Please join artist Dan Rizzie and singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash in The Gallery at The Met Store for a special event celebrating their new book, Bird on a Blade. Rizzie and Cash will be present to discuss their collaboration and sign copies. Select artworks by Rizzie will be on view in The Gallery and available for purchase, with proceeds supporting The Met's collection, study, conservation and presentation of 5,000 years of art.
"Dan recently visited The Gallery, and having never met him before, I regaled him with how much I've admired his work over the years," says Laura Einstein, manager of The Gallery at The Met Store. "I later visited his studio in Sag Harbor, where I was like a kid in a candy store, and I invited him to curate his own exhibition in The Gallery. Dan's work is in The Met collection and this is his opportunity to display his work from his perspective. His selections tell the singular story of his long career as a painter and printmaker."
Rosanne Cash on Dan Rizzie:
Dan Rizzie is a deeply poetic visual artist. His paintings are full of graceful lines and his own symbology, and his symbols make a lot of sense to me on a visceral and emotional level. I own only one of his paintings - it has a layered black rose at the center, as if it were floating in air - but I wish I had a roomful of his art. It draws me in, it makes me wake up and become soothed at the same time. He uses black-in roses and tulips and strange teakettles, in a way that makes black seem like the softest color of all.
Dan is my friend. He's a bon vivant and a tremendously funny guy, which is a great counterpoint to the quiet depth of his art. He lives in Sag Harbor, NY and he looks like he's the mayor of the whole South Fork in his boat shoes and summer shirts, hanging onto his dog, Vex, commenting on the melodic range of mosquitoes and rescuing random artifacts to hang from trees so he can paint them. I'm just glad there is a painter like Dan Rizzie in the world who inspires me to look deeper and listen more closely.
With an iconic sound that transcends country, pop, rock and blues, Rosanne Cash's voice and vision have captured American life for generations of fans. Over the same time span, internationally acclaimed artist Dan Rizzie has wowed collectors with his evocative paintings, prints and collages. With images created by Rizzie complimenting lyrics from Cash's songs (including beloved classics and new material from her latest album She Remembers Everything), Bird on a Blade is a mosaic of pictures and words.
Recounting periods of growth and times of darkness, Bird on a Blade reflects on life's mysteries. Powerful lines from songs such as "God Is in the Roses" from the 2006 album Black Cadillac evoke themes of mourning with meditations on solitude. A verse from "Fire of the Newly Alive" from the 1993 album The Wheel celebrates passion and renewal. Together, Cash and Rizzie selected 50 of his most vibrant paintings, collages and drawings to compliment the words, using geometric patterns, ornaments, lush glimpses of nature and Rizzie's signature bird imagery. The work of a harmonious duet, Bird on a Blade exudes inspiration from cover to cover.
The Gallery at The Met Store is located at the top of the stairs just inside The Met Store, off the Great Hall.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028 U.S.A.
