This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Rafaël Rozendaal and Thanksgiving Horror

Here’s a must-see for your feminist film education. In 1986, director Lizzie Borden conducted interviews with sex workers, and made a film about three women at an upscale brothel. The film is one of the few of its kind, in that it approaches the job like any form of blue-collar labor.

This sounds unexpected! “Suddenly, there” aims to show discoveries that break the flow of the creative process and lead to new and better ideas, using work from New York-based artists from 1973-2013. The artist list seems to underscore that, with people like Ian Pedigo, who only needs a scrap of lint and some sand to make you think about the nature of the universe. The show also includes: Michael Alan, Eve Bailey, András Böröcz, Matías Cuevas, Dave Hardy, Siebren Versteeg, Clinton King, Daniela Kostova, Thomas Lendvai, Alan Lupiani, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Robert Morgan, Christopher Moss, Joe Nanashe, Jamie Powell, Armita Raafat, Mónika Sziládi, Tamas Veszi, and Aaron Williams. Curated by Eileen Jeng and Tamas Veszi.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, so there’s probably no better time to unbuckle and sit down for some junk films. Kim Jong Il Propaganda films should be a laugh riot! These will be followed by Blood Rage, a Thanksgiving horror film that comes with this description: “ it’s up to Todd to stop his murdering sibling before he fucks up Thanksgiving for everyone … PERMANENTLY.” We’re so excited.

There are other ways to celebrate the holidays, and those include east-meets-west cultural collisions inspired by Japan and choreographed by hip-hop artist Akim Funk Buddha. Based on YouTube evidence, it looks like this will involve a melee of live performaces, hip hop, dancing, and generally funky energy.

Well, this exhibition seems just right for Black Friday. The floor of the gallery will be covered with over a million U.S. dollars, shredded for a carpet effect. Alongside this extravagance, Stefan Bondell’s paintings of floating silhouettes will be on view, coupled with a poetry reading on December 12 featuring Jonas Mekas, Bob Holman, and Lizzi Bougatsos, among others.

How does a net art perspective define the way you approach painting? You may find the answer in how Rafaël Rozendaal’s flowing browser paintings translate to a new series of lenticular prints at Postmasters. Given how ubiquitous Rozendaal is in net art, and how well-trafficked his sites are in general, we’re pretty surprised to hear that this is his first New York solo show. It should be a must-see.

Also a must-see: Postmasters’ concurrent group show Casting a Wide Net pulls together net art leaders, then and now. Artists will include Olia Lialina, JODI, Wolfgang Staehle, Eva and Franco Mattes, Constant Dullaart, Oliver Laric, Petra Cortright, Katie Torn, Austin Lee, and Rollin Leonard. Talks start at 5:30.