(image via Disclaimer Gallery)
Everyday Things
Opening Friday September 9 at Disclaimer Gallery (inside the Silent Barn), 6 pm to 9 pm. On view through October 2.
Though artist Megan Tatem often works in illustration, creating works for magazines and doing graphic design over at Hearst Media, this “tongue-in-cheek” exhibition will showcase another side of her work: photography. The show provides commentary on imagery related to racial stereotypes, but wrapped up in a tight layer of sarcasm. This results in lighthearted visual observations on assumptions like “white people can’t dance” and who holds the highest proclivity for fried chicken, but also delves into darker, serious territory, also acknowledging how racial stereotypes like the assumption that people of color are dangerous or prone to crime can (and has) lead to unwarranted violence against them.
(image via Postmasters Gallery)
Annotated Muses
Opening Saturday September 10 at Postmasters Gallery, 5:30 pm to 8 pm. On view through October 15.
This Saturday marks the opening of artist and writer Molly Crabapple’s first exhibition in three years. That’s not to say she hasn’t been busy: Crabapple released her memoir Drawing Blood (which I read and enjoyed) at the end of 2015 and has garnered attention and acclaim for achievements like the reporting she has done on Guantanamo Bay, essays written on political prisoners, and various illustration works. This show will display 11 portraits she has done of people she considers her muses: 10 women, one man, from rock stars to biochemists. These aren’t ordinary portraits: Crabapple begins by plastering a canvas with papers and ephemera that are meaningful to that person, and sketches their portrait on each one. Then, she creates a large-scale portrait on this canvas. When it is done, she hands the paintbrush over to the muse, allowing them to “annotate” the piece in whatever way they’d like. At the opening, porn performer and writer Stoya will annotate her portrait live.
(image via Chapter NY / Facebook)
Every Day Is Halloween
Opening Saturday September 10 at Chapter NY, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through October 16.
There’s been a lot of spookiness afoot as of late: Brooklyn just got an “institute for horror studies,” a theater festival dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft looms in the October distance, and a Brooklyn Horror Film Festival was just announced. To add to this steaming cauldron of spine-tingling is Paul Heyer’s solo exhibition, fittingly titled “Every Day Is Halloween.” In a season of horror firsts, it’s also the inaugural show of Chapter NY’s new location at 249 East Houston Street. Taking cues from the “energy of ’80s painting,” Heyer’s works mix odd imagery together both childlike and mind-bending, such as a spooky skeleton wavering amongst a field of chromosomes, or day-glo lily pads. Perhaps stop by Lovecraft Bar on Avenue B on your way there, and make a night of it. Hopefully it’s a dark and stormy night.
(image via yours mine & ours / Facebook)
The Yellow Kiss
Opening Sunday September 11 at yours mine & ours, 6 pm to 8 pm.Â
Art exhibitions usually contain many pieces of art, or perhaps feature several artists with works on display. This inaugural show at just-opened LES contemporary art gallery yours mine & ours takes a bit more of a minimal approach, showing one painting by artist Nicole Wittenberg. Well, sort of. It’s described as a “comprehensive view of a single painting,” and the painting in question is based off of an old video still taken from amateur porn. Alongside the painting itself, many drawn studies of the still that led up to the painting’s creation will be on display, as well as flashes of her painting process, which includes oils, acrylics, and watercolors. The large-scale painting will be shown on one floor of the gallery, and the process-oriented works on paper will be shown on another, creating a multi-level experience of a multi-step creative journey.