Art Views — Exhibitions in NY, July & August, 2018
How frustrating is it when you get an announcement that an amazing art exhibition is on view around the corner from your apartment, but is closing in three days? I used to scour the interwebs months ahead of time to make sure I caught everything in time, and would share my findings on my blog. Grad school, and subsequent job searches pulled me away from that for a few years, but I’m finally gainfully employed, and am excited to have the time to do this again!
Anything in quotes below was copied from the respective galleries and museums in which each exhibition is being shown. All the credit for the writing goes to them!
The summer months are usually quiet in the arts. This summer is quite different, however, so brace yourself:
David Wojnarowicz has taken over Manhattan
There are three exhibitions of all things David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) that have, in coordination, opened up in Manhattan.
Whitney | David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night {archived}
Jul 13–Sep 30, 2018
Beginning in the late 1970s, David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) created a body of work that spanned photography, painting, music, film, sculpture, writing, and activism. Largely self-taught, he came to prominence in New York in the 1980s, a period marked by creative energy, financial precariousness, and profound cultural changes. Intersecting movements — graffiti, new and no wave music, conceptual photography, performance, and neo-expressionist painting — made New York a laboratory for innovation. Wojnarowicz refused a signature style, adopting a wide variety of techniques with an attitude of radical possibility. Distrustful of inherited structures — a feeling amplified by the resurgence of conservative politics — he varied his repertoire to better infiltrate the prevailing culture.
Wojnarowicz saw the outsider as his true subject. Queer and later diagnosed as HIV-positive, he became an impassioned advocate for people with AIDS when an inconceivable number of friends, lovers, and strangers were dying due to government inaction. Wojnarowicz’s work documents and illuminates a desperate period of American history: that of the AIDS crisis and culture wars of the late 1980s and early 1990s. But his rightful place is also among the raging and haunting iconoclastic voices, from Walt Whitman to William S. Burroughs, who explore American myths, their perpetuation, their repercussions, and their violence. Like theirs, his work deals directly with the timeless subjects of sex, spirituality, love, and loss. Wojnarowicz, who was thirty-seven when he died from AIDS-related complications, wrote: “To make the private into something public is an action that has terrific ramifications.”
This exhibition is co-curated by David Kiehl, Curator Emeritus, and David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection.
Momdouha Bobst Gallery | The Unflinching Eye:
The Symbols of David Wojnarowicz {archived}
July 12th — September 30th, 2018
PPOW | Soon All This Will be Picturesque Ruins: The Installations of David Wojnarowicz {archived}
July 12th-August 24, 2018
Gristle Gallery | Phobos and Deimos {archived}
July 14 — September 1, 2018
For this exhibition, curator and artist Zoë Williams has asked artists to explore Mars and all his influence during this year’s rare Mars Retrograde.
“On July 27th Mars will make its closest approach to Earth in 15 years! Artists explore the red planet and its two moons as well as their mythological namesakes: the gods of war, terror, and fear. New work by Gina Altadonna, Jennifer Baker, Lauren Budney, Holly Cappello, Hannah Cunningham, Hannah Dansie, Kaila Gee, Kate Glasheen, Fred Grabosky, Cangshu Gran, Jessi Hardesty, JoKa, Johannah O’Donnell, Ben Patterson, Alexis Price, Bill Ross, Tasli Shaw, Joe Vollan, and Miranda Zimmerman.”
Last Rites | Midnight Sun {archived}
June 8th — July 28th, 2018
A group exhibition of affordable works.
Featuring works by:
Zofia Bogusz, Nannette Cherry, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Dos Diablos, Damien Echols, José Luis López Galván, Masha Gusova, Gabriela Handal, Anthony Hurd, Jeremy Hush, Michelle Avery Konczyk, Darby Lahger, Bam Maslar, Seth Mathurin, Harry Micalakeas, Kevin Moore, Johannah O’Donnell, Nathan Reidt, Nicomi Nix Turner, Hannah Vandermolen, Zane York, & Kierstin Young.The Midnight Sun is a natural event that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle. The sun lays visible along the horizon line deep into the midnight hours. The phenomena has made a lasting impression through centuries on those who who’ve experienced it. Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun writes in his 1894 novel Pan “Night was coming on again; the sun just dipped into the sea and rose again, red, refreshed, as if it had been down to drink. I could feel more strangely on those nights than anyone would believe …”
The Midsummer Oddities Fleamarket {archived}
Saturday, July 21, 2018, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
This market boasts a wonderful list of darkling craftspeople. While not a white box space, items on sale include artwork, in addition to oddities, antiques, and crafts of all kinds (all dark and grotesque). The link above leads to Atlas Obscura, which is selling VIP tickets for early entry. I’ve included it here to provide details about the one-day event. It’s good for avoiding the crowds, but not necessary.
MF Gallery | 15th Anniversary Art Show {archived}
Opening reception: Saturday, August 4, 2018, 7–10pm. Email them if you can’t go to the opening and still want to go.
Yes, folks, it’s true! MF Gallery has been supporting NY counterculture art for 15 years now! Go pay them a visit (bring a fan — air conditioning never works this time of year in a crowded room).
To represent the 15 years, all of the art in this show will be specially priced at $150! This is an extraordinary deal, and will give collectors the rare chance to pick up some art that is worth a lot more, for only $150. Artwork will be sold on a first come first served basis, and may also be purchased by phone or email. The art will be available for viewing and purchasing online at: www.mfgallery.net
The international artists in this amazing show will include: Rachel Adler, Mark Ash, Byron Baum, Anthony Allen Begnal, John Stuart Berger, Eric Bleich, Scott Boilard, DK Burger, Edward Cao, Fernando Carpaneda, Erica Doll, Miss Elvia, Kristen Ferrell, Kirsten Flaherty, Cangshu Gran, Gabriela Handal, Curt Harbits, Scott Holloway, Annie Hunter, Jeremy Hush, Sigal Arad Inbar, Moses Jaen, John John Jesse, Rolo Ledesmo, Matthew Logan, Enrico Macchiavello, Doug Macdonald, Drew Maillard, Greg Maillard, Michael Mararian, Sara A. Martin, Gina Martynova, Angie Mason, MCA, Justin Melkman, Revjen Miller, David Montgomery, Hana Mulyati, Matt Myers, Michael Lee Nirenberg, Ilaria Novelli, Johanna O’Donnell, Bianca Panzram, Phresha, Courtney Kenny Porto, Arabella Proffer, Sean Pryor, Mónica Sandoval, Chad Savage, Joe Simko, Mark Riddick, Lou Rusconi, Frank Russo, Martina Secondo Russo, Jack Rutigliano, Renee Tay, Glenn Wernig, Zoe Williams, Catherine Zacchino & More!
The Opening Party will be on Saturday August 4th, 2018 from 7 to 10 pm. Admission is free and open to all ages. After opening night, the show will be open by appointment until September 9th. Call (917–446–8681) or email (info@MFgallery.net) to make an appointment to see the show.
MF Gallery first opened its doors in June 2003 in New York City’s Lower East Side. The gallery quickly became a meeting point for underground artists and international collectors. Known for its wild opening parties, (Often featuring live music, zombie invasions, ten foot tall death metal robots, kegs and sheep brains!) and unique art shows, MF Gallery is now a staple of the underground pop art scene.
In 2009, MF Gallery opened a second location in Genova, Italy, introducing many of the best American artists to the Italian public and bringing some Italian artists back to the U.S.
Also in 2009, the NYC gallery moved to a bigger space in Gowanus, Brooklyn. This space’s entranceway has become a collaborative mural, where dozens of MF Gallery artists have been asked to leave their mark.
MF Gallery continues to host underground art shows- both large group shows, (With varied themes ranging from the annual Halloween and Toy Shows, to Planet Of The Apes, Breastfeeding Art, GWAR, Horror Films and more…) and solo / two person shows. Additionally, MF Gallery has a full “Art Shop” featuring artist prints, t-shirts, art toys, comics, books, and more collectable items.
Spoke Art
Suggestivism: Resonance NYC Group Show {archived}
July 7th — 28th, 2018
Spoke Art is pleased to present Suggestivism: Resonance, a group show curated by Nathan Spoor. With over 50 artists from around the world participating in the exhibition, each piece brings a unique perspective and development to what it means to be a Suggestivist. Rendered in a variety of media, each artist has a distinct approach and style while maintaining commonality through painstaking details and phantasmagoric scenes.
Curator Nathan Spoor describes Suggestivism as an art movement, flowing from “the artist’s specific and unique vision, a psychological or even mystical manifestation brought into reality by an artist’s personal aesthetic… including a variety of vivid, original and technically obsessive individuals.” Each artist’s contribution to the exhibition creates a sense of tension in a dream-like moment constructed with familiar components, characters and objects that make them at once recognizable and also discombobulating.
The Moleskine Project Group Show {archived}
August 4th — 25th
No direct link for this exhibition page is available yet, but I’ve seen some great images for this popping up on Instagram. Keep an eye out. Their overall exhibition page is linked above.
The Met (5th Ave and Cloisters)
Heavenly Bodies {archived}
May 10 — October 8, 2018
If you’ve not heard about this show yet, you need to get out more. Everyone has been posting images of the modern-day fashion designs on view in this exhibition, so I thought I’d make sure you all know the show juxtaposes the new works with the old ones:
The Costume Institute’s spring 2018 exhibition — at The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters — features a dialogue between fashion and medieval art from The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism.
Serving as the cornerstone of the exhibition, papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican, are on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. Fashions from the early twentieth century to the present are shown in the Byzantine and medieval galleries, part of the Robert Lehman Wing, and at The Met Cloisters.
Obession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele, and Picasso {archived}
July 3 — October 7, 2018
This exhibition at The Met Breuer presents a selection of some fifty works from The Met’s Scofield Thayer Collection — a collection that is best known for paintings by artists of the school of Paris, and a brilliant group of erotic and evocative watercolors, drawings, and prints by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Pablo Picasso, whose subjects, except for a handful, are nudes. The exhibition is the first time these works have been shown together, and provides a focused look at this important collection; it also marks the centenary of the deaths of Klimt and Schiele.
There’s also a really cool exhibition of antique boxing postcards at the Met 5th Ave.
That’s all for NY that I know about. Philadelphia deserves some attention as well, especially the Convent Philly, which has some impressive shows lined up. More to come!
