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Young Japanese Pop artists gather at Bonhams May Contemporary Art Sale
HONG KONG.- When pop art landed in Japan, where the kawaii culture originated as a cult and developed into a mainstream aesthetic, it found itself a cuter identity: one of innocence and fantasy dressed in loveable vibrant pastel colours the Kawaii Pop. Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami have a firm grip on the kawaii pop crown, and are the pioneers who successfully exported it to the global contemporary art scene. Not only that, they have also inspired a younger generation of Kawaii Pop artists who push new boundaries of this genre. These young artists, such as Ayako Rokkaku, Aya Takano, Hikari Shimoda, and Takeru Amano, are among the names whose works will be showcased at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary Art Sale in Hong Kong on 26 May 2022. Ayako Rokkaku, excitedly considered as the new Nara by many ... More

'For Colored Girls' to close on Broadway, reflecting tough season
NEW YORK, NY.- A much-praised revival of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shanges classic choreopoem, will close later this month after struggling to find an audience during a tumultuous Broadway season. The shows producers said Tuesday that the final performance would be May 22, just a month after opening and three months earlier than planned. The closing reflects the challenges of this unusual Broadway season the first since the pandemic shutdown when tourism remains down, coronavirus cases are a constant complication, and a large number of shows opened at the same time, making it difficult for any one of them to break out. For Colored Girls won strong reviews in The New York Times, critic Laura Collins-Hughes deemed it thrilling and ... More

A dancer's farewell, not as choreographed
NEW YORK, NY.- When Abi Stafford Lillo took her final curtsy this past fall after more than two decades at New York City Ballet, it looked like a typical dancer retirement, with colleagues handing her bouquets as the audience applauded wildly. But her smile that afternoon masked what had become a bitter dispute behind the scenes between the ballerina and the company. Lillo, 40, said she decided to leave because she felt she had been sidelined since her estranged brother, Jonathan Stafford, became City Ballets artistic director. Then, she said, she was cut from the opening night cast of her final ballet, Russian Seasons, by its choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky. He told her in a text that the men were struggling to partner her which she considered body shaming, she said. City Ballet officials countered that Lillo had been offered ... More

Modern lovers: Picassomania at Bonhams London
LONDON.- He was one of the most celebrated and influential artists of the 20th century. He was also one of the most productive. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) lived an extraordinary life, and created even more extraordinary art. From prints to ceramics, works on paper to photographs, Picassomania returns to Bonhams New Bond Street on Wednesday 18 May, celebrating the full scope of the artists expansive oeuvre. Leading the sale will be Visage en forme d'Horloge, a sliver repoussÃ© plate, conceived in 1956 and executed in silver by FranÃ§ois and Pierre Hugo. It has an estimate of Â£30,000 - 50,000. Amongst the other highlights of the sale is a selection of Picasso ceramics, including Femme, 1955, (estimate of Â£8,000-12,000), and a photograph of Picasso alongside the photographer Cecil ... More

Dolly Parton voted into Rock Hall alongside Eminem and Lionel Richie
NEW YORK, NY.- Despite a last-minute plea to respectfully bow out of consideration for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, country singer Dolly Parton made it in anyway, joining a musically diverse array of inductees for 2022 that also includes Eminem, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, Eurythmics, Duran Duran and Pat Benatar. The honorees voted on by more than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals each had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture and helped change the course of rock n roll, John Sykes, chairman of the Rock Hall, said in a statement. Parton, 76, had said in March that she was extremely flattered and grateful to be nominated but did not feel that she had earned that right to be recognized as a rock artist at the expense of others. Ballots, however, had already ... More

Inside the Met Gala after-parties
NEW YORK, NY.- Marc Jacobs was by the bar vaping something cinnamon flavored. Justin Theroux was in the corner wearing a sleeveless T-shirt. A DJ was playing Black Sheeps The Choice Is Yours. It was around 1 a.m. at the Boom Boom Room at the Standard hotel, and if the customary after-party for the Met Gala was less starry than it had been in previous years, that was because the main event itself had been, too (there was no Rihanna, Jay-Z, BeyoncÃ©, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga or Madonna). Also, until a few years ago, few parties competed with the Boom Boom Room. This year, there were rival events hosted by Instagram, LaQuan Smith, Tom Ford, Naomi Campbell, Cara Delevingne and the Blond. So a lot of people grabbed a champagne flute, took a few photos, ate some french fries and bounced to the next thing. This ... More

'Wish You Were Here' review: The saga of female friendship
NEW YORK, NY.- The five Iranian women of Wish You Were Here, which opened Tuesday night at Playwrights Horizons, joke about sex and their bodies. They file one anothers toenails and lick their cheeks with a disarming degree of comfort. And they show off their psychic connections by playing rounds of What am I thinking? Yet these friends can also be vicious, mocking one another with the targeted hits of a loved one who knows where to stick the knife. Playwright Sanaz Toossi drops in on this group in 10 scenes one for almost every year from 1978 to 1991, a period encompassing the Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War and the countrys steps toward economic stability. Pushing that upheaval somewhat awkwardly to the background, Toossi focuses instead on the women and how their relationships to one another and ... More

Carnegie Hall will host concert in support of Ukraine
NEW YORK, NY.- Carnegie Hall said Tuesday that it would host a concert in support of Ukraine later this month to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people, express opposition to the Russian invasion and raise relief funds. The benefit, Concert for Ukraine, is to take place at 8 p.m. May 23 and will feature more than a dozen artists and ensembles, including Russian-born pianist Evgeny Kissin, violinist Itzhak Perlman, jazz vocalist CÃ©cile McLorin Salvant and singer Michael Feinstein. The Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, an amateur ensemble that specializes in secular and sacred music from Ukraine, will also perform. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has been heartbreaking to witness the devastation that has been wrought there over the last two months, Clive Gillinson, Carnegies executive and artistic director, ... More

A sister and brother choose repertoire by feeling and listening
NEW YORK, NY.- Are Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason those rarest of things: young superstars who might actually live up to their hype? It certainly appears that way. The pair are two of seven British brothers and sisters, all musicians, who shot to fame when Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a cellist, won the BBC Young Musician Award in 2016. Sheku Kanneh-Masons exposure in particular has been extravagant since his star turn in the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018. But listen to more than the breathless reporting of their streaming numbers, and you find musicians who, while still in the early stages of their careers, already have serious, distinctive things to say. Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 23, made his New York Philharmonic debut in November, playing Dvoraks Cello Concerto, a performance that revealed him to be a charismatic ... More

Irving Rosenthal, low-profile force on the Beat scene, dies at 91
NEW YORK, NY.- Irving Rosenthal wasnt famous like the Beat figures he associated with Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and others. But he was an integral part of their scene. In fact, he propelled it forward at a crucial time. In the late 1950s, Rosenthal was a graduate student at the University of Chicago and editor of its affiliated journal, Chicago Review. He and his poetry editor, Paul Carroll, were fond of the Beat writers who had emerged on the West Coast and elsewhere and began publishing them. The spring 1958 issue featured Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Ginsberg, Kerouac and others who had been making an impression on the San Francisco poetry scene, as well as an excerpt from Burroughs shocking (but not yet published) novel Naked Lunch. Another Naked Lunch excerpt appeared ... More

Christie's to offer twelve jewels by JAR from the Estate of Ann Getty
NEW YORK, NY.- Christies announced Twelve Jewels by JAR from the Estate of Ann Getty to be offered as a leading highlight of the Magnificent Jewels live auction on 8 June at Christies New York. Ann Gettys striking group of jewels by JAR is one of the largest and most important private collections of works by the visionary designer, Joel Arthur Rosenthal to appear at auction. The group is expected to achieve in the region of $1.5 million. Prior to the sale, select objects will travel to Geneva and Hong Kong, followed by an exhibit at Christies New York in June. Daphne Lingon, Head of Jewelry, Christies Americas, commented: Ann Getty was a trained scientist whose personal collection of JAR reflected her innate curiosity and impeccable taste for jewelry that was both beautifully-crafted and evoked memories of her family and research ... More