Discovering: ARNULF RAINER x CON VIVO MUSIC
December 27 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST
Monira Foundation presents: Discovering Arnulf Rainer. A musical performance in collaboration with two musicians from Con Vivo Music: James Keene (violin) and Ansel Cohen (cello).
The Con Vivo Players will perform the first two movements of the Duo for Violin and Cello by Zoltan Kodaly, an intricate, intense, virtuosic dialogue between the two instruments. The Hungarian composer’s Duo is an elegant fusion of his many influences: classical, the ethnic music of Hungary and Bohemia, Indonesian music, and American Jazz, to name just a few. This confluence of styles, by its own manifold nature, causes them to be framed in fascinating, overlapping ways through the evocative voices of the string instruments. The first movement is a heroic struggle, where one hears the two parts overcome extreme technical difficulties within the texture of a folk melody, ancient and mysterious in character. The second draws inspiration from the tradition of “night music” where one can hear the cello rumble, almost as distant thunder, while the violin experiences a violent outcry. This, and the shifting underlying rhythms throughout this movement are indicative of the composer seeking to experiment with his voice by this piece of chamber music.
This is a presentation of the Discovering public program. Discovering is a monthly program that welcomes the public into AYN Foundation and other long term presentations at Mana Contemporary to further learn and experience the practice of their featured artists: John Chamberlain, Michael Heizer, Rammellzee, Fred Sandback and Andy Warhol, through the scope of other artists and the multiple languages of art.
This program is made possible by a generous grant by the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.
Con Vivo Music:
Con Vivo Music is a Jersey City based collective of musicians including some of the NYC area’s finest soloists and rising stars. The collective aims to bring the communal spirit of chamber music to diverse audiences in Jersey City through world-class concerts. Since 2007, they have presented over 120 concerts.
James Keene is a versatile soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. Starting in high school, he has played solo, chamber, and orchestral performances for audiences throughout China, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the USA. James appears regularly with the New Haven Symphony in Connecticut, the Philly Pops, and the Mann Center Orchestra. His playing has been featured at the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival, the Gateways Festival, and the Colour of Music Festival, where he has served as concertmaster. As Co-founder of the Southwest Chamber Music Festival, preparing for their 4th season in 2025, he performs regularly in New Mexico. He attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Rutgers University and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He won 1st place at the Russel Johnson Strings Competition in Philadelphia, PA and has shared the Carnegie Hall stage with Dionne Warwick. He has also engaged in live and recorded collaborations with Andrea Bocelli, Vanessa Williams, Jay-Z, and The Who.
Ansel Cohen (cello)
Ansel Isaac Cohen is a freelance cellist hailing from Santa Rosa, CA. While growing up in South Florida, he began with violin lessons in the 6th grade, and eventually chose to switch to cello in the 8th grade. While continuing at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts he was fortunate to receive private tutelage from Marion Feldman via Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege Program. Undergraduate cello studies began at Florida State University with Greg Sauer, continued through Berklee College of Music with Owen Young and Mike Block, and were concluded at Brooklyn College with Nick Canellakis. As a recipient of Brooklyn College’s De Los Mederos Award for excellence in contemporary music, Ansel is always in search of new and exciting avenues of collaboration and musical expression. He loves working with recording and contemporary artists, while also exploring more traditional avenues via chamber music, large ensembles, and theatrical productions. As a live performer, he’s shared the stage with the Ruff Ryders, Sofia Carson, Kimberley Locke, and Josh Groban.
Arnulf Rainer:
Born in 1929 in Baden, near Vienna, Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer was a nonconformist from the beginning: he dropped out of art school twice after only a few days, preferring instead to follow his intuition. Now internationally-acclaimed, with retrospectives at the Georges Pompidou (1984) and the Guggenheim New York (1989), his body of work is immense, his singular, provocative influence uncontested.
Using a variety of media and materials, and mostly recognized for his “overpaintings,” in which he blocks out artworks, Rainer’s impulses have been fueled by obsession, the subconscious, dreams, Surrealism, primal forces, and mythology. Using unconventional methods such as painting in altered states, using passport photo booths for self-portraits, painting blindfolded, or with his feet–sometimes with his entire body—Rainer manipulates form, composition, and perception to capture extreme emotions. He searches for the limits of an image, in order to push past them and release hidden energies.
In this exhibition, Ayn Foundation presents nineteen works, ranging from 1985 to 2000, a core selection of his cross and angel paintings. Beginning in the 1950s, Rainer was drawn to the feelings and states that accompanied religious devotion and practice. He approached the subject from theological art historical and personal viewpoints, desiring to re-contextualize the symbols. “None of these works claims to have been intended specifically for a sacred context,’ he said in 1980 (The Menil Collection Catalogue, 1992, p.5). “They arose from very personal roots. They were inspired by a subjective emotion regarding both the person of Christ and the event but also the idea of the cross.” Concerning the angels, he wrote in a 1992 essay (The Menil Collection Catalogue, 1992, p.113), “Angel’s robes, to my mind, are the transcendental fulcrum, the much-sought missing link on the formal chain between spiritual and temporal aesthetics […] For my own part, I have always been inspired by William Blake’s idiosyncratic visions of angels but also by those of Giotto and Fra Angelico, which encouraged me to become involved with the visual splendor of these beings. But this has been limited to shy, covert glances at their attire. I do not dare look at them in the face.”
This exhibition is curated by Dr. Corinna Thierolf from the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. It is the inaugural presentation by the Ayn Foundation at Mana, installed in a 5,000-square-foot gallery on the art center’s first floor. Ayn Foundation was founded in 1993 and is dedicated to presenting comprehensive, large-scale installations by major international artists to the public.
