George R. Lawrence, “Bird’s eye view of Prospect Park, South, Brooklyn” (1907) (via Library of Congress)
This week, new exhibitions by Morris Louis, Saul Steinberg, and R. Luke DuBois, an exploration of how the sky is being colonized, a manifesto about feminist art, midnight screenings of Taxi Driver, Greenpoint Gallery Night, and much more.
Decolonized Skies
When: Opens Wednesday, September 10, 6–8pm
Where: Apexart (291 Church Street, Tribeca, Manhattan)
Decolonized Skies promises to be an important group exhibition exploring the ways in which artists have dealt with the increasing politicization and corporatization of our aerial space, which is an issue of growing urgency in our age of drones, UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), and Google Earth. The show includes work by renowned photographer George R. Lawrence, the subject of a recent article by Hyperallergic writer Allison Meier. Are the skies being colonized? You may be surprised by the answer.
A view of a Morris Louis Veil painting at Mnuchin Gallery (via mnuchingallery.com)
The Veils of Morris Louis
When: Wednesday, September 10, 6–8pm
Where: Mnuchin Gallery (45 East 78 Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
Reputedly the first exhibition devoted exclusively to Louis’s Veil series in over 30 years, this show is sure to be a visual delight. Created in 1954 and between 1958–1959, the Veil paintings are some of the most iconic images of the Color Field movement, and they represent a hedonistic appreciation of color and form for their own sake. Clement Greenberg considered this series one of the great accomplishments of 1950s American painting, but Morris Louis and his art have both fallen out of fashion in many circles that devalue formalism. Now you can see them and judge for yourself.
Saul Steinberg 100th-Anniversary Exhibition
A work by Saul Steinberg (via pacegallery.com)
When: Opens Wednesday, September 10, 6–8pm
Where: Pace (32 East 57th Street, Midtown, Manhattan)
Organized with the support of the Saul Steinberg Foundation, Pace celebrates the artist’s centennial with an exhibition comprised of over five decades worth of Steinberg’s work.
Steinberg fled Italy in 1941 and moved to New York City, where he gained international prominence for his beloved New Yorker contributions. Championing illustration over abstraction, Steinberg avoided being defined by a single style or movement. Steinberg’s work was also appreciated beyond the confines of the illustration world, and he gained the appreciation of many critics, including Harold Rosenberg, who enjoyed his wit and style. This is a celebration of everything that made him famous.
Future Feminism
When: Opens Thursday, September 11, 6–9pm
Where: The Hole (312 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan)
Organized by Antony, Kembra Pfahler, Johanna Constantine, Bianca Casady, and Sierra Casady, Future Feminism is both an exhibition of stone works and a 13-day-long performance extravaganza. Over a period of three years, the organizers have written up a manifesto, 13 Tenets of Future Feminism, and from Thursday, a tenet will be “activated” every evening through Saturday, September 27. Collaborators include Marina Abramović, Laurie Anderson, Terrance Koh, Carolee Schneemann, and Kiki Smith — a starfuckers delight.
Ignacio Lang, “Febrero” (2014), C-print on Playboy magazine, 25.5 x 11 inches (via efanyc.org)
As We Were Saying: Art and Identity in the Age of “Post”
When: Opens Friday, September 12, 6–8pm
Where: EFA Project Space (323 West 39th Street, Midtown West, Manhattan)
A group exhibition curated by Claire Barliant, As We Were Saying reexamines the role of identity politics in contemporary art and raises a lot of important questions (though come on, identity ALWAYS matters):
Does “identity politics” still matter? Maybe a better question would be: does difference still matter? Since the mid-nineties, when interest in identity-centric issues began to wane, traditional categories based on race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, have been in question. Identities are now considered relational and fluid rather than inherent and fixed, and it is often stated that we have entered the age of “post” — post-racial, post-critical, post-AIDS. Passive retrospection has replaced active debate.
Greenpoint Gallery Night
When: Friday, September 12, 7–10pm
Where: Various venues throughout Greenpoint, Brooklyn
With over a dozen participating galleries, Greenpoint Gallery Night is your cue to investigate the neighborhood’s art scene. Grab some friends and head out for a night of discovery. You’ll definitely be made welcome wherever you go. We’ll have a more extensive guide later this week.
Taxi Driver
When: Friday, September 12 and Saturday, September 13, 12am
Where: IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue, Greenwich Village, Manhattan)
You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here.
A portrait of a man’s descent into alienation and psychosis, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) is consistently ranked as one of the greatest films of the 20th century. Actor Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a lonely Vietnam veteran and cab driver who fixates on saving a child prostitute (aka a very young Jodie Foster). We dare you not to be drawn deeper and deeper into Bickle’s psychological descent. The film is scored by legendary composer Bernard Herrmann, his last before his death in 1975.
R. Luke DuBois’s Digital Portraits
R. Luke DuBois’s portrait of Britney Spears (via bitforms.com)
When: Sunday, September 14, 3–7pm
Where: Bitforms Gallery (131 Allen Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)
A digital artist with a love of code and algorithms, R. Luke DuBois has a new show at Bitforms Gallery’s brand-new Lower East Side space that explores the parameters of portraits and icons.
Whether pop cultural or religious, icons (and by extension, portraits) plug into larger cultural tropes and myths while seeking to get at an underlying sense of truth that goes beyond the surface. Knowing DuBois’s work, these are sure to mesmerize and reveal the contradictions of manufactured images.
