Art

Critic Maureen Corrigan tells us about the new exhibit by photographer Annie Leibovitz at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Essmann is known for portraying an eclectic mix of characters in his performance pieces. He's currently performing his one-man show, "Artificial Reality," in New York City.

The American artist is credited with reviving the art of lithography in this country. In 1960, Wayne founded the Tamarind Workshop in Los Angeles. She's considered one of the prominent lithographers in this country. Throughout her career, she's had to contend with sexism which impugned her professional status.

Architects Robert Venturi and Denise Soctt Brown. Venturi has just been awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize. His famous response to the modernist philosophy that "less is more," was "less is a bore," and is credited as a major turning point in modernist architecture. Venturi and Brown are the authors of several books on architecture. Current projects include a new wing of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square in London, and a new building for the Seattle Art Museum.

Actor and writer Eric Bogosian. Bogosian's one man, multi-character performances highlight the pressures of modern life and explore the underside of the American Dream. Bogosian's latest show, "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll" has been released in book form (by Harper Collins) and as a movie. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Photographer Annie Leibovitz. She's famous for her portraits of celebrities that capture the person behind the public image. She's photographed John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Ella Fitzgerald, Mick Jagger, Tennessee Williams and others. Her photographs have been featured in Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. A new book of her photographs has just been published: "Annie Leibovitz Photographs 1970-1990." (Harper/Collins).

Actress Claire Bloom. After a long and illustrious career playing opposite the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Richard Burton, and Sir John Gielgud, Bloom is now performing a one woman show, called "Women Observed." In it, she reads roles from Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, The Turn of the Screw, and A Room of One's Own. (The performance runs Thursday through Sunday at New York's Symphony Space). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Actor John Leguizamo (pronounced "Leh-gwee-zamo"). Leguizamo created and stars in the hit one-man show "Mambo Mouth," based on his experiences as a Latino growing up in Jackson Heights, Queens. "Mambo Mouth" premieres on television this Saturday, on HBO's Comedy Hour.

Actress Holly Woodlawn. Woodlawn was part of Andy Warhol's New York's scene in the 60s and early 70s. Perhaps her high point came when she starred in Warhol's movie "Trash." Woodlawn was born a boy, her career as a transvestite was immortalized in Lou Reed's song, "Take A Walk On the Wild Side." Woodlawn has a new memoir, called "A Low Life in High Heels: The Holly Woodlawn Story.." (It's published by St Martin's Press).

Cartoonist John Callahan. Callahan comes up with comics that are both funny and often offensive (a typical example: an obese man stands with his obese son in front of the refrigerator, saying "Son, someday all of this will be yours."). Callahan often pokes fun at alcoholics and the disabled, something he's qualified to do. Callahan was a alcoholic for many years, and he was left a quadriplegic after a drunk driving accident.

Village Voice art critic Peter Schjeldahl ("shell-dahl"). He's just published a new collection of his writings from the late 70s to 1990. The collection's called "The Hydrogen Jukebox." It's published by the University of California Press.

Photographer Susan Meiselas (My-SELL-us). She went to Nicaragua in the late 70s to photograph the Sandinista Revolution. She returned to Nicaragua recently to talk to the people she photographed more than ten years ago. Only this time she made a film about it, "Pictures From a Revolution."

Maureen Corrigan considers the New York City subway system. She reviews Jim Dwyer's new book, "Subway Lives," and she discusses an exhibit of Walker Evans subway photographs from the 1930s and 40s. It's now at the National Gallery in Washington.

Time magazine art critic Robert Hughes. Despite his huge influence in the art world, Hughes prides himself on being a perennial outsider in that world. He'll talk about the current state of the arts.

B.D. Wong won a Tony award for his performance in the title role of "M. Butterfly." He played a man posing as a woman. Now, he's taking on another challenge: in the new one-man musical "Herringbone," which opened last week at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia, he plays eleven characters, including a eight-year-old boy, his parents, his grandmother, his dance teacher, and a tap-dancing midget nicknamed Lou the Frog. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Monologuist, actor and writer Spalding Gray. His latest monologue "Monster in a Box" is about all the distractions that prevented him from completing his novel, "Impossible Vacation." Now the monologue has been made into a film of the same name. It's also out in book form, and on top of that, "Impossible Vacation" has just been published. (The book "Monster in a Box" is published by Vintage Press, the book "Impossible Vacation" is published by Knopf, and the film "Monster in a Box" is distributed by Fine Line Features.)

Performance artist Rhodessa Jones. She wrote and performs "Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women," a theatre piece that grew out of her work as an aerobic instructor in the San Francisco City Jail. Her work has been seen in international festivals in Amsterdam, Munich, and Boston. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

TV critic David Bianculli previews the latest collaboration between David Lynch and Mark Frost, "On the Air." It premieres on ABC this Saturday night.

Fresh Air producer Amy Salit interviews Linda McCartney. She has a new book of photographs, "Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portrait of An Era." The book is a collection of photographs taken of rock groups and personalities from the decade. She's married to Beatles' bassist Paul McCartney.

After nine years of stand-up comedy, Reynolds wrote a one-man show based on his life, called "Only the Truth is Funny." After ten months of sold-out shows, he was discovered by the agents to Woody Allen and David Letterman. He then moved his show to New York City. His new book is based on his solo show.