~RICCI ALBENDA/HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY of NEW YORK/last days !!
. . . . last days to catch:
RICCI ALBENDA at THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK !!
the show runs MARCH 21 – MAY 23, 2008, which means this FRIDAY is the last day..
The Horticultural Society of New York – 148 WEST 37TH ST. 13TH FLOOR – MIDTOWN – NYC
. . . it’s not often one finds a show as zen as this in NYC. its so light-handed, it even includes a small glass vase of tiny hand picked flowers from Ricci’s garden, plucked fresh from the earth, by the show’s curator JODIE VICENTA JACOBSON, on her way to work that very morning – at The Horticultural Society of New York, which is itself tucked away in a quiet, but inspired corner of the city, with lots of sunlight streaming in from a large bank of windows (in a standard type office building near MACY’S, though you’d never know it, once inside) … where she is the resident artist/curator. As part of the show, RICCI ALBENDA opened his delightful backyard garden, behind his small ground floor apt in Brooklyn, to the public for 3 Sunday afternoons. The opening reception at HSNY, was timed to mark the vernal equinox.
RICCI ALBENDA greets guests in his small, but lush !! backyard garden.
at THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY of NEW YORK exhibit – RICCI ALBENDA, ‘Garden’, 2007, acrylic and charcoal on paper, 55 x 98 ins.
the word painting features the Latin names of plants to be found in Ricci’s garden – using a font of the artist’s own design.
what’s in a word – ypsilandra thibetica: “a rare gem for the dappled shade… a little-grown member of the lily family, it has handsome rosettes of long & narrrow foliage, 5 x 5 ins. In late winter or early spring, it tosses up 5-8 in. spikes of fragrant strikingly clean snow white flowers that fade to salmon-pink.” (Heronswood.com)
across from the word painting – a glass topped display table – on it: is Ricci’s, ‘Table Top Sculpture from COLOR-I-ME-TRY. (O-Green)’, 2008, made from low density fiberboard and paint. 4.5 x 10 x 4.75 ins. nothing, if not direct, tactile, subtle & pure. Collection of Andrew Kreps, New York
closer up, RICCI ALBENDA, ‘Table Top Sculpture from COLOR-I-ME-TRY. (O-Green)’, 2008
Table Top Sculpture – a view from the side.
inside the glass top display table: RICCI ALBENDA, ‘spoke’. (apology to Tony)
Hand-painted acrylic on daisy, pressed in Walt Whitman’s leaflet Leaves of Grass, 4.5 x 6.5 ins. Collection of Janine Antoni, New York.
detail, ‘spoke’.
The Horticultural Society of New York – a view towards the sunlight & Ricci’s ‘Kitchen Table’ at right, further down, towards the windows.
RICCI ALBENDA, ‘Kitchen Table’, 2008 – all of the potted plants are from ‘the artist’s kitchen table’, reclaimed wood table, paint, candelabra, candles, plates.
detail candelabra, ‘Kitchen Table’
a tiny vase not more than 6 ins. in height
floral arrangements “will periodically change to reflect the emerging flora of the artist’s garden”
ALEX FELEPPA, Director of Horticulture, and JODIE VICENTA JACOBSON, Curator, (and curator of this show specifically), The Horticultural Society of New York
KATE CHURA, Vice President/COO, The Horticultural Society of New York
Ms. Chura shows us a model for a ‘green’ New York City public library – designed by HSNY/The Horticultural Society of New York
an early childhood work by Ricci Albenda, said to be one of his first, made when he was about 4 or 5 yrs. old, in kindergarten !! – on the wall in Ms. Jacobson’s office.
we notice a poster from a previous show – ‘TREE PANTS’ by PETER COFFIN, also curated by Jodie Vicenta Jacobson
HSNY curator JODE VICENTA JACOBSON at her desk. the whole place is light and airy, and in the office area – all the desks and work space dividers are home to growing plants.
JODIE VICENTA JACOBSON, is also an artist/photographer. She just happens to have a show of her own work up currently (May 10-July 31, 2008) at a new gallery on the Lower East Side – called WILD PROJECT. Her show is called ‘hint’.
check it out: WILD PROJECT
walking back out into the wilds of New York – the MACY’S HERALD SQ. intersection, no less – in a completely different frame of mind – than when we had entered – we noticed something – we had missed on the way on – one of those white ‘ghost’ bikes – chained to city traffic poles – at the site of a fatal bicycle accident – in a grassroots attempt to raise city & car driver consciousness.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH
check out: The Horticultural Society of New York