathy that they always felt deeply personal. Drawn to playing highly flawed characters, he was able to seem at once larger than life and recognizably imperfect. In over 60 film performances, the boldness of his choices was always breathtaking.

As he once said, “It’s all risk! Living a life is basically about you entering one situation after another that you may or may not want to enter. Everything has stakes, everything has meaning, everything has consequences.” A profound search for truth was at the core of his art, and his death in 2014 was a tremendous loss to the public and to the many actors, directors, and colleagues whose lives he touched so profoundly. The screenings will be accompanied by guest appearances, to be announced, and clips from his other films, to showcase his astonishing versatility.

The aforementioned Jack Goes Boating starts off the retrospective tomorrow (Friday) at 7pm.

Other movies in the 16-film series include Boogie Nights, Capote, Doubt, Charlie Wilson’s War, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and particularly juicy news is the screening of a 70mm version (this is a big deal) of The Master, Saturday at 2pm.

I predict this retrospective is going to be a total smash, and we highly recommend you check it out. MOMI is at 36-01 35th Avenue.

Cosima von Bonin and Aki Sasamoto Exhibitions at SculptureCenter

On Sunday evening from 5-7pm, head to SculptureCenter for the opening reception of two fascinating exhibitions—Cosima von Bonin: Who’s Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea? And Aki Sasamoto: Delicate Cycle. Both exhibitions serve as firsts for the artists. Read on for more information by SculptureCenter staff.

Cosima von Bonin: Who’s Exploiting Who in the Deep Sea?

The German artist’s first solo museum exhibition in New York City examines von Bonin’s fascination with the sea. Commonly evoked in her works, but rarely made explicit, the ocean is an organizing thematic for this show that focuses on a selection of her sculptures from 2000 onwards. Von Bonin was born in 1962 in Mombasa, Kenya, and lives and works in Cologne, Germany. Mary Messhausen, Oliver Husain, produzentin, and Simone Junker will perform throughout the opening reception.

Aki Sasamoto: Delicate Cycle

The artist’s first solo exhibition in a U.S. museum. For her exhibition in SculptureCenter’s lower level galleries, Sasamoto will create a new body of work in relation to the site. Featuring new sculptural units that roll through the space, once activated by Sasamoto these units become rotating sites that explore neuroses around cleanliness and filth. Rotation reappears in an installation of washing and drying machines modified and periodically used by the artist in a series of performances. The exhibition also includes a new video and other sculptures that touch on “base” elements and repression. Sasamoto was born in 1980 in Kanazawa, Japan, and lives and works in New York.

Both exhibitions will remain on view through Monday, January 2, 2017. SculptureCenter is at 44-19 Purves Street.

The Women’s List: 50 Portraits & Film Projection

Sitting on a side street near the land of hotels and the 39th Ave N/Q station, The Fisher Landau Center For Art is worth seeking out. It used to be an old parachute harness factory, but in the 1980s Emily Fisher Landau took it over as a place to store her art collection (works spanning decades from the 1960s to present), but realized it would be a great gallery space, too. It showcases her collection along with visiting exhibitions; admission is free. It is located at 38-27 30th Street.

Right now there is an exhibit on the first floor featuring large format photos of significant women; these photos were originally exhibited in the Hearst Tower’s Alexey Brodovitch Gallery.

More about the photo exhibit:

Their color portraits, taken between 2011 and 2015, are installed opposite the film projection as a collective embodiment, augmenting their narrative voices with the refined elegance captured through Greenfield-Sanders unique vision. Enhancing the installation with their strong visual presence are 35 additional portraits of women from Greenfield-Sanders’ archive, 18 printed in color and 17 in black and white.

Presented in a linear fashion on the adjacent walls of the gallery, they include Michelle Obama, Elaine de Kooning, Claire Danes, Cindy Crawford, Lena Dunham, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Debbie Harry, Rei Kawakubo, Bette Davis, Joan Rivers, China Machado, Jil Sanders, Julianne Moore, Sheila Nevins, Hillary Clinton, Cindy Sherman, Sonia Sotomayor, Eva Longoria, Polly Mellen, Maria Shriver, Carmen Dell’Orefice, Patti Smith, Amy Tan, Serena Williiams, Eve Ensler, Yayoi Kusama, Janet Mock, Angela Davis, Beyoncé, Kim Cattrall, Dawn Halfaker, Christy Turlington, Isabella Rossellini, Toni Morrison and Karen Finley.

There’s also a film running concurrently called The Women’s List, which was originally aired on PBS for their American Master’s series. 15 women are featured—women instrumental in shaping American society—and include plenty of familiar names: Alicia Keys, Madeleine Albright, Sara Blakely, Nia Woodrow, Laurie Anderson, Rosie Perez, Aimee Mullins, Shonda Rhimes, Nancy Pelosi, Edie Falco, Betsey Johnson, Margaret Cho, Elizabeth Holmes, Wendy Williams and Gloria Allred.

More about the women chosen for this film:

This eclectic group of innovators come from widespread backgrounds including aviation, politics, law, the arts, business, fashion, science, athletics, publishing, film and television. Directed by Greenfiled-Sanders and produced by Perfect Day Films in association with American Masters, “The Women’s List” is a thought provoking documentary focusing on their singular achievements, as they relate their experiences overcoming both personal and professional challenges that ultimately shaped their individual expression and influenced culture as a whole.

And don’t forget—the LIC Arts Open Gallery Nights starts this Thursday! We hope you can spend some time expanding your culture quotient and get some art in this week. Enjoy!