Art Views — Exhibitions in NY, October, 2018
There’s a LOT going on in October! Also, I missed a couple of shows for September and added them in here as they’re about to open or will be on view for a couple more seconds. Plus I’ve dropped in a Halloween event with spoopy puppets, because I couldn’t resist.
Closing soon
A review of last month’s Art Views post
Do NOT miss the Governors Island Art Fair!! {archived} Every weekend until the end of September.
Heavenly Bodies {archived} at the Met’s main location and at the Cloisters is going to close on October 8th. NOTE! There are works in the basement level in addition to what’s exhibited in the Medieval section, as well as at the Cloisters. The Medieval Festival {archived}, a Renaissance faire held annually at the Cloisters, is taking place on Sunday, September 30th, while Heavenly Bodies is still up.
Whitney | David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night {archived} at the Whitney closes on September 30th.
P.P.O.W. | Hunter Gatherer | solo exhibition of works by Julie Heffernan {archived} closes on October 6th.
Cult of Meow | Gristle Art Gallery {archived} closes on October 13th.
Ultraviolet: Rachael Bridge, Zofia Bogusz, Nannette Cherry | Last Rites Gallery {archived} closes on September 29th.
Ladies Ladies! Art Show | MF Gallery {archived} closes on October 7th.
Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders | Morgan Library {archived} closes on September 23rd.
September Catch up
This month’s shows I didn’t know about last month!
Endless Enigma: Eight Centuries of Fantastic Art | Zwirner Fine Art {archived}
September 12 — October 27, 2018
Opening Reception Wednesday, September 12, 6–8 PM
Organized in collaboration with Nicholas Hall, a specialist in the field of Old Masters and nineteenth-century art, this exhibition takes as its point of departure Alfred H. Barr Jr.’s legendary 1936 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism, which not only introduced these movements to the American public, but also placed them in a historical and cultural context by situating them with artists from earlier centuries. Drawn from international museum and private collections, the exhibition at David Zwirner will include works from the twelfth century to the present day.
The exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to examine affinities in intention and imagery between works executed across a broad span of time. Endless Enigma will explore the ways artists have sought to explain their world in terms of an alternate reality, drawn from imagination, the subconscious, poetry, nature, myth, and religion. Works on view range from fourteenth-century gargoyles from France; masterworks from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by Herri met de Bles, Hieronymus Bosch, Piero di Cosimo, and Titian; seventeenth- and eighteenth-century works by Damiano Cappelli, Pietro Novelli, and Salvator Rosa; nineteenth-century works by William Blake, James Ensor, Francisco Goya, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and James Ward; and works from the twentieth century to the present day by Eileen Agar, Francis Alÿs, Louise Bourgeois, Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Robert Gober, José Gutiérrez Solana, Sherrie Levine, René Magritte, Roberto Matta, Pablo Picasso, Wallace Putnam, Man Ray, Kay Sage, Yves Tanguy, and Lisa Yuskavage, among others.
Bridging Two Worlds: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead | Morbid Anatomy at the Greenwood Cemetery {archived}
Saturday, September 22 through Sunday, December 2
Friday, September 21, 6:30–8:30 PM
How do the dead find their way to the next life? Who directs them on their journey? And when they arrive, can they establish a connection to those left behind? Across time, and around the globe, people have imagined that the dead might live on in another, imperceptible world. The worlds of the living and of the dead, however distinct and distant they may be, could theoretically be bridged, through individuals such as psychopomps (from Greek, meaning a “guide of souls”) like Anubis, Azrael, or Hermes, or by performing rituals such as ancestor worship, sacrificial offerings, or prayer. In Buddhist and Taoist traditions, for example, Yu Lan (the “Hungry Ghost Festival”) is a celebratory homecoming for the souls of the departed. Families honor the dead through specially prepared meals and by burning paper replicas of money, cellphones, clothing, and other material possessions for their ancestors to enjoy in the afterlife.
Through artifacts, artworks, and ephemera, this exhibition explores how humans have endeavored to imagine a separate world for the dead and to express their own desires for bridging the divide. Objects on view were drawn from collectors in the greater Morbid Anatomy community and The Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections.
Leonor Fini: Theatre of Desire, 1930–1990 | Museum of Sex {archived}
September 28, 2018 — March 4, 2019
The venue is a surprising one, but the exhibition is very well done! The lighting on the first of two floors of the show is much too dark making it difficult to read the didactics. However, this collection is really quite wonderful to see, lending more weight to the validity and potential of the Museum of Sex, and giving voice to this stunning and powerful surrealist artist and her legacy.
My biggest complaint is that I’ve not seen much in the way of advertisement for the show while out and about in NYC. Subway ads for the museum relate solely to the bouncy boobs visitors can play on if they pay an extra $3 above the museum entrance fee. To really utilize the power of this exhibition, the museum needs to publicize it better. It really is a remarkable collection.
The Museum of Sex (MoSEX) presents Leonor Fini: Theatre of Desire, 1930–1990, the first American museum survey of the work of Argentine-Italian artist Leonor Fini (b. 1907, Buenos Aires, Argentina — d. 1996, Paris, France). The exhibition will immerse visitors in Leonor Fini’s life and career from the 1930s to the 1980s. Although Fini exhibited in major Surrealist surveys throughout the 1930s and 40s, and counted Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí as friends, she rejected the invitation to officially join the group, disavowing movement leader André Breton’s traditional view of woman as muse. Multi-talented and fearlessly forward thinking, she refused to be categorized in any way, especially through gender norms. Her art explored the masculine and feminine, dominance and submission, eroticism and humor. She also went beyond the medium of painting to embrace theatre, ballet, the illustrated book and costume. She not only rejected tradition and social conventions, she insisted that identity, like artistic expression, is never fixed — it must constantly be open to inspiration and imagination.
Treasures from the Joey Arias Archive | Boo-Hooray {archived}
September 5–28, 2018
This exhibition includes a significant collection from Klaus Nomi as well as Joey’s own archive. I didn’t find out about this until it was almost over, so I missed it.
Joey Arias, Avant Garde performance artist, cabaret singer, and globally renowned nightlife legend, presents his eclectic archive, spanning a singular career from the 1970s to present day. From Arias’ 1979 appearance alongside Klaus Nomi and David Bowie on Saturday Night Live to his 2011 surrealist puppet show with puppeteer Basil Twist entitled “Arias with a Twist”, Arias’ life and work defies any traditional label, category or type, Arias’ image and style exists in a class all its own.
The Joey Arias Archive collects rare treasures from every stage of his career and his many forms of performance. The exhibition begins with his early career in Los Angeles, his education in the Groundlings in the 1970s, and his move to New York later in the decade. Moving into the 1980s, the archive documents Arias working by day at iconic New York boutique Fiorucci, while performing and holding court at Club 57 with the likes of Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and Ann Magnuson by night.
Arias’ eccentric story continues into the 1990s as he exploded into the cabaret circuit, channeling the vocal stylings and mannerisms of Billie Holiday and performing regularly with Raven-O, Edwige Belmore, Sherry Vine and other special guest performers at downtown lounges such as Bar d’O. In 2003, Arias took on the role of Mistress of Ceremonies in a six-year run of Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity. Still performing and touring today, Arias remains a masterful creative force and unparalleled trailblazer, captivating both star-studded and starstruck audiences, alike.
Klaus Nomi, (January 22, 1944 — August 6, 1983), was a legendary vocalist and performance artist with roots in opera, as well as close friend and collaborator to Joey Arias. As the executor of Nomi’s will, Joey Arias’ collection is presented in conjunction with Nomi’s extraordinary life and work. Nomi’s spectacular artistic output was cut short by his battle with AIDS in 1983, years before the scope of the epidemic was realized and recognized. Left behind in Arias’ hands were Nomi’s treasures from a career that was only just beginning. Presented in this exhibition are artifacts hand-picked by Boo-Hooray from both of these mind-blowing collections. This includes artful flyers and handbills spanning Arias’ fantastically eclectic career: rarely before seen illustrations and documentation of Arias’ cabaret, drag and punk shows, original costumes, drawings by Thierry Mugler, and spectacular photography ranging from professional fashion shoots, behind-the-scenes snapshots, and personal Polaroids. From Nomi’s archive, the exhibition showcases drawings, ephemera, and manuscripts including hand-drawn plans for an unfinished opera that communicate with Arias’ own oeuvre on display.
October
Psycho Salon | Red Truck Gallery x Superchief Gallery {archived}
October 12–18
More details on the Facebook event page.
Frances F. Denny | Major Arcana: Witches in America | Clamp Art {archived}
October 4 — November 24, 2018
Opening Reception — Thursday, October 4, 2018, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Frances F. Denny writes:
“During the research process for a prior series of photographs, I discovered two related facts about my family tree: a) Mary Bliss Parsons, my 8th great-grandmother, was accused of witchcraft in 1674 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and b) less than two decades later in 1692, my 10t h great-grandfather, Samuel Sewell, presided as a judge in the Salem Witch Trials. One body of work came and went, but this ancestral coincidence stayed with me. What is a witch? Who does that word belong to — now?
“Major Arcana: Witches in America is a collection of portraits of women from across the United States who identify as witches. As early as 15th-century Europe, people condemned as witches faced a cruel fate: torture, and in many cases, death. Yet despite its history, recent decades have seen a reclaiming of the word ‘witch.’ In the mid-20th century, emerging pagan communities in the United States and Europe began embracing the term, and since then, ‘witch’ has been adopted by a diverse group of people.
It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200 | Morgan Museum {archived}
October 12, 2018 through January 27, 2019
This is the second monster exhibition in a row at the Morgan!
Commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of Frankenstein — a classic of world literature and a masterpiece of horror — a new exhibition at the Morgan shows how Mary Shelley created a monster. It traces the origins and impact of her novel, which has been constantly reinterpreted in spinoffs, sequels, mashups, tributes and parodies. Shelley conceived the archetype of the mad scientist, who dares to flout the laws of nature, and devised a creature torn between good and evil. Her monster spoke out against injustice and begged for sympathy while performing acts of shocking violence. In the movies, the monster can be a brute pure and simple, yet he is still an object of compassion and remains a favorite on stage and screen.
For the first time it will be possible to view art and artifacts (including comic books, film posters, publicity stills, and movie memorabilia) that explain how Frankenstein caught the popular imagination in the course of two hundred years. Portions of the original manuscript will be on display along with historic scientific instruments and iconic artwork such as Henry Fuseli’s Nightmare, a six-sheet poster advertising the Boris Karloff movie in 1931, and the definitive portrait of the author. The modern myth of Frankenstein is based on a long cultural tradition, also recounted in the exhibition with a vivid display of books, manuscripts, posters, prints, and paintings.
It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200 is a collaboration between The Morgan Library & Museum and The New York Public Library.
16th Annual Halloween Art Show | MF Gallery {archived}
Opening reception: October 20th, 7–10
Hew Locke: Patriots | PPOW {archived}
October 11 — November 10, 2018
Opening Reception: October 11, 6–8 PM
© Courtesy the artist and P·P·O·W, New York
“[This] exhibition will continue Locke’s investigation into the role public statues play in the way national identity and history are formed, an element of his practice that he has been exploring since 2002. This interest was initially born out of seeing a statue of Queen Victoria taken down during his childhood in Georgetown, Guyana — an event that toppled his notion that the status quo was in fact static. Later, while living in London, Locke became fascinated with the Victorian statues that dotted the city, emblematic sculptures that were so visible that they had essentially become invisible to passersby. Embarking on a project that he dubbed the “Impossible Proposals,” Locke began photographing these iconic statues — from Richard the Lion Hearted, to the slave trader Edward Colston, to Edward VII — and then embellishing the photographs with objects, creating elaborate fetish figures imbued with a history that was largely being overlooked.”
De Glömda: Darby Lahger Solo Exhibition | Last Rites {archived}
October 5th — 20th, 2018
Opening reception: Friday, October 5th, 2018 from 7–10pm
Mothmeister Exhibition | House of Wax {archived}
OCT 24–28, 2018
Opening night, October 24th, 8:00 PM
The anonymous Belgium-based couple operating under the pseudonym Mothmeister present a series of portraits based in the fictional universe of Wounderland, a surreal environment in which humanoids in grotesque masks gambol with post-apocalyptic mutants. At once familiar and otherworldly, their work is created in response to the exhibitionism of contemporary selfie culture and the unrealistic beauty standards perpetrated by both social and mainstream media.
Mothmeister asked Wren Britton (Purevile) if they could use his work “Post Mortem Fairy Tales” for one of their projects. The result will be on view in this show!
Killing Jar | Gristle Art Gallery
Opening October 20, 2018
Entomological specimens and scientific illustrations: insects, arachnids, and more! New work by Bayla Arietta, Cory Benhatzel, Miles Browne, Simona Candini, Dane Eisenbart, Katie Gamb, Fred Grabosky, Amy Guidry, Jessi Hardesty, Alexis Kandra, Caitlin McDonagh, Michele Melcher, Kit Mizeres, Ben Patterson, Taylor Renno, Linnea Strid, Stephanie Tamez, Joe Vollan, Michael Weaver, Anneke Wilder, and Miranda Zimmerman.
The New Mainstream: Comix Group Art Show Curated by Dan Haspiel | Art on A {archived}
October 3 — November 8, 2018
Opening reception October 3, 7–9pm
Playhouse: Nicoletta Ceccoli and Bill Carman | AFA Gallery {archived}
October 17th through November 11th.
Opening reception, October 20th from 6–8pm.
Ceccoli’s work speaks volumes to the human condition with a sweet naïveté. Bill‘s work is just wonderfully dark. No clue what AFA is up to with the special atmosphere they’re turning their gallery into by this “renowned designer.” Could be great! Whatever it is, the art will stand out on its own.
AFA Gallery invites viewers to step into the world of established contemporary surrealists Nicoletta Ceccoli and Bill Carman in PlayHouse, an immersive installation in collaboration with a renowned designer (TBA) and a landscape architect who will curate a special “set” for the exhibition that explores the boundaries, or lack thereof, between architecture and fine art.
Inspired by subject matter with elements of both whimsy and dark complexity, PlayHouse imagines what lies beyond the frame, giving the works new environments to exist within. Displayed in a series of interior and exterior domestic vignettes, 10 new paintings by Nicoletta Ceccoli and 12 by Bill Carman are re-contextualized, expanding the 2-dimensional works into a 3-dimensional installation.
Walton Ford | Paul Kasmin Gallery {archived}
Opening reception: October 10, 6–8pm
October 10 — December 22, 2018
Paul Kasmin Gallery is opening up a fancy new gallery in a penthouse complete with a roof sculpture garden, all accessible via the High Line park. To celebrate, they’re exhibiting a set of new paintings by Walton Ford with a Joel Shapiro installation in the new Kasmin Sculpture Garden, adjacent to the High Line at 509 West 27th Street, NY. Thus far the gallery has not provided any shots of the works by the artists, so, alas, this post here will not be prettied by Ford’s work. I’ll update when I find something. [UPDATED!]
One of the few purpose-built commercial gallery spaces in Chelsea, the new building’s unique roof, designed to exhibit monumental works of sculpture, will put the gallery’s program on view to the High Line’s 6 million visitors per year. Signaling a new era of curatorial ambition, this new building will open with a solo exhibition of new paintings by Walton Ford in the gallery and an installation of three bronze sculptures by Joel Shapiro on the rooftop on Wednesday, October 10, 2018.
Halloween Extravaganza | St. John the Divine {archived}
October 26, 7 and 10pm
St. John the Divine is again throwing their annual Halloween Extravaganza and Procession of Ghouls! This year they’ll be showing Nosferatu with a live organ accompaniment. The movie will be followed by Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Theater Company’s {archived} fantastic creatures of the night, which is primarily why I’ve posted this here. The puppets are incredible.
