F8 Tropical , 2017
28 x 21 Inches
Dye Sublimation on Aluminum

Particle Paradise
Opening Wednesday March 22 at Foley Gallery, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through April 30.

Photography is said to be a significant documentation tactic due to its ability to capture reality in its truest form. Particle Paradise, Joseph Desler Costa’s solo show at Foley Gallery, seeks to lay bare the ways one can manipulate the medium of photography to turn it into something sleeker, or even a total rejection of reality. This can happen through tactics like double exposures, cut paper constructions, in-camera editing, or even snapshots of the equipment used to create the photo in the first place.

The show is named for a video game mod that allows players to customize their experience through hacking and tweaking the existing code, allowing the gameplay experience to change oh-so-slightly or immensely. I don’t know about you, but I associate mods with either sneakily downloading sexy clothes for my Sims or that time I bought a Gameshark to use with my Pokemon and it glitched in a way it was not supposed to and I felt fear deep in my heart. Maybe this show will be something like that?

(image via Victori + Mo)

Realizations
Opening Friday March 24 at Victori + Mo, 6 pm to 9 pm. On view through April 23.

While 2016 was the year for realizing stuff, 2017 is the year for Realizations, a solo show of unique interpretations of paintings by Samuel Stabler. The show is an expansion of his prior Old Masters series, in which he recreated classic paintings from memory using pen and ink. These particular pieces will not be on view in this show, but he will be taking the concept even further with a sculptural version of a Dutch still life painted in the same style as these Old Masters pieces, with a painting of the sculpture on display behind it. With this, he goes one step further into the meta realm, as it is a painting of a sculpture of a painting. In addition to these works, there will also be paintings inspired by Western film stills, rendered in plain lines with thick bands of color. Maybe if your friend takes a photo of you taking a photo of the painting of a sculpture of a painting, you can alter the fabric of reality itself.

(flyer via goodgood / Facebook)

Goodgood Showcase
Friday, March 24 at IMAGE Gallery, 9 pm. $7 advance, $10 doors. One night only.

This night of local art is so good they’ve named it twice. Friday night marks the inaugural goodgood showcase, a new initiative spotlighting emerging artists working in visual art, video, and performance by way of shows, workshops, and more. They’re taking over Bushwick’s IMAGE Gallery for their first endeavor, and bringing along over a dozen young artists to set up their work in the space. There’s a modest cover at the door, but there will be a lot of stuff to see, including live performances. Plus, there will be free drinks, so if you have an issue paying for whatever reason, just consider your money going to that.

(image courtesy of Chinatown Soup)

Pros Hilaron: From the Masses Rise the Saints
Opening Friday March 24 at Chinatown Soup, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through April 2.

Community-oriented art gallery and performance space Chinatown Soup will be transformed into a place most holy for the artist Ventiko’s latest solo exhibition creation, focused on all things saintly. The gallery will be divided into three parts: a Chapel, a Reliquary, and an Altar. The Chapel has countless photographs of bodies to serve as “the masses” and 100 custom saint candles burning. The Reliquary contains a variety of objects that are special to each saint, and the altar reveals illuminated group portraits of these Saints. Ventiko selected the saints from members of her local community, so if you’re a frequent attender of art and performance, you could spy some familiar faces. I know I did.

As Ventiko is framing her immediate artistic community as her saintly saviors, the duration of the exhibition will be filled with arts programming of all sorts. Various saints will be hosting evenings, including a night of poetry, a night of feminist performance, and a special iteration of Ventiko’s Performance Anxiety series hosted by Geraldo Mercado, the “Patron Saint of Body Art.”