Exhibitions at NYPL

We are pleased to invite you to the viewing of the site-specific installation Caravan, a lively painted frieze by Anita Thacher in The Community Room on Lower Level 2 of the Mulberry Street Branch of the New York Public Library.  Playful shapes and colors address the architecture of the room in a long march along one wall, while the shapes are echoed in neutral gray and white along the facing wall. These flag-like bands of rough cotton are embellished with barely visible gold embroidery threads in tribute to historic friezes. Library patrons of all ages – from babies to seniors set Caravan in motion. The work is on display indefinitely, during library hours.

A reception for Caravan will be held on Saturday December 12, 2015 from 2 - 4:30 pm in the Community Room of Mulberry Street Library on Lower Level 2. 

The Art and Picture Collections present the site-specific textile exhibition by artist Katherine Knauer. Big Eye, Version 2 is a trompe l’oeil wall cloth, sponge-printed to appear as a brick wall.  In the center is an enormous single eye staring straight out at the viewer, referencing the ubiquity of security cameras in public areas, retail spaces and institutions, and the sense of being constantly observed. The artist created the eye image with multiple processes, including silk-screened and hand-stenciled fabrics, digitally printed fabrics, hand and machine appliqué, patchwork, machine quilting, twill tape and commercially printed fabrics.

One of a group of artists who espouse “Semper Tedium” (an invented pseudo-Latin term referring to the embrace of labor-intensive technique), Katherine Knauer created the eye image with multiple processes, including silk-screened and hand-stenciled fabrics, digitally printed fabrics, hand and machine appliqué, patchwork, machine 

The Art and Picture Collections present the site-specific photography exhibition Archive / Improv by artist and educator Paul Sunday. In this new body of work, the artist riffs on a long held fascination with minimalism and the camera. Improvising in the studio and treating images from his personal archive as materials, Paul Sunday creates collage oriented pictures that look at the photo as an object. Deadpan still images are placed into whimsical studio sets with a hint of surrealist humor. Combining elements of process and play, the images explore borders between photography, installation, painting and sculpture.

Artist, curator, and cofounder of Minus Space Matthew Deleget joins Paul Sunday for An Artist Dialogue Series event on Saturday December 3 at 2:30 p.m. inside the Corner Room 

Unless there is a program or event the Corner Room, hours are the same as Mid-Manhattan Library hours.

The Art and Picture Collections present the site-specific sculpture exhibition The Upper Worlds created by artist and academic Sue Willis. A companion to her Art in the Windows site-specific installation of the same title, this exhibition includes works representing the upper worlds, and consists of life-size porcelain and faux-fur wildlife, small human figures and the tree of life in three columns of silk flowers and mixed materials. The sculptural installations in the two large scale windows facing Fifth Avenue reflect unity and transcendence, occurring when our collective positive energies reach critical mass, and also an aftermath of destruction with cause for hope.

In additon to the Fifth 

This exhibition briefly surveys the Bowery’s historical and cultural significance, and its difficult future in an age of overdevelopment. 

Stretching 1.25 miles from Chatham Square to Cooper Square, with architecture representing every decade from the 1780s to the present, the Bowery was a Native American foot trail, Dutch farm road, Washington’s march route during

British evacuation, and the site of Manhattan’s first free Black settlements. 

The Bowery has important links to tap dance, tattoo, vaudeville, Yiddish theater, Abe Lincoln, Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, and Harry Houdini.    In the 1800s, it was a scene of interaction for gangs, gays, Blacks, the working class and the immigrant Irish, Italians, Chinese, Jews, and Germans.  In the second half of the 1900s, it became an affordable jewelry, lighting and restaurant supply district; quietly nurtured a cutting edge artists’ colony, and helped launch Abstract Expressionism, 

Forty-five etchings by artist and Inwood resident Marc Shanker illustrating Ladino proverbs, proverbs in the medieval Spanish spoken by and preserved by the Spanish Jews after their expulsion in 1492.

Mr. Shanker's naive drawing style mirrors the proverbs' spirit, transforming them into simple images without sacrificing their complex meanings. The etchings reflect the proverbs' appealing mix of common sense, timeless wisdom, pithy humor and irreverence. 

Marc Shanker rejected a formal academic art education and worked in the labor movement. He is the author of a number of books, including "But a Bubble", "Man, a Machine of Absurdities", and "Cheap Gems, Precious Rocks." He is the founder of Gravity Free Press and has an extensive exhibition history. His work can be seen on Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Youtube and at www.Gravityfreepress.net. Meet the artist on Sunday, September 18th from 2pm - 4pm. Light