ArtRx NYC
This week may be freezing in New York, but things are heating up in the art world with a symposium on Nazis looted art, the importance of Brooklyn painting, the Chinese Lunar New York, bootlegged art, and more.
This week may be freezing in New York, but things are heating up in the art world with a symposium on Nazi-looted art, the importance of Brooklyn painting, the Chinese Lunar New York, bootlegged art, and more.
From “Degenerate Art” to Looted Art
When: Thursday, February 19, 6:30–7:30pm (RSVP)
Where: The Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
The Nazis looted lots of art — at this point that’s not a secret or shocking — but this academic event will probe the meaning of this and how it relates to provenance, art dealership, and, of course, restitution.
Nas: Time Is Illmatic
When: Thursday, February 19–Wednesday, February 25, 7:30pm ($10)
Where: Maysles Documentary Center (343 Lenox Avenue, Harlem, Manhattan)
The Maysles Documentary Center will be screening this documentary, which paints a picture of Nas’s creative process, particularly surrounding the making of a hip-hop classic 21 years after its release. The film explores the musical background of Nas’s family as well as his upbringing in Queensbridge, charting his evolution from a young street poet to revolutionary MC. The February 20 screening will be followed by a Skype Q&A with filmmakers One9 and Eric Parker. —Vic Vaiana
Back to the Future: Part II
When: Opens Friday, February 20, 6–9pm
Where: Life on Mars Gallery (56 Bogart Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn)
As art critic Irving Sandler observes:
… at this moment there are more painters and more painters with serious studio practices in Brooklyn than in any place in the world, and many of the most important contemporary galleries and museum shows feature works by Brooklyn painters.
Back to the Future: Part II explores the activity and practice of painters working in Williamsburg in the early 1980s, who laid the foundation for Brooklyn’s evolution into the current “painting capital of the world.” Painters featured in the show include Peter Acheson, Katherine Bradford, Rick Briggs, Bill Jensen, Margrit Lewczuk, Chris Martin, Joyce Pensato, James Siena, and Amy Sillman. —Kemy Lin
The Year of the Goat
When: Saturday, February 21, 2–4pm
Where: Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx)
In addition to being clever, polite, and calm, those born in the Year of the Goat (also known as the Year of the Sheep) are said to have a special proclivity for the creative arts. Appropriately, the Bronx Museum will host a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration featuring cultural performances and arts and crafts. The New York Chinese Cultural Center will present costumed folk dances, music, and the famous Lion Dance. Children and adults alike can also partake in the traditional Chinese art forms of paper cutting and calligraphy. —Kemy Lin
Sheila Pinkel: Folded Paper, Glass Rods, 1974–1982
When: Closes Saturday, February 21
Where: Higher Pictures (980 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan)
Sheila Pinkel’s first show in New York exhibits her astounding cameraless photography work. During her time in UCLA’s MFA program, Pinkel studied with a physicist using a myriad of light phenomena, including ultraviolet and X-ray sources. Her visual experimentation turns flat pieces of paper into three-dimensional art objects by capturing different layers of exposure in the paper’s creases.—Vic Vaiana
Escape From New York
When: Saturday, February 21, 2pm & 7pm ($14)
Where: BAM (30 Lafayette Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn)
The year is 1997. Manhattan has been transformed into a border-controlled, maximum security prison, where crime and violence run rampant. Air Force One has been shot down over the island. The president has been taken hostage. Rebel soldier “Snake” Plissken has 24 hours to rescue him. This is John Carpenter’s Escape From New York (1981), and it is awesome. Go and see it.
On the Future of Humanity
When: Sunday, February 22, 2–5:30pm ($15)
Where: MoMA PS1 (22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, Queens)
Artist Lynn Hershman Leeson leads a MoMA PS1 Sunday Session focusing on the future of humanity. Accompanied by speakers such as NASA scientist Dr Josiah P. Zayner and Chicks on Speed member Melissa Logan, Leeson will cover topics such as biological engineering, cloning, and military development:
In an era of programmable DNA when human organs can be printed and banked, limbs regenerated and new life forms created daily, who will have the power to make decisions that affect us all? Will wealth alone determine who benefits from biological engineering? What will it mean to be human?Enhancement or extinction?
Eric Doeringer: Echoes
When: Through Sunday, March 1
Where: Mulherin New York (124 Forsyth Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan)
Artist Eric Doeringer is one of the city’s best bootleggers. He has sold small “fakes” on the streets of Chelsea, he’s republished well-known books and slapped his name on them, and now he’s resuscitating On Kawara’s art. The deceased artist currently has a major retrospective uptown at the Guggenheim, and Doeringer will continue his series for the duration of that exhibition.
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With contributions by Kemy Lin and Vic Vaiana
