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Patti Smith
will perform a live concert to celebrate Henry
Darger’s birthday on Saturday 15 May 2010 in New
York City, as part of a benefit evening for the
American Folk Art Museum. Singer Caroline Jones
will open the performance. An aerial performance by
Cirque-tacular Entertainment, dancing and DJ are all
part of the evening at the glamorous Espace in New
York City. The evening celebrates the esteemed
Chicago artist Henry Darger, whose intimate
collages are currently on view for the first time in
the museum’s new exhibition “The Private
Collection of Henry Darger”. The America
Folk Art Museum is home to the largest repository of
artworks by Henry Darger.
The benefit’s chairmen are Lawrence B. Benenson,
Peyton Cochran, Petra and Stephen Levin,
and Ian Tobin. The Benefit Vice-Chairs
include: Melinda Anderson, Barry D. Briskin, Joan
Juliet Buck, Ken Copeland, Randall Fenlon, Henry
Grimball, Alex Hahn, Michel Heredia, Elizabeth E.
Jacoby, Luise and Robert Kleinberg, Taryn and Mark
Leavitt, Jessica London, Frances S. Martinson,
Gillian McCain, Angela and Selig Sacks, Amanda
Salvaggio, Amanda Smeal, Sarah Sperling, Samantha
Thompson, Michael Trese, Wayne Verspoor, and
Jason Whalen. Event production by JKS Events.
Art In America and Fabrica generously will
sponsor the event.
Tickets for the benefit are priced as follows:
-Friend Ticket/s at $250 per person
Includes the concert; premium open bar; access to
the after-concert party; and a Fabrica Patti Smith
Collector’s item gift bag and notebook.
-VIP
Ticket/s at $500 per person
Includes VIP access to pre-and after-Concert
parties, with premium open bar and hors d’oeuvres;
reserved concert seating; a Fabrica Patti Smith
collectors’ item gift bag and notebook; and an
autographed copy of Just Kids by Patti Smith.
-Platinum VIP Ticket/s at $1,000 per person
Includes exclusive cocktail party with Patti Smith
at 7 pm; VIP access to pre-and after-concert parties
with premium open bar hors d’oeuvres; prime reserved
concert seating; and Fabrica Patti Smith collectors’
item gift bag and notebook; and autographed copy of
Just Kids by Patti Smith; a private curatorial tour
at the American Folk Art Museum; and prominent name
recognition at the event and on the museum’s
website.
To purchase concert tickets, go to
www.folkartmuseum.org
or contact Ms. Katie Hush 212.977.7170 x 308 or
khush@folkartmuseum.org.
The American Folk Art Museum is home to the largest
public repository of works by Henry Darger
and the nation’s premier institution dedicated to
the work of contemporary self-taught artists as well
as traditional folk artists. An accomplished and
prolific writer and artist, Darger created a fantasy
world through his manuscripts and illustrations and
is today considered one of the notable masters of
the twentieth century. The American Folk Art Museum
is also celebrating Henry Darger’s birthday with the
exhibition “The Private Collection of Henry Darger”
on view through 19 September 2010.
About Patti Smith:
Patti Smith is a writer, performer, and visual
artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her
revolutionary mergence of poetry and rock. Her
seminal album Horses, bearing Robert
Mapplethorpe’s renowned portrait, has been hailed as
one of the top 100 albums of all time. She has
recorded twelve albums. Her books include Witt,
Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea,
and Auguries of Innocence. Most recently she
published the New York Times bestseller, Just
Kids, a biography of her friendship with Robert
Mapplethorpe. Smith had her first exhibit of
drawings at the Gotham Book Mart in 1973 and has
been represented by the Robert Miller Gallery since
1978. In 2002, the Andy Warhol Museum launched
“Strange Messenger”, a retrospective exhibit
of her drawings, silk screens, and photographs. Her
drawings, photographs, and installations were shown
in a comprehensive exhibit in 2008 at the Foundation
Cartier Pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris. In 2005,
the French Ministry of Culture awarded Smith the
prestigious title of Commandeur des Arts et des
Lettres, the highest honor awarded to an artist by
the French Republic. She was inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall
of Fame in 2007.
About Caroline Jones:
Caroline Jones is a New York based
singer/songwriter. Trained classically in opera at
The Singer’s Forum, she started out at age nine
singing various show tunes and arias. Caroline fell
in love with the art of songwriting soon after, and
began recording demos at age eleven. Since then, she
has performed at Birdland, the Columbus Club,
Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Juilliard,
New World Stages and Canisius College and made
frequent songwriting trips to Nashville. Recently,
Caroline has been writing and recording a
country-pop album while continuing performances in
the New York area at venues such as the Bitter End,
Arlene’s Grocery, Bowery Wine Company, and the
Living Room. She is very grateful for this
opportunity, and honored to be singing at this
event.
About Henry Darger:
Henry Darger (1892–1973),
an American artist from Chicago, created a fantasy
world through his writings and scroll-like paintings
and is considered one of the most notable artists of
the twentieth century. Since his death in 1973 and
the discovery of his massive opus, he is now seen as
an American cultural icon. Darger created nearly 300
watercolors and collage paintings to illustrate his
15,000 page masterpiece, The Story of the Vivian
Girls, in what is known as the Realms of the Unreal.
The drawings accompanying his epic tale reveal
provocative images of little girls, violence and
conflict. The Museum recently celebrated Darger’s
birthday with the opening of the exhibition “The
Private Collection of Henry Darger,” which will be
on view through September 19, 2010.
About the America Folk Art Museum (AFAM):
The American Folk Art Museum, founded in 1961, is
the foremost institution devoted to the collection,
exhibition, study, and preservation of folk art.
Through the presentation of innovative exhibitions,
educational programs, and scholarly publications,
the museum explores the nation's diverse cultural
heritage and related global expressions. It is home
to one of the world's preeminent collections of folk
art dating from the 18th century to the present day,
including soaring weathervanes, dazzling quilts,
handsome portraits, and exuberantly painted
furniture as well as mythic watercolors and
idiosyncratic drawings, paintings, and sculptures by
contemporary self-taught artists from the U.S and
abroad.
The Museum's 30,000 square foot award winning
building on West 53 Street in New York, with its
unique bronze-alloy facade, designed by Tod Williams
Billie Tsien Architects, opened to great critical
and public acclaim in 2001.
In addition to imaginative displays of its
distinguished permanent collection and provocative
changing exhibitions, the Museum provides diverse
educational programs for adults, children, teachers,
families, and community organizations. It serves as
a major source of information and scholarship: the
museum publishes numerous exhibition catalogs,
maintains a research library of over 10,000 volumes,
and offers scholarly symposia. The Museum Book and
Gift Shop is renowned for its extensive selection of
books on folk art and decorative arts and
one-of-a-kind gift items created by more than 200
American crafts people.
The stunning American Folk Art Museum is the place
to experience the masterworks of Henry Darger. The
Museum's collection—the single largest public
repository in the world—includes over twenty-six
paintings by Darger as well as the complete
manuscripts and typescripts of his vast literary
works and his personal archive of correspondence,
diaries, sketches, studies, journals and books.
Always on view is a rotating selection of Henry
Darger's amazing artwork.
For further information about the American Folk Art
Museum visit:
www.folkartmuseum.org
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