This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Propaganda for the Digital Age

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on January 23, 2017 Events

Today and tomorrow New Yorkers will be saddled by this terrible Northeaster storm, but that shouldn’t stop you from attending Hannah Cole’s talk on artist taxes today or Judith Bernstein’s talk and book launch dubbed dicks of death tomorrow. They’re too important to miss. By Wednesday art lovers will be able to head to the Lodge for an opening of John Wellington’s dystopian history paintings, and on Thursday to the New York City Ballet to see electronic artist Dan Deacon’s “America” set to ballet. We’re particularly looking forward to seeing the ballet given Deacon’s connection to the blog. He’s a Baltimore resident and a long time muse for the blog.

By the time the weekend sets in, it’ll be all talks moderated by Art F City’s Paddy Johnson. On Saturday she’ll be discussing how the Nevada Test Site has influenced the paintings of Eric LoPresti with Eric LoPresti. Sunday, she’ll be discussing the evolving roll of storytelling in American culture with Jack Early and friends.

All of which is to say there’s plenty to see and do this week. So let’s not delay. Put these dates in your calendar and plan to compare notes later on!

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  3. W
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  5. F
  6. S
  7. S

Mon

SVA Room 101C

133/141 West 21st Street
New York, NY
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.Website

Art, Technology, Ecology: A Talk by Artist Frank Gillette

Frank Gillette is known as both a pioneer of experimental video work and eco-conscious art practice. That might sound like an unlikely combo, but that’s part of why this promises to be an interesting talk. Gillette’s multi-channel video installations are informed by everything from cybernetic theory to observations of natural phenomenon, and his processes involve experiments with feedback and closed-circuit loops.

NYSRP

20 Jay St, Ste. M10
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.Website

Hannah Cole

Art F City and the New York Studio Residency Program (NYSRP) present Taxes for Artists, a talk by accountant, artist and AFC Columnist Hannah Cole. Cole is a tax expert who specializes in working with creative businesses and artists. In this talk, she’s going to make sure you get every deduction you’ve never thought about.

Tue

Swiss Institute

102 Franklin St
New York, NY
7:00 p.m.Website

Book Launch | Judith Bernstein: Dicks of Death

Judith Bernstein has been drawing dicks for more than half a century, because, in her own words, “men may own it in a bodily sense, but men don’t own the image!”

An artist after our own hearts, indeed. On the event of her publication launch, she’ll be joined in discussion by Hyperallergic co-editor Thomas Micchelli, who’s also drawn and painted his fair share of anatomy.

MoMA

11 West 53rd Street
New York, NY
8:00 p.m. Website

Alexandra Bachzetsis’s "Massacre: Variations on a Theme"

This performance commission from MoMA involves dancers and pianists and “positions the female body as a technological form caught between animism and automatism…”

I’m not familiar with Alexandra Bachzetsis’s work, but this sounds promising. The piece will be installed as a video during museum hours, but there will be live performances starting Tuesday. If you can’t catch the opening night, there are a few other chances to see it live:

Wednesday, January 25, 8:00 p.m.
Friday, January 27, 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, January 28, 8:00 p.m.

Wed

Gladstone 64

130 East 64th Street
New York, NY
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Website

Andro Wekua: A Dog's Fidelity

I’m not entirely sure what to expect from Andro Wekua’s latest installation at Gladstone 64. The description begins with a poem about dogs’ memories, promises seascapes and portraits that reference icons, and paintings inspired by video, collage, and sculpture. But if this painting that looks like a still from a parking garage surveillance camera is any indication, it should be good and strange.

The Lodge Gallery

131 Chrystie St.
New York, NY
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.Website

John Wellington: TEMPLE TOMB FORTRESS RUIN

John Wellington’s paintings are delightfully kitschy-dystopian—mashing up history painting, mythology, militarism, and pop-culture. A year ago, I would’ve likened his work to covers for really weird pulp sci-fi paperbacks. Today, I’m a little concerned these are eerily prescient of the world those creepy dancing “Freedom Kids” from Florida are going to inherit as adults.

Thu

Sean Kelly Gallery

475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.Website

James Casebere: Emotional Architecture

Photographer James Casebere created this series by painstakingly recreating models of Luis Barragán buildings. These tiny doll-house-like modernist masterpieces were then photographed, capturing the Mexican architect’s famously considered sense of light and color while adding an otherworldly sense of materiality and scale. These are so, so lovely and inviting.

David H Koch Theater

20 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY
7:30 p.m.Website

The Times Are Racing (World Premiere)

Dan Deacon’s album America (2012) feels so urgent and timely nearly 5 years later it’s crazy. The music is anthemic but uncertain, frenetic and driving. When it first came out, it felt like the soundtrack to American life post-Occupy. Deacon described the album as “inspired by my frustration, fear and anger towards the country and world I live in and am a part of.”

Now, the New York City Ballet is inaugurating a new show set to America, choreographed by Justin Peck. If the gorgeous promo video they shot in the subway is any indication, they’ve succeeded in capturing that energy. We can’t wait to see this.

Fri

Bridget Donahue

99 Bowery
New York, NY
12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.Website

Lynn Hershman Leeson: Remote Controls

We’re looking forward to American artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson latest solo show at Bridget Donahue. Aside from being a trailblazer in the field of new media and feminism, she’s spent a lifetime exploring issues of voyeurism and surveillance—issues that couldn’t be more relevant today.

This show will include an interactive video from 1979-82, a sexual fantasy video disc from 1984 and a two channel synchronized installation inside a dollhouse (1993-2011).

Sat

MoCADA

80 Hanson Pl
Brooklyn, New York
12:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.Website

Brown Paper Zine & Small Press Fair

3 Dot Zine, founded by artist Devin N Morris, is hosting a weekend-long zine fest at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts. The festival grew out of Morris’s realization that POC tend to be underrepresented in DIY publishing and zine culture.

Beyond vendors, the festival features programming such as workshops and screenings on Saturday and Sunday.

Elizabeth Houston

190 Orchard Street
2 p.m.Website

Eric LoPresti and Paddy Johnson in Conversation

IMG MGMT artist Eric LoPresti and Art F City’s own Paddy Johnson will discuss LoPresti’s recent work. LoPresti’s essay focused on massive scale land art and the Nevada Test Site, and his art work similarly focuses on the Nevada test site landscape and flora and fauna.

TRANSFER GALLERY

6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Website

Alma Alloro, Big Screen

Can’t miss an opening at TRANSFER if you’re into new media. This latest show by Alma Alloro promises to be a doozy – a series of large scale patchwork quilts used to make animated abstract films.

Quilting seems particularly relevant in the post-internet era, which similar to times when quilting took on a huge presence, requires collaboration and understanding of pattern making. Alloro’s work is less about collaboration, though, and more about imbuing early modernist work with a contemporary filmic sensibility. We’re expecting a room of good looking art.

Sun

The Wythe Hotel

80 Wythe Ave
3:00 p.m.

Post-truth Storytelling: The Personal Narrative in the Digital Age

Time for a bit of face to face talk, as an antidote to the never-ending social media wars.
This talk, which is lead by Jack Early and moderated by Art F City’s own Paddy Johnson, will include Richard Agerbeek and Leja Kress, Co Founders of SwedenUnlimited, Jacob Bernstein, Director of “Everything is Copy” and Paul Parreira, Founder at Company Cue. Together they will focus on how the democratization of media has affected storytelling. What narratives do we chose to believe? Which ones tells us who we are and who we want to become and which are corrosive falsehoods that erode our sense of wellbeing?  How do we navigate fact and fiction in this new world?
Unlike the usual food-free talks we’re all used to in the art world, this one will include fries and drinks. And those are all the ingredients necessary to really connect in this world!

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