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Art Exhibitions To Start 2019 With

Image: Logan T. Sibrel, ‘Best-Case’, 2018, Pencil on paper, 6.75 x 5.25 in. Courtesy the artist. (image via Leslie-Lohman Museum / Facebook)

Better Loser
Opening Friday, January 4 at Leslie-Lohman Project Space, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through January 6.

It’s the new year, and most of us are probably reflecting on what we did over the last 365 days and what we can do to at least be marginally better. Rather than dream up a more perfect being, artist Logan T. Sibrel prefers to focus more on the flaws and complications of being alive, making drawings depicting people who are acting difficult, awkward, aroused, and sometimes all three at once. Deemed “a serious joke,” his mixture of words and images are reminiscent of a sort of existential comic book. Perhaps they’ll inspire you to finally think of a resolution, or maybe just to ditch the concept entirely. More →

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New York City’s ‘Gut Biome’ And More Art Opening This Week

(image via Storefront for Art and Architecture)

Subculture: Microbial Metrics and the Multi-Species City
Opening Tuesday, September 18 at Storefront For Art and Architecture, 7 pm to 9 pm. On view through January 12.

It’s no secret that the city is filled with all sorts of microorganisms—yes, even the kind you’d rather not think about. They’re there! Rather than focus on just the unsettling spores, a uniquely scientific new installation at the Storefront for Art and Architecture seeks to reimagine the city and the many neighborhoods and cultures it contains using the framework of the “human microbiome.” This posits that each city in the world, and each subculture or pocket within them, has their own “gut biome,” just like human beings do. The installation (by Kevin Slavin, Elizabeth Hénaff, and the collective The Living) normalizes the idea that there are microorganisms everywhere in a city, collecting them through wood in the exhibition space’s facade as well “bio-receptive wooden tiles” scattered throughout the city. This wood is then displayed and analyzed, simultaneously art and scientific specimen. More →

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Art This Week: War, Globalism, and Multiple Realities

Richard Mosse, Love Is The Drug, 2012 (image via apexart)

Light In Wartime
Opening Wednesday, June 6 at apexart, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through July 28.

War has been a near-constant in most people’s lives, whether they intimately know it or not. This exhibition, curated by Rola Khayyat, explores “the gap between understanding wars as historical happenings, and their fictionalized representations in the entertainment world, political realm, and collective consciousness.” Seeking to combine traditional documentary photographs with artistic metaphor and experimental development processes, the work in Light In Wartime predominantly depicts imagery that shows the aftermath of war, from sniper holes to newspaper articles. In viewing these new creations, we may start to form new thoughts about the information related to war we’ve been given for most of our lives. More →

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Here’s What It Looks Like When People Pie an Artist in the Face

(Photo courtesy of Jason Schmidt)

Jennifer Rubell has been on the receiving end of a pie-five for about nine nights thus far, and she still has 14 more to go. Since Feb. 8, the Meredith Rosen Gallery has been home to Rubell’s Consent, an exhibition of her newest works. Visitors have been invited to admire the artist’s paintings and, while you’re at it, smash a pie into her face.

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Meditations on Lip-Locking, and Other Art Shows to Catch This Week

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. More →

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Art This Week: Chapels, Cryptids, Self-Portraits

(image courtesy of Cooler Gallery)

Chiaozza Chapel
Opening Tuesday, February 13 at Cooler Gallery, 7 pm to 10 pm.

Everyone’s favorite Navy Yard industrial icebox turned gallery is at it once again with a new exhibition by artistic duo Chiaozza. While their show’s name, Chiaozza Chapel, may sound like an old piece of ornate architecture you’d learn about in art history class, their work is certainly very modern. However, it’s still an actual chapel, at least in the formal sense of the word. The duo has transformed a small 6’x7’ section of the space into a colorful, geometrical space for contemplation and gathering. If you’re old-school, think of the structure within as a kind of modernized, minimalist stained glass. Personally, I think it kind of looks like a nice, stylish condo for birds. More →

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Pie an Artist in the Face and Then Eat the World’s Biggest Bagel and Lox

Imagine this bagel sandwich, but 50 times bigger. Photo courtesy of Acme Smoked Fish

If you’ve ever wanted to throw a pie in someone’s face, now’s your chance. Jennifer Rubell, the conceptual artist who built a giant cookie jar resembling Hillary Clinton’s pantsuit, is inviting you to fling pies at her during a performance at the new Meredith Rosen Gallery, opening next week. Or maybe you’d rather stuff your own face with bagels? Head over to Brooklyn’s Acme Smoked Fish next Friday, where they’re building a super-sized (we’re talking a few hundred pounds here) bagel sandwich in honor of National Bagel and Lox Day.

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Art This Week: Continued Haunts, Queer Ceramics, and Planning Ahead For Death

(image via Leslie-Lohman Museum / Facebook)

Objectified
Opening Friday, November 3 at Leslie+Lohman Prince Street Project, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through November 5.

This swift three-day exhibition shows the work of queer ceramic artist Caitlin Rose Sweet. I first encountered Sweet’s work when I interviewed her about a show she was doing inspired by Bosch’s notorious triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights. Since then, she hasn’t stopped whipping up sculptural pieces that impressively mix elements of grotesque and feminine. Friday, her solo show Objectified is unveiled to the public, placing the queer femme body in all its manifestations on view. Sweet’s ceramic sculpture creations can resemble traditional craft art, domestic home goods, genitalia, gnarled fingers, and fantastical beasts all at once. Will you be entranced or spooked? More →

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Italian Anti-Capitalists, Bobby Cannavale at an Opening, and More Art This Week

Orchestra di stracci – vetro diviso (Rag Orchestra – Divided Glass) — Michelangelo Pistoletto, 1968
Rags, bricks, fabric, glass, kettles, steam, hot plates
2 glass panels, each: 0.4 x 130 x 90 cm / 1/8 x 51 1/8 x 35 3/8 in
Installation: 50 x 320 x 270 cm / 19 5/8 x 126 x 106 1/4 in (approx.)

Arte Povera
Opening Tuesday, September 12 at Hauser & Wirth 22nd Street, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through October 28.

When you think about Italian art, the Renaissance probably is the first thing to come to mind. However, as many of us have come to know far too late in life, what you were taught in your history classes is far from the whole picture. In this case, Italy is and has been home to a wide variety of artistic movements, and not all of them involved painting elaborate portraits for wealthy patrons. More →

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How Brazilian Designer Camila Rosa Became a Real Artist in NYC

(Photo: Camila Rosa on Instagram)

The only thing cooler than Camila Rosa’s woke af illustrations is the artist herself. Rosa has been working on her illustrations for seven years now, but since coming to America last year, her artwork has taken on a new meaning and several movements.

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