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.

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THE WEEK: Nov 28-Dec 2.

MONDAY:

TALK SERIES: Poetry After the White House Jam: A Panel Discussion on the nature and Role of the Avant-Garde
This talk will focus on poets Alison Knowles (founding member of Fluxus) and Kenneth Goldsmith (Conceptual Writing figurehead) and their inclusion in the 2011 White House Poetry Jam. Specifically, thinking about Knowles and Goldsmith as “avant-garde” figures: whether there can be an avant-garde that is current and representative, and how that impulse affects/is affected by an institutional context such as the White House. Panelists include: Rod Smith,Sandra Simonds, and Steven Zultanski.

LAST CALL: Susan Graham, Cletus Johnson, Brian DeGraw & Daniel Subkoff/Will Chancellor .

AS THE WORLD BURNS & PAST FITS, FUTURE PULLS @ JAMES FUENTES.

Closing May 8th.
Brian DeGraw

As The World Burns
Final Week at James Fuentes LLC, Gallery hours; Wed. – Sun., 11-6pm.
Special New York Gallery Week extended day, Sunday, May 8th, 12-8pm.
View exhibition images: here
New York Gallery Week link: here
MAP

James Fuentes LLC proudly presents, as part of The New Museum’s Festival of Ideas For The New City;
Daniel Subkoff & Will Chancellor 
Past Fits and Future Pulls
Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center at 107 Suffolk St between Rivington and Delancey.
If you have trouble locating this project please text; (917) 509-2250
Saturday from 10am to midnight
Sunday from 2:30pm until 7pm
Festival of Ideaslink

Subkoff & Chancellor are offering their artwork for free to everyone who joins them, and ultimately back to the earth itself. Having traded their cash for living native seeds, soil and local clay, they’ve constructed a 13 foot tall sculpture with this material that they invite the public to help disassemble. Visitors are welcome to grab a handful of the sculpture and recast it in a provided mold, walking away with a small sculpture of their own. If left in an appropriate place such as an abandoned lot, garden or any soft ground it should dissolve and yield a significant number of native wildflowers within a month. If taken home and treated as an art object, it will likely dry out, crack and expire worthless.  The main small sculptural casting will be of a rendition of Tlaloc, the elemental Aztec god of water, rain and fertility whose name translates as “he who is made of earth”.


Susan Graham & Cletus Johnson @ Schroeder Romero & Shredder

Closing May14th
531 West 26th Street
New York NY 10001

Susan Graham
New Gardens

April 14, 2011–May 14, 2011

Susan Graham’s exhibition, New Gardens, features sculpture, photography and video that use strategies of pattern and decoration to poetically depict the eternal struggle between nature and technology. Central to the exhibition are Toile Landscape, a large scale installation of Graham’s delicate sugar sculptures, and the intimate porcelain Toile Floating Landscape sculptures. Mimicking the recurring patterns of complex pastoral scenes found on Toile de Jouy, these works depict clusters of invented flora interspersed with industrial structures such as transmission towers, satellite dishes, or even cell phone towers disguised as trees. Charming, delicate and foreboding, each small pastoral scene compresses nature and technology in a bittersweet attempt at reconciliation. Graham’s photographs and videos on view in New Gardens depict skies choked with flocks of airplanes, modern-day birds staking their claim on the atmosphere. These works showcase Graham’s deft touch and ability to evoke rich, multivalent narratives from a few simple, quiet gestures. New Gardens is Graham’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Cletus Johnson 
Collage 1968–2010

April 14, 2011–May 14, 2011

Cletus Johnson: Collage 1968–2010 presents a selection of Johnson’s beguiling collages, including collaborative pieces made with famed Black Mountain poet Robert Creeley. Johnson’s works are composed of deceptively simple materials inviting private, almost meditative contemplation on subjects of longing, erotic love and primal lust. Their quietude evokes a Cagean musicality, while a minimal juxtaposition of images wrings endless narrative associations. Envelopes containing black and white photographs of a woman’s breast are intimate love letters being sent and received, revealing a desire to both contain and set free the object of affection. Amusement park ride tickets are coupled with cropped images of naked male youths, granting the viewer permission to experience desire. Portrayals of Antinous—Roman Emperor Hadrian’s lover—as Cyclops become homorobotic emblems of a carnal hunger for an idealized beauty. Johnson’s collages show him as a master of the simple, poetic intervention.

BORING STORIES with Jiyoon Koo @ A.I.R. Gallery May 1st.

Please Join us for
A handmade book-making workshop
Sunday, May 1st, 2011, 5-8pm
at A.I.R. Gallery
FREE – RSVP is required!

2010-11 A.I.R. Fellow Jiyoon Koo in collaboration with professional book-binder Susan Mills A.I.R. Gallery and 2010-11 A.I.R. Fellow Jiyoon Koo invite the public to Boring Stories, an workshop and literary event on Sunday, May 1, 2011 from 5-8pm. The event will be limited to 15 people and a donation of $10 is requested to cover the cost of materials. Due to the limited number of participants, advance registration is recommended. Please RSVP to info@airgallery.org to participate and make your donation.
Jiyoon has invited a professional book-binder, Susan Mills, to teach basic book binding.Each participant will be asked to bring to the workshop four sentences that describe special or disappointing events from childhood memories. These will be the basis for a narrative. In its final form, however, each book will be a “blank” book because the conclusion or climax will be missing and the point of the story will be absent, thus creating a void. Attendees will bind their own books, which they will take home with them. In addition, all stories will be bound into a single volume, a copy of which will be given to each participant; one copy will be left in the gallery space.
For a full press release please click HERE.
For more information about Susan Mills, please click HERE.
*The artist will email individually the 15 people who RSVP for the event to give more information about the workshop.

TONIGHT AT CENTRAL BOOKING: EARTHWORKS.

Paul Tecklenberg, Barbara Siegel, Anne Gilman

EARTHWORK

April 14 – June 12, 2011

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 14, 6-8pm
Panel Discussion: Thursday, May 12, 6:30pm ($5)

“Earthwork” is an exhibition in which nineteen international artists look at the earth from all edges of it. Drawn, photographed, printed, cut, hacked, diced, assembled, witnessed, with resonating metaphors, these artists present their interpretations of the stuff we gravitate to.

W. David Powell combs discarded science textbooks to scavenge images, while the texts of Tania Kovats tell a different tale. David Redfern collages an advertisement of the truly high cost of the low cost of oil. Barbara Siegel recreates the study of a geologist through his own studies, a warm and inviting installation; Maureen Piggins uncovers the geologist by peeling away the layers.

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