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Just Do Art!

chin-2011-05-25_z

COMPILED BY SCOTT STIFFLER

FILM: DISORDER

Chinese filmmaker Huang Weikai’s — “Disorder” — is the featured work in Anthology Film Archive’s monthly series highlighting new experimental cinema. Anarchy, violence and seething anxiety in the streets of China’s major cities isn’t exactly what we’re used to seeing; but that’s exactly what you’ll get here. Weikai took footage collected from a dozen amateur videographers to craft this news documentary in which a man dances in the middle of traffic while another tries to jump from a bridge before dozens of onlookers; and pigs run wild on a highway while dignitaries swim in a polluted river. May 21 & 22, 6:30pm & 8pm. At Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Ave). Tickets, available at the box office: $9 general; $7 for students, seniors & children (12 & under); $6 for AFA members. Visit anthologyfilmarchives.org or call 212-505-5181

GREENWICH VILLAGE YOUTH CONCIL FINE ART & DESIGNER CRAFTS ON BLEECKER

This five-block Arts Festival has no food vendors or junky resale items — just a wide-range of collectible and functional art presented directly for sale by individual artists. Craft demos and live acoustic music create an atmosphere of pleasant tranquility allowing leisurely browsing. No Fee to attend. Participating Artists pay for space, thereby raising funds for various local programs presented by the Greenwich Village Youth Council, including the popular Girls Basketball League. Sun., May 22, 11am-7pm. On Bleecker, btw. Hudson & Christopher Sts. For info: greenwichvillageyouthcouncil.net.

TAKE DANCE: SALARYMAN

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Takehiro Ueyama, contemporary dance company TAKE Dance celebrates its seventh NYC season with the world premiere of “SALARYMAN” — the company’s first full-evening production choreographed by Ueyama. The Tokyo native used his own personal experiences to craft this contemplative look at Japan’s collectivist business culture. Conceived prior to the recent tsunami, Ueyama’s analysis of loyalty, resilience and stringent norms in the world of business now resonates with similar qualities found in the larger culture. A cast of 11 dancers perform vignettes based on intimate interviews between Tokyo business executives and Ueyama. Communicating the essence of Japanese society gets a further boost from filmed segments by Tomoyuki Morioka and Yuko Takebe, sets by Yukinobu Okazaki and the ambient sounds of Tokyo (with additional music by Laurie Anderson, RC Succession and others). May 18-May 21, 7:30pm, at Dance Theater Workshop (219 W. 19th St., btw. 7th & 8th Aves.). For tickets ($25; $15 for students/seniors). Call 212-924-0077 or visit dancetheaterworkshop.og. Also visit takedance.org.

MEN IN PAINTINGS: A NIGHT AT THE CRISP FAMILY HALL OF PORTRAITS

Paul Welsh (co-creator of long-running improvised soap opera “As The Diamond Burns” and member of the UCB improv team Grandma’s Ashes) is the guy who’s got it worse than you. His solo show “Men In Paintings: A Night at the Crisp Family Hall of Portraits” answers the oft-asked question of what happens when an entire family dies in a hot air balloon crash leaving a bearded, agoraphobic slob and the family’s most noted dickhead to vie for the family fortune. Spoiler alert: What happens, is, the last surviving Crisp is guided by long-suffering Crisp family caretaker George McCarthy on a journey through his family’s hall of portraits. As Welsh puts it, “One of them will win the full Crisp estate, but really, they’ll both lose.” After you’ve wallowed in the misery of Welsh by way of Crisp, you’ll likely emerge feeling much, much better about your own family’s sad cycle of dysfunction. At 8pm on Thurs., May 26, at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (307 W. 26th St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.). Tickets are $5 and include admission to “Men In Paintings” and “Welcome to Camp!” (another fine show, we’re assured). To order, visit ucbtheatre.com or call 212-366-9176.

 

ART: MARY HENDERSON’S “BATHERS”

The images which populate Mary Henderson’s latest showing at Lyons Wier Gallery — “Bathers” —  are composites, re-crops and otherwise altered content pulled from photo-sharing websites. The common thread: frozen moments in time taken from contemporary urban dwellers engaged in “the long-standing, class-specific summer ritual of departing the city and suburbs for shore and lake houses during the summer season.” The artist takes this melting pot of images and transforms it into a witch’s brew that gets its mojo, partly at least, from the late-19th-century painting theme of bathers (by Manet, Seurat and Monet). Henderson seems to share their “complex and contradictory attitude toward urban society and fashionable resort life…that made the sea-bathing fad possible” — while bringing her own sense of  ambivalence, ritual and nostalgia to how our vacation-based search for escape plays out as “chasing after an experience that never quite lives up to expectations.” Through June 11 (542 W. 24th St., btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Tues.-Sat., 11am-6pm. For info, call 212-242-6220 or visit lyonswiergallery.com.

ART: CORINnE GRONDAHL

Not sure what to do with that tie that doesn’t seem to go with anything? It’s a valid question many will be asking on Father’s Day (June 21). Perhaps dad, and his misguided gift-giver, will find some inspiration while taking in the current exhibit by textile artist Corinne Grondahl — who uses recycled neckties to create art which explores the changing urban landscape. Through June 28, at Hudson Guild Gallery (441 W. 26th St., btw. 9th & 10th Aves.). Tues.-Fri., 10am-7pm; Sat., 1pm-4pm. For info, call 212-760-9837 or visit hudsonguild.org.