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New York Monthly Herald. June 2006 Issue P. 3   Continues on P4                                                                                                    

New York Art

Girodet: Romantic Rebel
2006-05-24 until 2006-08-27
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


 This is the first American retrospective devoted to A. L. Girodet-Trioson (1767-1824), a favored but rebellious pupil of Jacques-Louis David. Girodet's idiosyncratic style fuses David's Neoclassical ideal with his own prescient Romantic vision. A selection of approximately 100 paintings and works on paper reflects his originality and the diversity of his works, from mythological subjects to portraits and representations of Napoleon's military triumphs. The exhibition is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York through August 8, 2006. The exhibition is supported by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation. The catalogue is made possible by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation and The Florence Gould Foundation. Additional support for the catalogue has been provided by the Getty Research Institute and the Getty Grant Program. The exhibition was initiated by the Cleveland Museum of Art and organized by the Musee du Louvre, Paris, and the Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Paris, in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with the special support of the Musee Girodet, Montargis. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson. Endymion Asleep. 1793. Oil on canvas. 198x261 cm. Louvre, Paris, France.

"Fractured Fables: New Paintings by Kathi Packer"
2006-05-23 until 2006-06-17
First Street Gallery

New York First Street Gallery in New York is  presenting Fractured Fables, an exhibition of new paintings by artist Kathi Packer. In her new series, Packer shifts the viewer's perspective between panoramic, overhead and close focus points of view, recreating her vivid experiences of 'jungle'. Her fascination with the natural world grew from childhood memories where neighborhood 'woods' became an imaginary world inhabited by all manner of exotic flora and fauna. These invented scenarios are also inspired by her many treks through the rainforest and her concern for how we perceive other creatures through cultural filters. Juxtaposing the sacred and profane, the probable and improbable, Packer explores the paradoxical relationship between humans and the natural world. In Las Mariposas the figure-artist, lying on a bed of fallen leaves, a reoccurring motif in this series, is startled by a flurry of butterflies menacingly swarming about her. A model of innocence and beauty, this insect is in fact, searching for a carrion stew. We are at once confronted with our assumptions about beauty in nature, the cycle of life and our own vulnerability. In Rats, the unwitting introduction of an aggressive foreign invader threatens to wipe out diversity among native species. The conceptual irony here is that we closely share genetic antecedents with this unseemly creature. Fractured Fables is about recognizing the role our constructs play in shaping attitudes towards the animal kingdom and ultimately, our actions.

 Continues on P4