Many of my fellow car shooters will be coming to New York City in a few weeks for the 2012 New York Auto Show. Since I live here, love playing tour guide, but realize my own limits in that I can’t show everyone around, I thought I’d make a list of some of the great photographic things happening in NYC outside of car show duties. The list is by no means exhaustive, it’s just a few highlights:
- If you can get in town the weekend before NYAS press days, there is the AIPAD – Association of International Photography Art Dealers – exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory. It’s not just an exhibit; there are panel discussions and other events going on. See the website for details and ticket prices.
- Cindy Sherman, one of the most well-known contemporary fine art photographers, has a big show at MoMA, about a 10-minute walk from the Times Square area – head up 6th Ave. to 53rd St. (Admission – $25)
- The International Center of Photography (ICP) has a great show of Weegee’s infamous crime photos up. Murder and mayhem! ICP is on 43rd St. and 6th Ave., right near Times Square where, no doubt, many of you will be staying. (Admission – $12, voluntary contribution 5-8pm on Fridays)
- Francesca Woodman’s vaunted self portraits at the Guggenheim; 88th St. and 5th Ave, take the 4-5-6 train to 86th. (Admission – $18)
- The last few days of Martin Roehmer’s mega-city photographs at Anastasia Gallery, dedicated to photojournalism. High quality work on the Lower East Side (166 Orchard St., F train to 2nd Ave.) (No admission.) If you do go to this gallery, be sure to be hungry, and check get some Asian fusion tacos -especially the umame taco – next door at Snackdragon. Make sure to get the special Thai coffee too!
- If none of these interest you or you just want to discover something else, head west on 23rd Street between 10th and 11th Ave. to Chelsea and wander around the galleries
- There are New York-specific photo shows at The Museum of the City of New York (Leonard Freed, similar to Weegee, 103rd St. and 5th Ave., $10 suggested admission) and The Queens Museum of Art (Oscar Larson, 1950’s street photography, $5 suggested admission, 7 train to Mets-Willets Point.) One plus to visiting the Queens Museum of Art is that it’s located on the grounds of the 1964 World’s Fair with the iconic Unisphere, and also houses the Panorama of New York. And I can’t forget to mention the Whitney Biennial, 945 Madison at 75th St. (Admission – $12.)
3.30.12 EDIT: Here are a few additional gems:
- Grand Central Station, lower dining concourse – Jim Dow: EAT. Photographs of roadside stands (Americana.) Grand Central Station is along the 7 line from Times Square, and the station itself is rather impressive. Free.
- South Street Seaport Museum/Museum of the City of NY – quite a few gems here, actually, all for $5. I went to see Edward Burtynsky’s Shipbreaking series. In addition, there is another gallery showing a short film following a suitcase JFK Airport by Ben Rubin, an exhibit of large panorama prints by Silvia Plachy and Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, films of NY by Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand, and a huge gallery of photographs of Occupy Wall Street protests in NY. I had never been to this museum until this past weekend, and was really impressed with the high quality work and exhibits. Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C to Fulton St.
Inadvertently, my list has become somewhat exhaustive!