All posts tagged: New York City Ballet

Trippy Clusters of Inflated DNA at the NYC Ballet: Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO

February 6, 2018 Artists

Ephemerality is a core aspect of art on the streets that differentiates it from conventions of art making and collecting and displaying in institutional settings. The fact that an artist is willing to let go of their work in the public sphere is an act of courage in some way, willing for it to be entrusted to the rules of the street and the natural elements – to be painted over, damaged, taken, beaten by the weather.

That aspect of Street Art was on display during a recent installation inside the New York City Ballet as well when Turkish American artist Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO filled the modernist Philip Johnson-designed theater atrium with twisting ephemeral DNA-strand sculptures made of balloons.

Thousands of balloons.

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Much like a graffiti writer with cans running through tunnels, along train tracks and over back lots, Zincirli is specializing in a hit-and-run practice that will fade quickly. With a practice that includes public space as well as private, outdoor as well as indoor, Zencirli and team creates an engaging otherworldly moment for you to engage with for just a short time.

Inspired by the palette of an Ellsworth Kelly painting, the tens of thousands of primary colored orbs of multiple sizes were blown up in 4 hours, clustered, and strung high above the travertine, gently nestling the Carrara marble Elie Nadelman sculptures, Circus Women and Two Nudes anchoring each end of the promenade. Normally these plump and smoothed figures dominate the massive space with 4 stories of pedestrian balconies to view them in 360 degrees but on a recent frigid January evening after the performance of an often envelope-pushing ballet program, guests circulated among and above them to see their newest temporary neighbors. Some of the clusters on the floor came alive when cued by the music and began to dance, adding an additional element of trippiness to the transformation.

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Biodegradable and ranging in size from ten inches to ten feet, Zincirli’s balloons have cavorted with bodegas, health clinics, the LA Broad Museum and the occasional Frank Lloyed Wright house, each time an ephemeral flourish, an outcropping of exuberance, a temporary festooning and claiming of space before slowly and gently deflating.

As guests took selfies and swung or danced, drinks in hand, to the sounds of a DJ stationed somewhere up above, the artist swerved through the crowd on her roller skates across the travertine and beneath the colorful canopy. She, more than anyone perhaps, knew that with temporary installations like this, it is important to savor the moment.

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

There’s one NYC Ballet performance left on February 24th. Click HERE to order your tickets.

INCREDIBLE THING! BSA Readers Get Early Tickets > Brooklyn Artist Marcel Dzama at the NYC Ballet

January 9, 2016 Artists

Brooklyn-based Visual Artist at New York City Ballet

For the first time an artist is simultaneously creating work for both the Art Series and a brand new production with the New York City Ballet.

Exclusive Pre-Sale Now — Saturday, January 9 at 11:59 PM. Continue reading to get your pre-sale promo code.

After the huge successes of working three consecutive years with Street Artists Faile and JR and sculptor Dustin Yellin, the NYC Ballet is commissioning a large-scale multidisciplinary installation from Brooklyn-based visual artist Marcel Dzama – and he’s designing costumes as well.

Dzama’s in the permanent collections of MOMA, The Guggenheim, and the Tate, and has contributed his art to albums and videos by Beck, Bob Dylan, Department of Eagles, and They Might Be Giants, so it’s no surprise that his dark witty world across multiple mediums and media is now embracing the ballet full force, and even though tickets don’t go on sale until Monday, BSA readers can get the very affordable $30 tickets PRE-SALE at midnight tonight!

You know what a blast we all had the last 3 years at the NYC Ballet – the performances, the art, the DJs, the refreshments, the dancers live in-person mingling in the great hall with everyone. Right? As with the other Art Series events, all ticket holders will also receive a limited-edition commemorative takeaway created by the artist himself.

Peck, Dzama, and “The National” in World Premier

THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING is the name of the new piece by NYCB resident choreographer Justin Peck, which will have its world premiere – along with 50+ costumes and scenic elements by Dzama inspired by Bauhaus artist Oskar Schlemmer. Outstandingly, its all backed by a score from Bryce Dessner, co-founder and guitarist from The National.

“There’s this kind of ‘4 AM in the morning’ feel to a lot of my work, I think. It’s nice to see it in action now. It’s really inspiring,” says Marcel Dzama as he reviews the costumes and performers rehearsing.

Exclusive Pre-Sale Now — Saturday, January 9 at 11:59 PM

BSA is pleased offer this advance presale promo code: DZAMA16 – get your tickets HERE.

New York City Ballet Art Series Presents Marcel Dzama
FEB 6 EVE, 11, 19
All tickets $30

Capturing Energy and the Figurative Cosmos Acording To Dustin Yellin

February 4, 2015 Artists

Countless elements pulling together into one form, directed by will, energy.

Science tells us that we are matter, theologians say that we are spirit. Today we accept that humans are energy. Some innate ordered intelligence allows this energy to direct the laws of attraction/repulsion, commanding quarks and gluons to pull with and against; adding, arranging, discarding elements to the mass of distinct particles and facets that comprise us.

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

At any moment the inventory of our composition is not what it was yesterday, particular from what it will be tomorrow, always in motion, within it a record of our history. Energy is what dancers summon by their will – then command, allow, direct, capture, release – their collections of atoms electric, a magnetic pulling and propelling together as one, as many, with nuance.

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here in February these forms and their energy are frozen in layers of glass, arranged on enormous slides, their components visible without microscope. Dustin Yellin neatly spaces the stacked slices of stilled movement across the cosmos of this great minimalist hall at Lincoln Center and hits them with focused beams of light.

And what do they reveal? A myriad of found objects, clippings, images, textures, mirrors, gestures, memories, imaginings, emotions. The forms and their components blast apart and swirl and swarm and realign. All are in motion, and all are stilled, better seen when you exert your command of motion, your willful direction of energy.

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Cross section. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New York City Ballet is offering free, open hours for the general public to view this exhibition, fifteen works of a larger collection entitled Psychogeographies, on the following dates: Thursday, February 12 through Sunday, February 22 – Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon; and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. For further information go to: nycballet.com

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

FAILE’s Towering Night at the Ballet

January 30, 2013 Artists, Interview

The dance of high and low art lifts 40 feet into the air as Brooklyn Street Art duo Faile unveil their repertoire of ironic pop imagery at the New York City Ballet this week. As street artists in the then-industrial wasteland of Williamsburg at the turn of the century, Patrick Miller and Patrick McNeil would have not sought such attention but ducked the bright lights as they aerosol sprayed their stencils on street walls in the late hours.

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now in this most unusual high/low hallelujah junction, NYCB’s Peter Martins brings Faile’s towering visual vocabulary, rising and spilling out at the base, into this hallowed Phillip Johnson designed atrium at the modernist Lincoln Center. Like a painted wooden fountain, Faile’s recombinant cultural appropriations reach a new height; their 5-month study of NYCB’s printed archives producing newly entwined storylines and inflections mirroring those they once imagined only for the street.

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As you walk around its base and view it from the tiered balcony gallery, you can see Faile is messing with stuff again: the re-imaginings of dancers with half-sleeve tattoos as Faile brings in skater culture, the remixing of bodega signage and graffiti writing with art-deco showbill refinement, and even the sly dark humor of a ballerina flying through the air past an appreciative viewer as she sunnily gleams out her high-rise New York apartment window. This is the visual vocabulary that unfolds in your manège around the base; the imagery, symbols, and pop witticisms that Faile layers deliberately into this one-column retrospective. For their hardcore fans, there are of course the Mao, the Prince Charles, the horse-headed surfer and monkeys in dresses. And 1986.

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How did it get here, a soon-opening exhibit “Les Ballets de Faile”? Not a typical gig for Street Art, true, but ballet as an art form has a sort of thinning crowd of fans while Street Art has a sort of exploding one – one that is capturing the imagination of many of the same people these seats have been missing.

“It is such an institution,” says Faile’s Patrick McNeil as he describes the New York City Ballet, “You have people who have been coming for 30-40-50 years to see performances.” Precisely. Quick tangential math inspired by that statement helps explain the necessity of bringing in artists like Faile and coaxing in the Millenials, who will hopefully pry themselves from the glowing blue little screens in their laps long enough to watch the live show onstage. Well perhaps they could send one discreet Tweet about it – #faileballetisawesome . One additional benefit will be that the dancers will see at least some people their own age when the lights come up.

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“So we had a meeting with Peter Martins, who is the Ballet Master in Chief,” says the other Faile, Patrick Miller, as he talks about the new art series the ballet is sponsoring, “and we just kind of showed him our work and all the things we had done – it was amazing actually. He was so enthusiastic. And when we heard of all the artists who have been involved with them before we were just like, “Alright, just tell us when you are ready to say ‘go’!” – A completely understandable response when you realize you’ve just joined a list of artists that include Warhol, Noguchi, Clemente, and Lichtenstein, among others.

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

During a recent visit to the duo’s studio in Brooklyn, Patrick and Patrick showed a number of the works that will be on display on the tower, as well as some of the variations on the ballet themes that may not. Because they believe strongly in their process of discovery, the end results, however precise, can be sort of surprising to them. Not that they didn’t do their homework.

Brooklyn Street Art: So you gained access to the archives of visual materials from the New York City Ballet…
Patrick Miller: Yeah so they opened up the archives – they were way underground some place in the Wall Street area – all their old programs, ephemera, – and we kind of took a lot of that in… (he gestures to a wood painting) this body of the dragon is in a perfume ad in one of the playbills and after seeing the ballet I liked the idea of seeing lightning bolt legs for the ballerinas, so…

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The two Faile nights at the ballet quickly sold out because of this marrying of high and low, and possibly because the $29 ticket price also came with a 2” x 2” wooden Faile block made especially for the occasion. For the guys, it looks like a sweet and entertaining fusion of disparate elements – like they are accustomed to. “We were not into ballet, and we didn’t really know much about ballet,” says McNeil about their experience at the outset, “Our work is from the street and something that is not really from that world at all. We felt a little out of place just going there, you know.”

After many conversations, studies, sketches, paintings, screen prints, and nights stacking wood blocks, they don’t have any doubt that Faile belongs at the ballet. After their opening February 1st, few will.

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower installed in the atrium for the New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The theater will hold open hours for one week beginning Sunday, February 10 so you can stop by and view the new Faile exhibit. “Les Ballets de Faile” will remain installed on the promenade of the theater from January 15 – February 24, 2013.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Images of the Week: 01.13.13

January 13, 2013 Artists

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bored, Defs, Faile, Lädy, Mr. Toll, Nick Walker, Penny, Plata, Smells, and Verb

Faile. Along with their recent announcement of their partnership with the New York City Ballet Arts Series came a marketing campaign blitz that saw the New York City transit system and streets blanketed with the promotional posters. So once again Street Artists see their work in place it was previously, but because a fee has been paid, this time it is legal.

Says Faile: “It’s pretty crazy to see that work on the subways and streets and not to have been the ones to put it up there. Quite ironic” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Faile Going to the NYC Ballet (VIDEO)

January 7, 2013 Artists

Tickets go on sale Tuesday to see Faile at the New York City Ballet – a perfectly unconventional pairing for the pair of Patricks and a hugely inspirational way to start the year by marrying the arts. The Faile tower will be unveiled at Lincoln Center in a week, and each performance of the ballet will leave you with an original piece of Faile in your hands.

The best part from our perspective is the very reasonable ticket price that will allow Street Art fans who have followed Faile for the last decade to have a great time at the ballet and see the art show together.

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, January 8 at 12pm noon. For more information on New York City Ballet’s Art Series click here.

FAILE’s site is here. Also L Magazine has an opportunity for you to win free tickets here.

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Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jihan Zencirli AKA GERONIMO. NYCBallet Art Series at Lincoln Center. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Exclusive Pre-Sale Now — Saturday, January 9 at 11:59 PM. Continue reading to get your pre-sale promo code.

Peck, Dzama, and “The National” in World Premier

Exclusive Pre-Sale Now — Saturday, January 9 at 11:59 PM

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Cross section. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. Detail. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dustin Yellin. New York City Ballet/Art Series. February, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. Studio Visit (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower installed in the atrium for the New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower installed in the atrium for the New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Faile Tower. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Walker. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mom’s Little Helpers. Artist Unknown. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JC “Penny” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Animal Smells, Verb, Plata (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DEFS in in Rizal, Philippines. (photo © DEFS)

A one-liner from Bored. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown with some Swoon and Gaia influences. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Toll (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lädy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Says Faile: “It’s pretty crazy to see that work on the subways and streets and not to have been the ones to put it up there. Quite ironic” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Hudson River, NYC. January 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Screenshot of Faile video below (© New York City Ballet and Faile)

Screenshot of Faile video below (© New York City Ballet and Faile)

Featured Video | Martin Wong’s “Houston Street”

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