Art

In a new exhibition bound to launch thousands of Instagram posts, venerated artist Yayoi Kusuma is debuting the latest in her series of mind-blowing Infinity Rooms starting tomorrow at David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea. Actually, “Every Day I Pray For Love,” as the show is called, will be taking you to infinity and beyond, since it also features paintings and sculptures, including an LED-lit ladder. Photograph: Ali Garber But there’s no question that the star attraction is "INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM—DANCING LIGHTS THAT FLEW UP TO HEAVEN." The installation consists of a dark, mirror-covered room filled with small incandescent globes that imperceptibly change color. Hung at varying levels, they fill your entire field of vision wherever you look, making you feel like you’re lost in space.  Photograph: Ali Garber The show is just the latest part of a Kusama-mania wave sweeping NYC. The Annual Macy’s Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, for example, will feature a Kusama-designed balloon, and this summer, the New York Botanical Garden will be mounting a Kusama mega-exhibition spread out across its entire 250-acre site. Photograph: Ali Garber The Zwirner show (which is on view until December 14) opens at 10am, but be aware that since the Infinity Room itself can only accommodate four people at a time, there will a wait of an hour or more to see it, at least on Saturdays; think of it as standing on line at the Apple Store for the newest iPhone. Speaking of which, don’t forg

Have you heard? After three years of planning and construction—including a four-month closure this summer—the Museum of Modern Art has finally thrown open its doors to a shiny, reconfigured self, offering the public more MoMA to love (or at least to ponder) than ever. The massive expansion brings the institution’s total size to a whopping 708,000 square feet, 166,000 of which are dedicated to exhibition space. Admittedly, we gave the place three stars, but it’s still worth a visit. To help you find your way, here are five things you need to know about the new MoMA. Photograph: Ali Garber 1) MoMA’s new street-level gallery is always free. We’ve got a stellar tip for you: Once you stroll inside, hang a left and head down the corridor to a gallery that you can visit gratis, any day of the week. At least as large as a typical Chelsea space, it features the most contemporary in contemporary art. Currently, two shows are on view: “Energy,” in which an array of designers explore the eponymous subject in all its manifold forms and resonances, and a solo exhibit of large figurative paintings by Michael Armitage, an African artist who divides his time between London and his hometown of Nairobi, Kenya.   Photograph: Ali Garber   2) You’ll want to hang out at MoMA’s chic and so underground store. Long a draw in its own right, MoMA’s main shop has migrated to a new basement level. Don’t worry, though: This is not some dimly lit dungeon. Instead, the 5,950-square-foot space

Seasons change, nations rise and fall, the ice caps melt into the sea, but one thing remains constant: fashion! It is appropriate, then, that the theme for next year's Met Gala has been revealed to be... time itself! If you thought the last theme (Camp!) was confusing, and as a licensed gay man let me assure you that it was, I can only imagine that the lewks on display this time around will launch us all into a full-on existential crisis. Fun! Who will lean into the heartbreakingly literal and arrive covered in clocks? Whomst will go for something more abstract? Most importantly, what will Billy Porter wear? "Fashion is indelibly connected to time," says Andrew Bolton, the curator of the exhibition that will accompany the gala, in a statement. "About Time: Fashion and Duration" will also invoke the works of Virginia Woolf and Michael Cunningham, whose novel The Hours (and the exquisite film adaptation thereof) are based on Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. "It not only reflects and represents the spirit of the times, but it also changes and develops with the times, serving as an especially sensitive and accurate timepiece." Does this mean anything? We'll have to wait until the Gala itself on May 4 to find out!     Image: Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, Copyright: David Bailey    

When 56 Leonard, a luxury high-rise in Tribeca that’s been compared to a tower of Jenga blocks, was completed in 2016, it was missing one of it’s promised amenities: An outdoor sculpture by internationally acclaimed British artist Anish Kapoor. Now, after a nearly four-year delay, Kapoor’s piece is nearing installation. According to reports, a sprayed-painted outline of the piece has appeared on the sidewalk in front of the address, a sure sign of its impending arrival. Unlike Kapoor’s previous project for NYC—a churning whirlpool at Brooklyn Bridge Park that was on view for four months in 2017—his effort for 56 Leonard will be permanently in place. Clad in the artist’s signature stainless steel finish polished to mirror-like perfection, the sculpture has the same legume-like shape as the his landmark Bean (or Cloud Gate as it’s officially called) in Chicago. Except that, here, it’s been rudely shoved into a bottom corner of the tower, making it look like it’s squashed under 56 Leonard’s weight. Still, though the object’s distressed appearance is far more edgy than the serene Bean, it's more in sync with living in New York, a city known for putting you under pressure. The sculpture’s design—conceived in collaboration with building architects Herzog & de Meuron—was first unveiled in 2008, but it’s tardy completion was due to the difficulty of buffing out the seams left over from welding together the steel plates necessary for construction. Meanwhile, though one of 56 Leonard

Ever wondered what's the story behind NYC's ubiquitous outdoor monuments