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State of the Arts goes behind the scenes to show how Mark Zuckerman’s new, Biblically-inspired opera made it to the stage, and how the world renowned realist painter Philip Pearlstein approaches each new canvas. Also, how the creations of artist Michael Rees travel between the virtual and physical worlds.
| Philip Pearlstein, painter |
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Philip Pearlstein began painting nudes in the early 1960s, – at the time, it was a radical move. Abstract Expressionism was at its height, and Pop Art was on the horizon. Pearlstein’s nudes began a new chapter in American Realism - his highly objective, flatly lit compositions of bodies arranged in his studio are instantly recognizable. The Montclair Museum of Art’s current exhibition, “Philip Pearlstein: Objectifications,” puts Pearlstein’s signature, post-1961 female and male studio nudes into the context of the rest of his work – from his award-winning high school paintings, through landscapes and cityscapes, to portraits made of his friends and neighbors.
State of the Arts producer Susan Wallner meets Pearlstein at his weekend house in Highland Lakes, New Jersey and visits him at work with a model in his New York City loft. She visits the exhibition and meets one of Pearlstein’s favorite models of recent years, Kilolo Kumanyika, a resident of East Orange, New Jersey.
Wallner also talks with Montclair Art Museum director Patterson Sims, curator of “Philip Pearlstein: Objectifications.” Sims, who has known Pearlstein for close to 30 years, writes in the exhibition catalog, “Pearlstein’s ability to treat figures, objects, and places with equal objectivity makes his realism radical: psychological content, narratives, and emotional responses are never intended and cannot be easily summoned or deduced from his art.”
“Philip Pearlstein: Objectifications” has been selected by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts to be part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces Series.
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Self Portrait
Model with Neon Mickey
and Bouncy Duck
Collateral Entrance to Lincoln Tunnel, Daytime
Model in Green Kimono on Savonarola Chair
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| "The Outlaw and the King" |
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Five years ago, composer Mark Zuckerman wandered across the street from his Roosevelt, New Jersey home to chat with his neighbor of 25 years, poet David Sten Herrstom. He wanted to write his first opera, he said, and wondered if Herrstrom would like to write the libretto. Herrstrom had published several books of poetry, but wasn't particularly familiar with opera. However, he seized on the idea and five years later a two-act, full-length opera based on the Old Testament story of Jonathan, David, and Saul was performed in concert at Rutgers University’s Nicholas Music Center in New Brunswick.
The opera, called "The Outlaw and the King," focuses on the story of David who was brought before Saul, the king of Israel, after slaying Goliath. The king’s eldest son, Jonathan, falls in love with David… and the story begins. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz takes you behind-the-scenes to see all that it takes to produce a new opera.
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Mark Zuckerman, Composer
David Herrsrtom, Librettist
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| Michael Rees, artist |
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The work of artist Michael Rees exists in the actual and the virtual worlds at once. An imposing sculpture of a monster made of human limbs can stand in an outdoor, public location, while its digital counterpart can be found marauding around on the artist’s laptop as an animated CGI character. How does this creature escape the computer and get into places like the Whitney Museum of American Art and other museums and galleries around the world? The Sculptural User Interface, for starters. It’s a computer program that enables artists to design a project and then have it fabricated in three dimensions through a process called rapid prototyping.
Michael Rees, a North Bergen resident and a recipient of a 2007 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual State Fellowship Award, is an artist who looks forward to the future. An Associate Professor of Sculpture and Digital Media at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ, he shares his enthusiasm for sculpture, performance, animation, video, installation, and interactivity with his students. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa meets up with Rees at Matrix Art Collective in Guttenberg to see first hand what’s happening at the intersection of art and technology.
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Michael Rees
Putto 4 over 4
Ajna Spine Series
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On NJN2: Friday, October 2 - Thursday, October 8, 2009
@ 5:00 pm • 11:00 pm
Preview
