On West 22nd Street, Joseph Beuys and the Present Company of Artists

May 12 is the birthday of Joseph Beuys (1921-1986), a highly versatile German artist who influenced many of the multimedia practices of contemporary art. He was known for his social and political activism, unconventional gallery performances, a passion for teaching, and a charismatic personality topped with a felt hat. A self-styled shaman, he frequently drew upon the inspiration of coyotes and wolves.

One of the most notorious art performances in American history, I like America and America likes Me, took place in 1974 when Beuys spent three days in a room in the René Block Gallery in SoHo (409 Broadway, gallery now long gone) with a live coyote. Art critic John Russell in The New York Times recalled the spectacle for a review of a “memorial exhibition” of Beuys’ work at Ronald Feldman in 1986:

“In the cage with him were some piles of straw, a heap of copies of The Wall Street Journal of the day, a battered old hat from the best hatter in London and - here was the surprise - a live coyote that had been shipped into town for the run of the show after complicated legal negotiations. The coyote and Joseph Beuys formed, beyond a doubt, as odd a couple as we had ever seen.”
- from "Art: Joseph Beuys at the Feldman Gallery," The New York Times, October 31, 1986 (full article)

On West 22nd Street in Chelsea, a glimpse of Joseph Beuys' 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks).

If interested in Beuys, and you may be now, West 22nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues should be among your first stops. I can’t promise a live coyote,* but along this block, you’ll find the installation 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks), a continuation of a project that Beuys began in 1982 at Documenta 7 in Kassel, Germany.

With 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks), Beuys envisioned the planting of 7,000 trees, each accompanied by a four-foot basal stone, throughout the city of Kassel. As a call for environmental awareness and social change, Beuys hoped the project would be extended throughout the world.

The Dia Art Foundation, located on this block of W. 22nd Street, provided major support for the initial project, carried forward and completed in 1987. After the artist’s death, in 1988 the foundation installed five pairs of stone and trees in New York along W. 22nd. The project was expanded in 1996 with the addition of 18 stones and trees, including two different types of oaks, a Ginkgo, a Linden, and an Elm Honey Locust.

While walking past the trees on W. 22nd Street, gallery visitors may easily overlook the pairings. The trees and stones have gracefully settled into the urban landscape. On a recent walk, I observed several people casually leaning against the stones to talk on their cell phones or use them as a convenient prop to rustle through a purse or a bag.

Hauser & Wirth spaces on W. 22nd St.

In addition to Dia and the Beuys installation, this block of W. 22nd Street serves as home to several high-profile galleries, including Hauser & Wirth’s Chelsea space, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., Lehmann Maupin, PPOW, Allan Stone Projects, and others.

Many current exhibitions in galleries on W. 22nd Street should lure visitors off the High Line and into the galleries below. (From the High Line, take the W. 23rd Street staircase or elevator west of 10th Ave., and walk one block south.)

Hauser & Wirth’s Chelsea temporary space at 548 W 22nd St., the former home for Dia, currently hosts an exhibition exploring the role of books in the art of German-born Swiss artist Dieter Roth (1930 – 1998). Son and collaborator Björn Roth has reassembled their studio in Basel as its own oversized work of art, down to the scores of marking pens in jars, boxes of various art materials, and objects of visual interest. A visit to Hauser & Wirth Publisher‘s bookstore and the Roth New York Bar, a bar and cafe with an excellent selection of teas, easily extends the visit. You’ll also notice that the gallery is building a permanent home next door.

Books. Dieter Roth. Björn Roth. Studio continues through July 29, 2017. Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street. Gallery website

W. 22nd Street is home for the Dia Art Foundation.

Dia Art Foundation, stretching across several addresses on W. 22nd St., is presenting Hanne Darboven’s Kulturgeschichte 1880–1983 (Cultural History 1880–1983, 1980–83), a mind-boggling assemblage of 1,590 works on paper and 19 sculptures that functions as part artist autobiography and part history of our times. Expect to pay $8 to see it; $6 for students and seniors. Free on Friday from 3-6 p.m. Through July 29, 2017. Website

At the two Matthew Marks spaces on W. 22nd, look for Ellsworth Kelly’s Last Paintings (522 W 22nd) and Plant Drawings (526 W, 22nd). Kelly created the paintings in the months before his death in December 2015, and these minimalist works show economical yet intense explorations of color and form. Stay with them awhile, and you’ll see. The exhibitions continue through June 14, 2017. Website

Fans of Deborah Butterfield’s sculptural engagement with the horse will want to see her new work at Danese/Corey (511 W. 22nd St.). Several of the works incorporate debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan, and two extraordinary horses are made from burnt wood the artist collected from a forest fire near her home in Montana. The horses are all element and spirit, great moving creatures of form and grace. Deborah Butterfield New Sculpture continues through June 23, 2017. Website

Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from May 9, 2017.

* In April 2015 the NYPD captured a live coyote in Chelsea near W. 28th St. and Ninth Avenue. (NY Daily News story. )

See also the post, Art Trip Up the River: A Visit to Dia:Beacon (2012)

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

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(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

Visiting New York on a Monday

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Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

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Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99 New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert

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(revised 2017) How long does it take to walk from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden to well-known destinations in Manhattan? What are the best walking routes ? What if I don't want to see anything in particular but just want to walk around? In addition to the thousands of working commuters from the surrounding area, especially from New Jersey and Long Island who arrive at Penn Station via New Jersey Transit or the Long Island Rail Road, many people arrive at the station just to spend time in The City. Some have questions. Furthermore, a sporting event may have brought you to Madison Square Garden (above Penn Station), and you want to check out what the city offers near the event. This post if for you. The map below should help you measure walking distances and times from the station to well-known destinations in Manhattan - Bryant Park , the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Empire State Building , Times Square , Rockefeller Center , Washington Square Park , the High Line

Walking Off the Big Apple

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