One of the most divine dresses in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition of China-inspired Western fashions is this evening gown by Guo Pei in the museum’s Chinese Buddhist sculpture galleries. Though the model’s dress incorporates a lotus throne like the sculpture, it doesn’t seem to advocate any rejection of worldly pleasures. (Through Sept 7th).
Guo Pei, Evening Gown, spring/summer 2007, Haute Couture, gold lame embroidered with gold and silver silk, metal and sequins.
Inspired by film and fiber art, Portuguese artist Leonor Antunes’ site-specific installation at the New Museum turns hand-made, hanging forms into an architecture perceived by the body as it moves through the installation. (At the New Museum through Sept 6th).
Installation view of Leonor Antunes at the New Museum, July 2015.
The most understated Met Museum Roof Garden commission in recent memory, French artist Pierre Huyghe’s installation features a chunk of bedrock set on the museum’s stone tile roof within site of a tank populated with primordial-looking tadpole shrimp. In contrast to the spectacle of luxury condo growth seen just south of the park, the low-key intervention on the Met’s roof is almost disorienting. Weeds sprouting from removed floor tiles suggest a dereliction far from the norm, a crack in the Met’s perfect public face. (At the Metropolitan Museum of Art through Nov 11th).
Pierre Huyghe, Roof Garden commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015.
In 2002, the pedestal under a rare early Renaissance sculpture by Tullio Lombardo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art buckled and the piece fell to the floor, smashing into several large pieces and hundreds of fragments. Conservators set to work on a twelve-year mission to restore Adam to his former glory as he contemplates the fruit that leads to mankind’s fall. (Through July 2015).
Tullio Lombardo, Adam, marble, c. 1490-95.
After witnessing substandard working conditions at a building site for which he’d been commissioned to create artwork, Beijing-based artist Xu Bing created two huge phoenix sculptures composed of construction equipment. Suspended at the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, their decorative lights are akin to stained glass and their message in keeping with the church’s activist history. (Through Feb 2015).
Xu Bing, Phoenix, installation view at St John the Divine, Dec 2014.
