(image courtesy of The Untitled Space)

Defining Form
Opening Wednesday, July 11 at The Untitled Space, 6 pm to 9 pm. On view through August 1.

When one thinks of sculpture, it’s likely the old masters of yore come to mind: Donatello, Michelangelo, Bernini, even more modern creators like Duchamp and Calder. Something else these artists have in common, in addition to their acclaim and skill, is their gender. Surprise surprise, like most art historical figures, they’re all men. New group show Defining Form seeks to introduce the public to a new, more diverse generation of sculptors. Over 50 artists are participating in the exhibition, which features common motifs of feminism, unconventional materials, and technologically-advanced ways of creating art, such as 3-D printing. So, come and have your notions of what it means to be a sculptor expanded.

Left: Doug Ashford, Photographs of Paintings Carried to Places where the Movement for Democracy in South Korea Happened, and Four Examples of what was Produced (2006), pigment and gold on wood, hardware, photographs, dimensions variable; Top right: Steve Prince, Salt of the Earth (2017), lithograph, 22”x30”; Bottom right: Michelle Westmark Wingard, Allie Wingard, and Naomi Wingard, We Will Build Ladders 6 (2016), digital c-print, washi tape, permanent marker, 16″x20″ (image via Equity Gallery)

Peaceable Kingdom
Opening Thursday, July 12 at Equity Gallery, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through August 23.

If there’s a buzzword that has defined the news cycle of the past week or so, it’s likely to be “civility.” Despite the very real violence and bigotry happening, some people have been making a bipartisan effort to plead with people, asking them to please just be a little more polite, I know families are being torn apart and human rights are being threatened with removal, but can’t we all just get along? This philosophy isn’t new; it was a cornerstone of painter and Quaker minister Edward Hicks’s 100-painting series Peaceable Kingdom, created in the 19th century and depicting imagery such as colonizers and Indigenous people existing in harmony. Of course, reality looked a lot different, just as it does now. Equity Gallery’s exhibition asks seven artists to create work that responds to Hicks’s paintings, and inevitably, today’s political climate and whether or not it is truly possible to all get along.

(image via John Chaich)

Trisha
Opening Thursday, July 12 at Ace Hotel New York, 7 pm to 9 pm. On view through August 31.

Queer Canadian artist Vivek Shraya wears, as they say, a lot of hats. In this age of the gig economy, being a bit of a multi-hyphenate is highly common (typically out of necessity), but Shraya evades being a jack of all trades and master of none, showcasing a mastery of many disciplines. She has a song that’s been remixed by Peaches, she teaches at a university, she has her own book imprint, the list goes on. Starting Thursday, Shraya will be opening Trisha, a solo exhibition of photographs created in collaboration with Karen Castillo that portray Shraya recreating photos of her mother from the 70’s. When Shraya began her gender transition, she noticed more of a similarity between her and her mother than ever before, and these photos tell a story of both familial bonds and how we shape and construct our gender presentation over time from the things and the people we know.