Have you done the Noguchi Double?
On the first Friday of each month, admission is free at The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City. (Reservations are suggested.)
While there this Friday, Jan. 5, enjoy the next Center of Attention at 3:30 pm. It’s free, again! (Reservations are not required.) This one-hour conversation is about Isamu Noguchi’s Gregory (Effigy), which is on view on the second floor.
Completed in 1945, Gregory (Effigy) consists of slate supported by plaster and plywood. It’s part of many works with the same name. Here’s what Noguchi’s website informs: “The name ‘Gregory’ refers to Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. I also thought of the Cook Island figure Rarotonga while making it. This was one of five stone pieces in the exhibition 14 Americans at the Museum of Modern Art in 1946…I had devised a way of working stone using a diamond wheel rigged into a flexible shaft headpiece helped by a vicelike affair which could be moved along. Even slate could then be carved without too much percussion.”
Center of Attention is a repeating series during which experts discuss one art work at a time. Noguchi’s creations are frequently the main subject, but other pieces are considered as well.
Designed and founded by the artist, The Noguchi Museum opened to the public in 1985. Located 09-01 33rd Rd., the two-story gallery includes 27,000-square-feet of exhibition space and an outdoor garden. Displays of sculptures, furniture designs, architectural models, and drawings are the most common activities, but the venue also presents concerts, lectures, and other live performances.
The museum is across the street from Noguchi’s studio, where he worked from the early 1960s until his death in 1988.
Image: Rob MacKay