ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
DANIEL GREER
Life in a fi ngerprint
Japanese
dance fest
to return
BY VILDANA
KHAMDULLINA
In January 2022, Japan
Society will present
Contemporary Dance
Festival: Japan + East Asia.
Groundbreaking artists will
come from another side of
the globe to perform for New
York City audiences.
Due to COVID-19, Japan
Society had to skip this tradition
in 2021, but this upcoming
year they are coming
back! This upcoming year
the Festival will be hosted
for two days only, Friday,
Jan. 14 and Saturday, Jan.
15, 2022, both at 7:30 p.m.
Since 1997, Japan Society’s
Contemporary Dance
Showcase has acted as a vital
incubator for Japanese and
East Asian choreographers.
In 2019, the Contemporary
Dance Festival continued
and furthered its mission to
present artists and works
that push the envelope of
contemporary dance.
In Touchdown,
mathemat ician-turnedchoreographer
Hao Cheng
uses the stage as his
chalkboard in a solo that
explores quantum physics
through repetitive circular
motion (Taiwan). And Butoh
artists Kentaro Kujirai and
Barabbas Okuyama embody
the philosophy of yin and
yang in their haunting duet
entitled A HUM SAN SUI
(Japan).
The cost for the tickets is
$30 or $25 if you are a Japan
Society member. The exact
location of the venue is at
333 East 47th Street.
Purchase tickets at www.
japansociety.org
Artist Suzanne Scott explores relationships in Tribeca
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
Local artist Suzanne Scott
is taking a close look at
death and relationships
while honoring her late friend
at a new show in Tribeca.
The exhibition, entitled
“Boy, That Was Fast,” features
an array of abstract paintings
derived from the fi ngerprints
of Scott’s friends and loved
ones. The title was taken
from the last words of Tim
McDarrah, a friend to Scott
who passed away in August
2021.
“I wanted to focus and
discuss how important it is
not just to have acquaintances
but to have real friendships,
dig deeply at the nuances, fi nd
what makes someone tick,”
said Scott. “This is all about
relationships and nuanced
bonds, and the different kinds
of relationships you can have.”
Located at The Catskills
in Tribeca, the show features
Scott’s style of fi ngerprint
portraits, which she bases off
of her subject’s thumbprint
on their dominant hand. All
the pieces are new artworks
created since 2020, and the
(Above) Suzanne Scott with her painting “Self Portrait.”
(Top) Two paintings of a husband and wife: (L) “I’m Just the
Same Ole Guy, Trying To Do the Same Ole Things,” and (R)
“I Was Like, Wait a Minute, This World is Pretty Amazing.”
titles, aside from the self
portraits, are taken from
something that the subject has
said before.
“I put a lot of their
personality and their energy
into their portrait,” said Scott.
“The titles give it anonymity,
but also gives it another layer
of identifi cation and assigns
personality.”
This show also features a
handful of self portraits where
Scott examines the phases of
life following the deaths of
loved ones. Having lost friends
over this past summer, Scott
poured her energy and grief
into her art.
“Even thinking about during
COVID, everyone lost so many
people. I had one of my dear
friends in July jump off the
Brooklyn Bridge, he killed
himself. Shortly thereafter
Tim died, and two days after
that my mentor Chuck Close
died,” said Scott. “The self
portraits were all painted
right after my friend jumped
off the building and as Tim
was dying.”
Scott encourages visitors
to explore the art not only
through her lens, but also
through their own mindset.
“Because they are abstract,
you can pull what you want
from it and relate it to your
life. That’s what leads it to the
imagination,” said Scott.
At the end of the exhibit,
Scott invites visitors to leave
their own thumbprint at the
gallery with their own answer
to a fi ll-in-the-blank “Boy,
That Was ____.”
“Boy, That Was Fast” will
be on display through Dec.
30. The Catskills is located at
368 Broadway, with Scott’s
exhibition in Suite 410.
Gallery hours at Thursday
through Sunday from 1 to
6 p.m., or you can make an
appointment with Scott by
emailing scott.suzanne@
gmail.com. When you arrive,
buzz Suite 410 to enter.
20 December 16, 2021 Schneps Media
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