The doctor is in, and this week she’s got you traversing the city — from Ridgewood to Red Hook, the Lower East Side to Harlem. Uptown there’s a new show of work by Harlem artists; down in Dumbo, two street stencil artists share a gallery. Closing parties are also the thing, at Recess and Parallel Art Space — and one even include bagels.
The doctor has your film prescription covered with a tribute to experimentalist Kenneth Anger or, if you’re feeling more mainstream, the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival. And she’s even got talking heads: male sculptors on public space, graphic designers on diversified practices.
As always, there’s art enough for your head and your heart. Enjoy the week.
“Deep in the Cut” at Mighty Tanaka features Chris Stain and Joe Iurato (image via mightytanaka.com)
Thinking Small in Harlem
When: Opened Wednesday, August 8
Where: 1961 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd (at 118th Street, Harlem, Manhattan)
Since we’re based in Williamsburg, we admit that sometimes we can have a bit of a neighborhood bias (that extends all the way to Bushwick). All the more reason to head uptown, out of our comfort zone, and visit the latest exhibition mounted by Art in FLUX Harlem. The group highlights local artists by curating pop-up shows in vacant spaces around the neighborhood. Their latest, Small, features correspondingly scaled work by 18 Harlem artists.
Invisible Men
When: Closing reception Thursday, August 9, 6–8 pm
Where: Recess Art in Red Hook (159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn)
Artist Abigail DeVille has been working at the Recess space in Red Hook since the end of May on her installation Invisible Men. For the project, DeVille gathered personal objects along with material she found in the South Bronx to create a dense network of artistic alleys and tunnels, calling our attention to the marginalized populations in our city. Experience the work in its final (for now) state at the closing reception.
Boys with Toys
When: Friday, August 10, 6–9 pm
Where: Causey Contemporary (92 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
For Causey Contemporary’s summer exhibition this year, curator Tracy Causey-Jeffery looked through the portfolios of over 500 members of the International Sculpture Center and chose nine artists. She then asked them to create and contribute works they had made themselves, mostly from steel; the result is the wonderfully named Boys with Toys. In conjunction with the show, the gallery hosts a panel discussion tomorrow night in which the artists will discuss public sculpture.
Spend Time with Stencils
When: Opens Friday, August 10, 6–9 pm
Where: Mighty Tanaka (111 Front Street, #224, Dumbo, Brooklyn)
Calling all street-art fans: Might Tanaka is launching an exhibition dedicated to the work of two premier stencil artists — Chris Stain and Joe Iurato. According to the press release, this is the first gallery pairing of Stain and Iurato, who are highly influenced by each other’s work. A good chance to spend some time with the work of artists’ whose medium is largely ephemeral.
Kenneth Anger film still (image via recessionartshows.com)
Art + Anger
When: Saturday, August 11, 10 pm–1 am
Where: Recession Art at Culturefix (9 Clinton Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)
If you have any interest in avant-garde film — any at all — Kenneth Anger is your man. Anger is not only known as a pioneering experimental filmmaker, but also one of the first openly gay ones. Recession Art screens nine of his most influential films in a laid-back setting with a bar. Go, have a drink and either see what you’ve been missing or revel in what you already know.
Mind-Melting Brunch
When: Sunday, August 12, 1–6 pm
Where: Parallel Art Space (17-17 Troutman Street, #220, Ridgewood, Queens)
Parallel Art Space knows the key to the doctor’s heart: brunch. Specifically, bagels. The gallery is offering both bagels and “casual conversation” at a closing party of sorts for its current exhibition, Pressing Matter. The three-person show highlights artists who make the materials of their work by hand, and who emphasize that aspect of their practice.
The Art of Brooklyn Film
When: Through Sunday, August 12
Where: St. Francis College (180 Remsen Street, Downtown Brooklyn)
If Anger is a little too avant-garde for your taste, the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival may suit you better. This new festival, only in its second year, features emerging filmmakers who are “Brooklyn-born, Brooklyn-based and/or Brooklyn-centric.” There are documentaries, comedies, dramas, thrillers … and even films described as “non-linear expressions of art.” We were hooked the moment we saw Hip Hop Hasid — a movie made in Italy, no less! — in the lineup.
Super Models
When: Wednesday, August 15, 7 pm
Where: McNally Jackson (52 Prince Street, Nolita, Manhattan)
Last month, GdNyc, a coalition of graphic designers and design educators, published the book Super Models, the culminating work of the group’s three graphic design student fellows from 2011. Super Models is described as “a case study, a trend report, a coded map, or series of casual conversations that seeks to plumb the foundational structure of any art or design practice: its business model.” On Wednesday, McNally Jackson and GdNyc host a discussion that builds on this topic and addresses another: the necessity of diversifying one’s practice, moving between commercial, artistic and curatorial.
