Peyton Freiman’s “JFK was a Realist,” 2015 (Image courtesy of Shin Gallery)
Long Gone and Missing
Opening Wednesday August 1, 7 pm to 9 pm at Shin Gallery. On view through September 10.
Imagine a beach on the Lower East Side. Now imagine that beach stuffed inside an art gallery. Some might call it crazy, but this wacky dream will become reality at the opening of Peyton Freiman’s solo show, Long Gone and Missing. The Brooklyn-based artist (who also recently showed a piece in loft-gallery Club 157’s first group show) will transform Shin Gallery into a “veritable beach playground” filled with his colorful mixed media works on paper.
Freiman’s known for his cartoony pop-art tributes to Los Angeles and stoner culture that touches on notions of travel and privilege inherent in summer leisure. The Lower East Side gallery is no stranger to altering their space for the sake of an exhibition; they garnered media attention (and the ire of a nearby luxury condo-dweller) when they made over their Orchard Street outpost as an installation that convincingly resembled a seedy massage parlor, complete with a gallery attendant costumed accordingly.
(image via Denny Gallery)
Present Futures: Strategies Toward Emancipation (Part One)
Opening Thursday August 11, 6 pm to 8 pm at Denny Gallery pop-up. On view through August 25.
Denny Gallery has its HQ on Broome Street, but they’ve set up camp at a pop-up location at 150 East Broadway for this group show, centered around five artists whose works deals fiercely with the present while looking toward the future as well, in rigorously offering artistic strategies for change.
The show was inspired by the feeling of helplessness stemming from recent tragedies, like the Pulse Orlando massacre and the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police. In the midst of unrest and the sense that, no matter how flawed, institutional structures are steadfast, this curatorial team of four seeks to make the art exhibition into a place for community organizing and conversation, pushing for a tangibly better future.
(Image via Knockdown Center)
Second Sun
Opening Saturday August 13, 5 pm to 8 pm at Knockdown Center. On view through September 11.
Part of the sprawling Knockdown Center’s appeal is its sheer vastness– the enormous former door factory floor is huge enough, but taken in with the expansive outdoor space and the building’s insanely high ceilings, it’s easy to lose your eyes in here.
Several pieces presented at Gregory Kalliche’s Second Sun take full advantage of the building’s ability to expand an art exhibit or performance beyond the typical four-cornered, white-walled room, but this show goes above and beyond the venue’s interior. Part of Knockdown’s Ruin Series, Kalliche’s work will be staged in the art center’s century-old outdoor “roofless ruin and adjoining subterranean chamber.” This creates an old and slightly eerie vibe, and the exposure to the elements is quite fitting for artist Gregory Kalliche’s ultraviolet prints, 3D models, and video projections, made to demonstrate ways that the sun can be synthesized for practical use.
(image via Kilroy Metal Ceiling / Facebook)
Kilroy Was Here
Saturday, August 13, 6 pm to 9:30 pm at Kilroy Metal Ceiling.
Born from a factory for metal ceilings and architectural windows, Kilroy Metal Ceiling was a low-key, no-frills DIY space, hosting art exhibitions, performances, and music events. In the predictable yet always-sad pattern of these creative hubs getting replaced with luxury condos, it’s on its way out.
However the folks behind the space are commemorating its memory with a farewell show, Kilroy Was Here. Participating artists from the Kilroy family as well as friends they’ve asked along will be showing pieces that fit into the multifaceted central theme exploring the space and community’s history as well as riffs on the classic WWII “meme” and early street-art trope, commonly depicting a simply-drawn cartoon of a bald man with a large nose peeking over a wall accompanied by the scrawled phrase, “Kilroy was here.”