November 7th, 8th, 2015

As part of the performance biennial Performa15, South African artist Robin Rhode transformed the public space of Times Square into an operatic venue. On stage, Rhode's rendition of composer Arnold Schönberg's Ewartung, a one act opera about love, loss, sorrow and grief. For Rhode, the protagonist of Ewartung, preformed by soprano Carole Sidney Louis, echoed the desperation and hardships faced by many South African women after the fall of the Apartheid as men were exiled or left home in search of work. Originally set in a moonlit forest, Rhode draws likeness to the artificially lit, towering space of Times Square, weaving layers of contemporaneity and allegory into an age-old narrative.  

Read more about the performance on Broadway World and the New York Times.

Robin Rhode participated in the Ver List Art Project in 2015 with his edition Wall of Water, available here.

Above: Robin Rhode, Arnold Schönberg’s Erwartung, A Performa Commission, 2015. Photo by Paula Court, courtesy of Performa.

On the heels of a visit to the Aspen Art Museum to accept the museums prestigious Aspen Award for art, artist Lorna Simpson offers the Paris Review an intimate look at her studio practice. In conversation, Simpson shares her inspiration behind a newer work titles, Moveableness, as well as her consistent use of found photographic imagery and colorful, effusive washes of ink in her process if collage. Coming off of two major exhibitions - the Venice Biennale and a traveling exhibition spanning two years - Simpson talks about her excitement and readjustment upon returning to her home and studio in Brooklyn. Read more about the studio visit in the Paris Review. 

Lorna Simpson participated in the Vera List Art Project in 2013 with her edition Double Portrait, available here.

Above: Lorna Simpson. Photo courtesy of Menelik Puryear.

October 11, 2015 - March 7, 2016

Last month MoMA PS1 ushered in its fourth rendition of Greater New York. The exhibition, which has historically surveyed the work of emerging artists living and working within the New York metropolitan area,  encompasses emerging and more established artists alike, bringing together 157 artist working in a diverse range of media. Greater New York, which recurs every five years, has seen a tremendous transformation since it's first installment in 2000 as the populace of artists continues to respond to the revolving demands and influences of a city greatly affected by a shifting real estate and commercial art market. 

On the impressive exhibition roster, Vera List artists Glenn Ligon and Lorna Simpson were included. 

Glenn Ligon participated in the Vera List Art Project in 2004 and Lorna Simpson in 2013. Lorna Simpson's edition Double Portrait is available here. 

For more information about the exhibition at MoMA PS1.

Reopens May, 2016

 June of 2013, SFMoMA closed its doors to the public in order to undergo a major expansion. Working with the architecture firm Snøhetta, the expansion will double the museum's previous size and will offer a number of free galleries to the public. One of these free public galleries, Roberts Family Gallery, will house Richard Serra's Sequence. In fact, the massive steel sculpture was the first work to be installed in the new building! Check out a video of the installation here. With the expansion nearing its completion, the museum is set to reopen May 14th, 2016.

Richard Serra participated in the Vera List Art Project in 2010 with his edition Hand Catching Lead, available here.

Left: Roberts Family Gallery under construction, featuring Richard Serra’s Sequence (2006). Image © Henrik Kam, courtesy of SFMOMA.

New York, NY

Earlier this fall, womenswear label, Proenza Schouler, unveiled a Fall-Winter 2015 collection inspired New York School Abstract Expressionism -- namely the revered painter Helen Frankenthaler. While her use of bold color and layering is reflected in the new collection, Frankenthaler's instinctual process-oriented way of working served as a conceptual backbone and informed the process of development for the new designs. Along the runway of the F/W 2015 show hung Frankenthaler's works Freefall and Gateway, after which they visited the label's Soho store where stayed through a week long promotion benefiting the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation.

Read more about the collection and its inspiration here.

Helen Frankenthaler participated in the Vera List Art Project a total of eight times, creating the limited editions Aerie, Mary Mary and Solar Imp, and more.

Left: Proenza Schouler's Soho store with Freefall, 1993: 15-color hand-dyed paper and twelve color woodcut on white TGL handmade paper. Photo: Courtesy of Proenza Schouler

November 5 - December 3, 2015

Opening last Thursday, Alban Berg's classic opera Lulu made a return to the stage in a production at the Met Opera, starring soprano Marlis Petersen and directed by South African artist William Kentridge. Accompanying the opera, Kentridge has created a film using a series of ink, woodcut illustrations shown as a prologue to the performance. The illustrations themselves make visual references to Rorschach's infamous ink blot test as well as Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler and Alban Berg. The series - 68 drawings in total - is projected onto the stage throughout the performance and participates as part of the set.

In conjunction to the performances, Kentridge's drawings will be on view at the exhibition Drawings for Lulu at Marian Goodman in New York, open November 2 - December 19.

Lulu opened November 5th at the Met Opera at Lincoln Center and will run through December 3rd. Read more about the production in T Magazine and The New Yorker.

Left: Drawing for 'Lulu", 2015, Indian ink and red pencil on Shorter Oxford English Dictionary pager, No. 17422. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.