Queens Tribune

Carmine Santaniello has been painting since he was able to "pick up a pencil."

At age four at his Jamaica, Queens home, Santaniello painted his first still life, and ever since, he hasn’t looked back.

"I've never done anything else," he said. "I don't think I can do anything else."

Santaniello, born in Jamaica, Queens, now lives in Kew Gardens and will be displaying his "Works on Paper" at the Manhattan Graphics Center at 481 Washington St. (between Canal and Spring) from July 1 to July 18.

Noguchi Now Open

by Azi Paybarah

The coffee table itself can be the topic of conversation: the soft triangle shape of the glass and how it rests on legs shaped like broken bookends.

The table, and other works by its creator, are on display in the newly reopened Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, located at 36-01 43rd Ave. in Sunnyside.

Thanks to extensive renovations that have kept the museum closed for almost three years, Noguchi is now handicap accessible and includes an elevator café, and new lighting.

The son of an American writer and a Japanese poet, Noguchi lived, studied and worked in almost every corner of the world. That diverse background is evidenced in the work his namesake museum now displays.

Born in Los Angeles, Noguchi traveled to New York City to attend medical school, then Japan and Europe for art, and later returned to America.

The museum offers a wide swath of Noguchi’s work, including sculptures, statues, coffee tables, landscapes and lamps.

From cozy and adoring home fixtures, to sprawling designs for a block long playground, Noguchi’s work combined aesthetic with the everyday.

Some works seemingly resemble a Maurits Cornelis Escher drawing, namely the stairs which top a closed spiraling cylinder. Others, like his paper lamps, are infused with a flavor distinctly non-American. Some critics noted the influence of dreamlike images from the surrealist movement in Noguchi’s work.

Either way, the coffee table, garden, and works of Noguchi are once again, here.

The museum is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, visit www.noghuchi.org, or call (718) 204-7088.