leslie-lohman museum of gay and lesbian art

Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Art After Stonewall, Political Portraits, and More Art This Week

By

(image via BRIC)

The Portrait is Political
Opening Wednesday, April 24 at BRIC, 7 pm to 9 pm. On view through May 12.

Portraits have become one of the most ubiquitous forms of imagery in our society. While their origins lie in fine art, today’s portraits can take any form, but the most common is surely the selfie. Some might argue the vast proliferation of selfies and such has diluted the significance of this form, but I’m more inclined to believe it has opened up the opportunity to start thinking more purposefully about portraiture; one must, to cut through the churn. The Portrait is Political, a “suite” of exhibitions opening at BRIC this week, seeks to reassert the power of depicting people in art. Jaishri Abichandani immortalizes Brooklyn’s South Asian feminists in paint, Texas Isaiah creates collaborative works with his subjects, and Liz Collins curates a sprawling spread of portraits from over 35 queer artists. More →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Art Exhibitions To Start 2019 With

By

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 →

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Art This Week: Psychedelic Collage and Meditations On The Unpleasant

By

(image via Nat Girsberger / Facebook)

Close Your Eyes
Opening Thursday, December 13 at The Storefront Project, 6 pm to 9 pm. On view through January 6.

Looking at Nat Girsberger’s collages, on view at the Lower East Side’s Storefront Project starting Thursday, is a good way to get lost in a kind of psychedelic fantasy land. Outer space, nature, animals, and human figures intermingle in landscapes with colors that seem brighter than what one would typically encounter in reality. In a time where the news feels more and more anxiety-inducing every day, it’s important to have little moments of escape, where we’re not filled with dread and instead perhaps wondering about the inner life of a deer standing among very large mushrooms standing on a vivid path that seems to be leading into the sun.

More →

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Queer Intimacy From Mapplethorpe and Goldin, Plus More Art This Week

By

Hikaru Fujii, The Primary Fact, video still, 2018, seven-channel video, 73 min. Courtesy of the artist. (image via ISCP / Facebook)

The Primary Fact
Opening Tuesday, June 26 at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through October 12.

Did you know there is a recently-excavated mass grave in Athens, Greece with contents dating back to 7 B.C., including “eighty shackled skeletons” with great teeth? Artist and current resident at the International Studio and Curatorial Program Hikaru Fujii does, and he’s spent a lot of time documenting and learning about this curious piece of history. The result of this work will be on view in The Primary Fact, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the U.S. It features predominantly video and photography, focusing on the “inconclusive scientific viewpoints” that have emerged about the grave, its contents, and its history. In addition to displaying actual imagery from the Athenian grave, Fujii also assembled a group of Greek men to recreate the choreographic moment of mass execution (presumably due to a political coup) that led to this grave in the first place. More →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Feminine Power, Queer Nightlife, and More Art This Week

By

“Summer Sisters” 2018 by Rebecca Leveille (image via The Untitled Space)

The End of Love
Opening Tuesday, May 1 at The Untitled Space, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through May 13.

For an exhibition sporting as foreboding a title as The End of Love, Rebecca Leveille’s paintings are so entrancing as to inspire a sort of optimism in the viewer. In addition to being strikingly beautiful, her paintings portray feminine beauty, bliss, and sexuality in a way that’s playful and mixes elements of realism and mythology, allowing for a mental break from the seemingly constant barrage of nonsense coming from the world. Leveille is no stranger to the realm of the fantastical, as she has previously created illustrations for Magic: The Gathering under the name Rebecca Guay. Looking to how the artist herself has spoken of this show, the connection between the title and the content begins to feel more clear. “What comes after delusions of ‘love?,’” she writes. “Feminine power and sexuality find new ground, as does an urgency to assert the female gaze.” More →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Art This Week: Edible Drawings, Fuzzy Dudes, and More

By

(image courtesy of Cooler Gallery)

Origins
Opening Tuesday, April 3 at Cooler Gallery, 7 pm to 10 pm. On view through May 19.

What is a Fuzzy Dude? I have some theories, but so does artist and director John McLaughlin, whose solo show Origins will give you a thorough introduction to these wacky creatures that have sprung from his brain. Appropriately, Fuzzy Dudes are beings covered in a stringy, colorful fur that recalls silly string, shaggy dogs, household mops, or something else entirely. They come from a “space-like” dystopian world, or so I’m told, but you can see them come to life on Earth by way of sculpture, video, and more. Watching these curious creatures feels almost like a psychedelic experience, as their multicolored, textured bodies run, jump, and sway. Their actions are humanlike, but their appearance is a lot more interesting. Why not take a break from the dreaded news cycle for an evening and go meet some otherworldly beings? More →

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Art This Week: Chapels, Cryptids, Self-Portraits

By

(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 →

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

Streetball Letterman Jackets, Art & AIDS, and More Exhibitions This Week

By

(image via Fort Gansevoort)

I’ve Been Heard
Opening Thursday, November 30 at Fort Gansevoort, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through

“Public Parks to this day exist as one of the very few remaining spaces that are designed to be democratic: free and open to all,” proclaims a statement for artist and boxing teacher Cheryl Pope’s latest installation at Fort Gansevoort. While the intent for a location isn’t always put into practice by all, it does remain true that public parks provide, or attempt to provide, such a freedom. Pope’s installation focuses on NYC youth, who often flock to parks and the street basketball courts that accompany them. After speaking with an array of young people, she created banner flags and “All-American Varsity Letterman Jackets” displaying some of their statements, elevating the words of youths who may be often ignored into literal fine art. More →

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Arts & Culture, news No Comments

This Museum Has ‘Expanded Visions’ For Queering and Preserving Art

By

Installation view, Expanded Visions: Fifty Years of Collecting, at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, 2017. (photo: Riya Lerner)

Despite the suffocating amount of luxury stores, there are still some small pockets of Soho that retain the neighborhood’s old gritty art spirit. As you pass The Performing Garage, where experimental troupe The Wooster Group and others still rehearse and perform, you’ll now encounter an new and improved iteration of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art. After lengthy renovations, the museum has reopened and nearly doubled in size with Expanded Visions: Fifty Years of Collecting, an exhibition rich in the history and scope of queerness and the artistic expression surrounding it.

More →

Tags: , , , , , , ,
news, Social Justice No Comments

Transgender Awareness Week: What To Do + Where to Donate

By

(flyer via Audre Lorde Project / Facebook)

(flyer via Audre Lorde Project / Facebook)

Life seems pretty bleak post-November 9, and even moreso when you consider that 2016 has been declared the “deadliest year on record” for transgender individuals in America, with 24 trans people– predominantly women of color– murdered so far.

This week, GLAAD’s Transgender Awareness Week continues, culminating on Sunday with the Transgender Day of Awareness. Founded in 1998 by a trans advocate in honor of trans woman Rita Hester’s memory, TDOR has been commemorated every year by vigils and other community-based events. Here are several goings-on this week, fun and solemn alike, that are either directly affiliated with Trans Awareness Week or serve to spotlight and lift up trans and queer individuals or groups.

More →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1 2