It’s Thursday, which means two things: tomorrow is Friday (thank god for Rebecca Black), and it’s time for your dose of Hyperallergic’s weekly art Rx! This week’s prescription is full of exciting show openings that will have you running around like a feverish art fanatic. We should mention that is a potential side effect.
Warning: don’t try to hit all of them in one weekend.
A scene from one of last year’s performances at the Fountain Art Fair in Miami (via fountainartfair.com)
Prepare for Miami with Tonight’s Fountain Launch Party
When: Tonight, November 17, click here for details
Where: The Blind Barber (339 East 10th Street, Midtown West, Manhattan)
Fountain is throwing what they are calling a “Miami-style bash with a night of killer beats by DJs Dash Speaks and NSR.” Miami’s premiere DIY art fair, Fountain usually attracts lots of downtowners who love the energy of something different and unexpected. Hyperallergic is a proud media sponsor of Fountain Miami 2011 and you’ll see us here tonight.
Can You Pixelate Black?
When: Opens today, November 17
Where: MoCADA (Lambent Foundation, 55 Exchange Place, Suite 406, Financial District, Manhattan)
The title of this show sounds too good not to list, Pixelating: Black in New Dimensions. The description is even better, “Under the overarching theme of Pixelating, the curatorial series highlights the discreet elements that directly challenge notions of a universal Black identity … This exhibition creates a visual language for current debates over the continued necessity for overt racial engagement versus the validity of racial ambiguity in the Obama Era.” We’re so there.
A Porn Star-Cum-Actor at the Museum of Art and Design
When: Select film screenings from November 18 – 20, click here for showtimes
Where: The Museum of Art and Design (2 Columbus Circle, Midtown West, Manhattan)
It’s not everyday that a porn star gets featured in a mainstream museum. But Francois Sagat, a well known star in the queer film industry, has talents that go beyond his pecks (although does it really matter?). Sagat has also gained recognition in mainstream film as a different kind of leading man who challenges the trope of the traditional heterosexual male movie star. As filmmaker Christophe Honoré proclaimed, Sagat “redefines the notion of masculinity.” In Francois Sagat: The New Leading Man, the Museum of Art and Design pays tribute to this rebel with a series of screenings and events this weekend including two films that star Sagat and a master class (no, really) with the actor. As you probably guessed, some of these screenings are for mature audiences only (18+).
The Big Gay Art Show Comes to Brooklyn!
When: Opens November 18
Where: The Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York)
Ok, we know it’s not a “gay art show” but if you listened to the detractors you’d think it was just that. This show was the target of one of the biggest art scandals of 2010 and now its coming to the Brooklyn Museum for a three month run. Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture traces themes of gender and sexuality in American modern art beginning in the early 19th C. with Thomas Eakins and ending in the present. The exhibition made headlines last December when the Smithsonian pulled David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire in My Belly” video from the show due to an image in the work of ants crawling over a crucifix that offended members of the Catholic League and their Congressional fans. Hyperallergic’s Emily Colucci posted last week that a New York Catholic group is now making similar demands to censor the video, but the Brooklyn Museum isn’t having any of it. Brooklyn rocks!
Idiot’s Delight
When: Opening reception, Friday, November 18, 7-9pm
Where: Janet Kurnatowski Gallery (205 Norman Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
Curated by Craig Olson, this painting show is sure to be (as the name suggests) delightful. All the artists that have been included make intelligent work (we assume the show title is a joke) that explore the wondrous universe of abstraction to varying degrees. As proof of why you need to check this exhibition out, here’s the list of artists: Peter Acheson, Katherine Bradford, Jim Clark, Tamara Gonzales, S.H., EJ Hauser, Ben La Rocco, JJ Manford, Chris Martin, Thomas Micchelli, Linnea Paskow, Elisa Soliven and Deirdre Swords.
Hunter College MFA Open Studios
When: November 18 – 19
Where: Hunter College/Times Square Gallery (450 West 41st Street, between 9th and 10th, Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan)
Show a little love to art students this weekend and visit Hunter College’s Open Studios at their Hell’s Kitchen location. MFA students will open their studios to the public on Friday and Saturday with a silent auction scheduled for Friday from 6 – 9 pm. Drink some beers and catch up with New York’s fresh and emerging talent.
Cavemen, Lobsters and Nipples at Journal Gallery
When: Opened Yesterday, November 16 and continues until December 18
Where: Journal Gallery (168 North 1st Street, Brooklyn, New York)
The press release for this show makes it sound a bit all over the place, but in a good way. Painter Michael Williams uses airbrush-stenciled footprints as a visual device in a series of his works that “might be mocking the aspirational caveman and pointing out the failures of human civilization.” Then Williams adds a few extra airbrushes to transform these footprints into goofy characters, which the press release notes, “is similar to the Thanksgiving tradition of tracing your hand and turning the fingers into turkey feathers.” Williams, however, creates lobster fins out of his toes. There’s a final layer to the work where Williams covers the painting with a semi-transparent film of oil and pigment, blurring the layer underneath that is only revealed overtime as the film disintegrates. Oh, and the exhibition’s title “Montgomery Tubes,” refers to the round bumps in the areola of a woman’s nipple which become more pronounced during pregnancy. We’re not sure if this will all work together, but it’s worth a visit to Journal Gallery to find out.
