Camae Ayewa/Moor Mother, detail from He’s Got the Whole World, 2017 (image via The Kitchen)

Camae Ayewa / Moor Mother
Opening Wednesday, February 21 at The Kitchen, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through March 17.

Camae Ayewa, who some may know by her musician moniker Moor Mother, is a truly multifaceted artist. She writes poetry, pens and performs visceral electronic noise protest songs referencing black activists and theorists, photographs, leads community workshops, makes collages, and if you’re impressed already, that’s merely a partial list of what she’s capable of. If your curiosity has been piqued, head on over to The Kitchen for a comprehensive look at Ayewa’s creative output and process. Though this is an art exhibition, it’s so much more than that; created as an accompaniment to her second solo album (and its subsequent instrumental accompaniment), the show delves into the album’s creation and inspirations by way of collage, film, soundscape, and poetry. On March 6 and 7, Moor Mother will take to the stage.

(image via Paradice Palase / Facebook)

It Just Sort Of Happens One Day
Opening Friday, February 23 at Paradice Palase, 7 pm to 10 pm. On view through March 11.

Do you remember realizing you finally feel at home? Or perhaps a time where you suddenly no longer felt this way after years of comfort? It just sort of happens one day, or so the people over at Bushwick gallery Paradice Palase seem to think. Their latest group show, featuring six artists, attempts to visualize the feeling of losing the anchor that is a place (literal or metaphorical) to truly call home, and how to move forward from that successfully. Or at least how to try. In addition to all the bells n’ whistles of a typical gallery opening (including that beer Vice makes), the reception will also feature live drawing from exhibition participant Eleni Zaharopoulos and a performance by Darlene.

Lynda Benglis
Female Sensibility, 1973
Video, 13 minutes, 5 seconds
©Lynda Benglis.
Courtesy of Video Data Bank http://www.vdb.org
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (via Luxembourg & Dayan)

Kiss Off
Opening Friday, February 23 at Luxembourg & Dayan. On view through April 14.

Valentine’s Day was last week, but maybe you just can’t get the whole “love and romance” thing out of your head. If so, congrats, your life is probably going decently, unless you’re plagued with thoughts of love and how it seems impossible to feel or achieve. However you’re feeling, you can observe other people mash their faces together at trendy UES gallery Luxembourg & Dayan’s latest show, Kiss Off, presented in collaboration with Italian curator Francesco Bonami. A varied spread of artwork from the near and nearer future, Kiss Off predictably is all about kisses and how they’ve been immortalized in paint, photographs, sculpture, and anything else. Expect to see meditations on lip-locking and more from notable names such as Willem de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Marina Abramovic and Ulay, Joan Miró, and more.

(flyer courtesy of Mountain Gallery)

The Texture of Want
Opening Saturday, February 24 at Mountain Gallery, 7 pm to 10 pm. On view through March 17.

You may know what wanting feels like, but what does it feel like? Is it furry, rough, smooth, sticky, velvety, or somehow all of these sensations at once? Perhaps the latest show at Bushwick’s Mountain Gallery, The Texture of Want, will give you some insight. Featuring the work of two artists, Dalia Amara and Olivia Swider, the show combines elements of photography and sculpture in order to explore notions of femininity, bodies, autobiography, and postmodernism. And if that isn’t enough to make you intrigued, Olivia Swider apparently once drank “several bottles” of Valentina hot sauce as part of a performance at Panoply Performance Lab, so I can only assume her mind is one of the more uh, interesting ones out there.