THE WEEK/WEEKEND: May 31-June 7.

Three Colorists: curated by Michael Walls — Eozen Agopian, Alan Kleiman, Diane Mayo
Where: Lesley Heller Workspace
When: June 6 – July 6, 2012, Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 6, 6-8pm 

Three Colorists, curated by Michael Walls, highlights the work of three artists who have several things in common: they began their professional life as painters; the oeuvre of each importantly involves the role of color; and the work of each is not only labor intensive, but also revealing of a hard-won mastery of the chosen craft.

LABAPALOOZA! MINI FESTIVAL OF NEW PUPPET THEATER FROM THE LAB
Where: St. Ann’s Warehouse
When: MAY 31-JU­NE 3  

It’s the last show before we move to our new location at 29 Jay Street! What better w­ay to say goodbye to 38 Water Street than with our 14th annual Labapalooza Festival? This year’s line-up of works-in-progress ranges from the traditional to the irreverent, from the ground breaking to the nostalgic, and from delightful to downright punk-rock.

Masterpiece Theater Curated by: Geoffrey Young
Where: Morgan Lehman 
When: May 31  – June 30 

If theatrical is the question, masterpiece is the answer.  Modesty in art is over-rated, as anyone with a Schnabel complex knows, so be prepared for the challenge of ascertaining the significance of what these artists have been cooking up over the past four months.  Yes, each can draw, paint, and employ color to bold effect, but that’s of secondary importance (the least we can expect of an artist).  What drives these artists is Imagination.  Another word for imagination is risk, another word for risk is danger, another word for danger is aesthetics.  And aesthetics, as we know, is for the birds.  But these artists aint tweeting.

Thurston Moore + Bill Nace + Joe McPhee
Where: Roulette
When: May 31, 8pm 

Three pillars of the noise and avant-jazz scene collide : Thurston Moore, singer/songwriter/guitarist for Sonic Youth, teams up with free-noise guitarist Bill Nace and avant-jazz saxophonist Joe McPhee for an evening of mind bending cacophony.

Continue reading

THE WEEK: Dec 5-9.

MONDAY:

Photographing the Dead: The History of Postmortem Photography from The Burns Collection and Archive
Postmortem photography, photographing a deceased person, was a common practice in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These photographs, from the beginning of the practice until now, are special mementos that hold deep meaning for mourners through visually “embalming” the dead. Although postmortem photographs make up the largest group of nineteenth-century American genre photographs, until recent years they were largely unseen and unknown. Dr. Burns recognized the importance of this phenomenon in his early collecting when he bought his first postmortem photographs in 1976. Since that time he has amassed the most comprehensive collection of postmortem photography in the world and has curated several exhibits and published three books on the subject: the Sleeping Beauty series. Tonight, Dr. Burns will speak about the practice of postmortem photography from the 19th century until today and share hundreds of images from his collection.

FIRST BOOK BROOKLYN HOLIDAY PARTY & FUNDRAISER
first book–brooklyn is a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting new books to children in need.  join us tonight for their first annual holiday party and fundraiser.

Continue reading

THE WEEK: Sept 26-30.

LIVE from the NYPLROBERT WILSON with Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Lucinda Childs, and others in conversation with Paul Holdengräber 
Friday, September 30, 2011 7:00 p.m.

Robert Wilson will talk to Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Lucinda Childs and others about his artistic collaboration with them over the years.  The conversation will be instigated by Paul Holdengräber.

Robert Wilson is among the most distinguished theater directors of our time. Creator of such works as The King of Spain and The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud, Wilson also collaborated with Philip Glass on the hugely successful opera Einstein on the Beach. Today, Wilson’s accomplishments are recognized not only in the spheres of theatre and opera, but also in the visual arts. Retrospectives of his work have been held throughout the world, and his installations have appeared in several Guggenheim museums, among other venues worldwide.

This event marks the US publication date of The Watermill Center – A Laboratory for Performance – Robert Wilson’s Legacy, a new book about the first 20 years of The Watermill Center.  It will also feature the new book Robert Wilson From Within edited by Margery Arent Safir.

Organs in The Snow
Opening Reception: Sep 30, 8-11pm

A Group Show and Story by Rachel Mason

Dan Asher / John Baldessari / Michael G. Bauer / Michael Bilsborough / Nancy deHoll / Jen Denike / Tim Dowse / Ellie Ga / Laleh Khorramian / Jason Lazarus / Mamiko Otsubo / Samuel White

Opening Night Performances: Thank You Rosekind, Doom Trumpet, No Sky God, Mark Golamco

She was a lion sitting on her dad’s shoulders. They formed a totem of two heads, one large, one small as they walked down the street. Powerful with her lion-painted face, she stuck her tongue out at a man passing by. He tripped on the side of his foot and then fell to the ground.

The girl’s father didn’t realize that his daughter scared the man, causing him to fall. The man already had a fear of children. The girl’s father also didn’t realize that had he reached his hand out to help, the man wouldn’t now have two permanent rods conjoined in his hip bone, and wouldn’t have lapsed into a permanent hallucinatory state from which he’d never recover.

Continue reading

THE WEEK: JULY 12-15th

SUPERCODA AND THE 22 MAGAZINE PRESENT: PABLO MALAURIE AND ANDRU BEMIS AND THE 1st ARTIST’S OPEN FORUM

JULY 14th CAFE ORWELL 7pm
Excited to announce this one. Pablo Malaurie’s voice is of the angels, and he’s come all the way from Argentina to play for you. It’s going to be beautiful, and glorious, and fun. Pablo has been widely praised for his fusion style (South American and Japanese in some cases), opened for Devandra Banhart and recently was a part of Catalin Mitulescu’s film “Loverboy.” He’s making the rounds in NY for the next couple days and we’re really pleased to have him.
PLUS as an extra amazing bonus we just found out Andru Bemis is coming by as well! He’s played with some great folk and best of all he chooses to go it solo, no endorsements, no contracts, just him and the rails riding him from town to town. It’s an amazing feat in this day and age and we’re thrilled to have him! Read more about it at his website: http://www.andrubemis.com/ Come help support not only our effort to see Volume II of The 22 Magazine in PRINT but also witness the  brainchild of Valerie Kuehne, i.e. Supercoda @ Cafe Orwell, the gorgeous spectacle that goes on nearly every  night (when does Valerie sleep?!?) and allows you to witness sounds that are otherworldly and stunning. Now, please watch/listen to the gorgeous song below.

PS- This show will be also be one of the first opportunities to be part of The 22′s Artist’s Open Forum. Have a question, concern, or problem as an artist? This is where we can help. We’ll be passing out signup sheets allowing you to let us know what is concerning you as artists, writers, and musicians and will address those concerns in our next meeting or on the blog. More info about what this all about at the show.

http://www.the22magazine.com/Pages/upcomingevents.html

The Belle Brigade @ MERCURY LOUNGE TUESDAY JUNE 12th. More about the Belle Brigade.

Tuli Kupferberg @ BOWERY POETRY CLUB JULY 13 7:00 PM

Tuli Kupferberg (1923-20

10), cartoonist, song-comedian, Beat poet, anarcho-geographer, Lower East Side atheist guru, anti-circumcision activist, author of I Hate Poems About Poems About Poems, died one year and one day ago. Friends and half-dressed disciples will celebrate his ever-awakening memory. Hosted by Sparrow. Jeffrey Lewis, Terese Coe ,John S. Hall, Thelma Blitz, Steve Dalachinsky, Yuko Otomo, Bob Holman Lawrence, White Richard West, Sparrow

The event will be a benefit for the War Resisters League. Watch Live on the Web! http://www.bowerypoetrylive.com/

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky launches his new graphic design project, “The Book of Ice” at Eyebeam. The “Book of Ice” (Mark Batty Publisher) consists of multiple engagements with the theme of ice as presented by posters, stickers, music compositions, and an introduction by best selling author Brian Greene, whose ground-breaking book “The Elegant Universe” sets the tone for some of the issues in Miller’s new book.

RSVP

For the event at Eyebeam, Miller will team up with Bill McKibben, acclaimed writer and founder of 350.org, along with Green Patriot Poster project curator Edward Morris, Small Planet Institute’s Anna Lappé, and several leading theoreticians of graphic design. Miller will also present music interpretations of some of the sonic data as compositions derived from the book and his explorations in Antarctica with a live string quartet, The Telos Ensemble, playing his compositions. At the end of the evening, there will be a book signing, and open social event themed on Antarctica, including a selection of remixes produced by Paul commissioned by the German public radio.

PERFORMANCY FORUM 14 at BOB the Pavilion

Wednesday, July 13, 7-10PM

TESS DWORMAN

ANYA LIFTIG

BEN SPATZ/MAXIMILIAN BALDUZZI/URBAN RESEARCH THEATER

MATTHEW STEPHEN SMITH

CHRISTY WALSH

PAUL PINTO AND JEFFREY YOUNG (OF THINGNY)

and PPL composer BRIAN MCCORKLE and members of the CAST performing an excerpt from ‘INSTITUTE_INSTITUT’ concert-style and YOU!

BOB the Pavilion is a composting toilet and inflated platform for performance and more! http://www.bobthepavilion.​com/BOB the Pavilion was supported by a grant from Columbia University School of the Arts (SOA) and Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning(GSAPP).

Ritual A Group Exhibition by HONEYCOMB

Brooklyn, NY, July 2011, HONEYCOMB and Causey Contemporary proudly present Ritual, a group exhibition featuring original artwork produced by over twenty of the freshest urban, newbrow, young contemporary artists hailing from seven countries. The public is invited to the artists’ reception on July 12th from 6 – 9 p.m Ritualistic behavior is one of the few things that have universally permeated all human sociological development. It has helped form civilizations, spawned entire belief systems, and through the ages has continuously influenced human conduct while simultaneously shaping the world as we know it. While the actual processes may vary, the incorporation of ritual into society is something that transcends nationality, geographic location and linear timeline. Cultures of both the past and present have used symbolic, traditional or religious rituals for any number of reasons including divination, personal pleasure, the achievement of spiritual or emotional needs, the formation of social bonds, expressions of respect and devotion, the advancement of social status, acceptance or for educational purposes. Although there are great differences among the countless rituals in existence, it is evident that regardless of intent or appearance, ritualistic behavior is undeniably intertwined with both our past and our future, and something that unites us all.

Othelo Gervacio @ FUSE GALLERY.
“Postboredom”
Exhibition: July 13 through July 27, 2011

Opening Reception: Wednesday, July 13th, 7 to 10 pm

Boredom inspires creation. In Othelo Gervacio’s case, Postboredom is art garnered from his lingering disenfranchised youth. Gervacio has held onto the adolescent manifestation of making art and music because “you hate what is happening around you.” He states, “Are the only punks left now ‘Fashion punks’? No thanks, I’d rather I’d sit at home, listen to sludgy metal and paint something dark.” Othelo Gervacio is a new face in the downtown New York art scene.  After four years under the wing of tattoo/fine artist Scott Campbell, and prior schooling in the arts, Gervacio has channeled his experiences to create his own definitive style.  With the use of dark imagery and gothic lettering forms,
his art reflects an influence from the grittier side of tattoo culture, metal music, and lingering teenage angst.


Shapeshifters @ 4 4 3  P A S

Curated by Laurel Sparks

July 14 – August 26

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 14, 6-8 pm

bespoke bathing costume
Sparks says this show features geniuses only!
Come one come all y’all to gawk at their works:
whose stalagmites elude portrayal
but for the smudgen empyrean
fibrous by seat of their cohort–
ashtray w/ suspenders unwrinkled
a pile of glazier-thin feuilles fatales

flurry of homosocial g.w.ps
twins peer at the heart in thir pants
weeping fruitier and downreaching espalier
a nacorn an urn unhectorized
gutterclouds inform an architecture
its mouth a painted hare or rabbitt
atop an accretion of realnesses.
how do you value a painting? by its
pearlescent gummery centre. can
a beercan grow a thing. potteryhound
helmet from hellsdeep chainworks the
neolyth clawfoot cum eagle arm–
tender clips of the fan, snakely
beads reveal sculptoraly or by
erasure the ponderous red creature.

– Julian T. Brolaski

June 18, 2011,
Larry Bob Phillips will begin work on his project Wiggle Room, as part of Recess’s signature program, Session. Session invites artists to use its storefront space as studio, exhibition venue and grounds for experimentation.
Over the course of two months, Phillips will record four collaborative events, covering the walls inside 41 Grand Street with large-scale, and densely detailed drawings. Phillips will invite artists to join him in the space for temporary performances, and will draw these interventions. The artist’s anticipation and memory of the performance will inform the content of Phillips’ wall drawings. Visitors to Recess can engage in performances and witness their own integration into the ongoing drawing.
Throughout this Session, visitors to Recess in SoHo will witness a diverse series of collaborations, starting with Michael Beitz’s construction of “exhibition furniture” for Wiggle Room.
Wiggle Room will feature the following events:
Tuesday July 12th Reception/Viewing for Michael Beitz
Thursday July 21st Jeff Jensen Night of Laughs Friday
July 29th Chuleta & Hennessy Youngman Bury Post Black Thursday

August 4th CHERYL closing performance

Daniel Parmanetter@ FIVEMYLES.

July 12, 6 – 9 pm Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

FROM THE ARTIST:

I’ve been working with Bob Dylan as a metaphor or symbol in my works for a few years now but wanted to make it a bit more abstract, further away from the real person.

The installation visually is based on a particular sort of stage light that I only know from single person performances in the the 60s and 70s and that for me is also very metaphorical. I combine this with audio footage of a very special moment in Dylan’s carrier. Somebody called him “Judas” in a show in Manchester, England in 1966. You can watch that here:

And I will ad my own story to this. Not my personal one, but a kind of metaphorical little story. I’m replaceing his real answer to the Judas cry with words I’ll rearrange from footage of the old man Dylan’s voice. So you will see the puppet in that stage light and hear the Judas cry followed by a rather metaphorical answer.

Over the course of five years since he launched his enterprise New York Night Train, Jonathan Toubin has forged a singular career and achieved remarkable success: He is not only a deejay with a staggering collection of rare garage rock and soul on 45 rpm records, but also a visionary creator and producer of long-running (and now internationally touring) multi-media parties. This summer, he will take a break from his Soul Clap and Dance-Off, the most popular soul party in North America, to focus on the launch of his most ambitious undertaking to date, Land of 1,000 Dances, in which live dance demonstrators and projected videos—montages of vintage and original footage—will teach partygoers the dance crazes of the 1960s while Toubin plays 45s he has curated specifically for the individual dances.

Discursive Arrangements, or Stubbornly Persisent Illusions @ Klaus Von Nichtssagend.

Curated by Timothy Hull and Lumi Tan Mathew Cerletty, Devon Costello, Timothy Hull, Ryan Mrozowski, Thomas and Renée Rapedius, Sean Raspet, Ruby Sky Stiler, Sophie-Therese Trenka-Dalton, Allyson Vieira

July 14th – August 14th, 2011 Opening Reception: July 14th, 6-8 PM

Third Thursday Presents: Forgotten City Lights @City Reliquary

A Photographic Archive of NYC’s Street Lamposts Curated by “Forgotten New York” author and webmaster, Kevin Walsh and NYC transit employee and enthusiast, Bob Mulero

This Third Thursday, July 15th from 7-10pm at the City Reliquary Museum, 370 Metropolitan Ave.Join us for the opening reception of a truly illuminating exhibit, “FORGOTTEN CITY LIGHTS: A Photographic Archive of NYC’s Street Lamposts.” This newest exhibit focuses on the often ignored but always overhead variants and styles of NYC street lamps.

Bethany Shorb, Supplemental Restraint System @DEVOTION GALLERY.

On view until July 24th, 2011

Exhibition preview – Detroit-based visual artist Bethany Shorb’s “Supplemental Restraint System” is born from classic American and vintage European sports car parts harvested from wrecked vehicles. Her work is tightly wrapped in an outer skin made exclusively from previously deployed airbags, beaded and sutured back together forming another protective barrier in an imagined automotive crash narrative, then further fetishized in glass scientific vitrines. Also included in the show are neon and automotive emblem text assemblages as obsessive tropes on car-culture.

Cold Cave

Cult of Youth, Zambri

Knitting Factory Brooklyn

Tue, July 12, 2011 Doors: 8:00 PM / Show: 8:30 PM $15.00 Cold Cave are an experimental electronic pop group from Philadelphia and New York City who make melodic synthscapes with jackhammer beats. They acknowledge the dark roots of synthesizer music as well as its potential for making the brightest pop with their hard songs celebrating the contradictory beauty of the human condition.

HARIBO: the Haribo experience presents Candy Rain c/o Raul De Nieves and Jessie Stead @ Secret Project Robot.

Opening Reception: Friday July 15th, 2011

The Haribo Experience presents Candy Rain. Featuring limited edition Raul De Nieves and Jessie Stead flavored video installation elegance. Inside the music box with the lid closed and the lights off the tiny ballerina starts to cry. You give her all your money but its too late you are soaked to the bone with her dance-floor tears and intoxicated politely… forever. The hairdos grow backwards entering your brain, are you experienced? Join us for a joy-us one-way trip into the song flavored box.

LoVid
The Other Side of Ground @Mixed Greens.

JUNE 16–AUGUST 26, 2011
OPENING: THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 6-8PM

Mixed Greens is pleased to present the site-specific window project The Other Side of Ground by Tali Hinkis and Kyle Lapidus, the artist duo known as LoVid. Their dynamic, colorful pieces are a masterful mix of the low- and high-tech.

Known for their innovative performances, live video installations, tactile objects, patchworks, sculptures, and installations, LoVid encourages the viewer to reexamine his/her relationship to the digital world. By mixing analog and digital philosophies, processes, and techniques, LoVid’s pieces come to life. In one piece, for instance, it was necessary for viewers to touch points on a monolithic sculpture in order for a video to activate. Human touch became the subject of a digital output. MORE »

MORE:

Colorific @ Postmasters Art.

Swamp Dogg @R&B Festival at MetroTech

LAND @KLOMPCHING.

MISS BUGS PARLOUR @BROOKLYNITE.

Salon: Tang-Wei Hsu and Michael Kienzer@ISCP

TIM KUHL’S DOOMSAYER CD RELEASE SHOW: Michael Formanek, bass; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Jonathan Goldberger, guitar; Frantz Loriot, viola; Tim Kuhl, drums; Jonathan Moritz, saxophones

25 Years, 25 Artists @Julie Saul

NAG: Wednesday, July 13: Greenpoint & Northside Loft Tenants Meeting In June 2010, the NY State Legislature expanded the Loft Law, giving coverage to North Brooklyn!  For more background on what the Loft Law is and who qualifies, please visit our blog.