Joey Falsetta’s photo of Amanda Lepore (L) and Platon’s photo of a Philip Treacy headdress for Alexander McQueen (R) are two of the works on display at Modern Love Club’s “Men I Love and Other Things I Think About.”
- One of the most unconventional art spaces in the East Village, Modern Love Club, has opened an all-male group show. The “gallery” is actually a matchmaking service’s storefront. Amy Van Doran, the matchmaker/gallerist has thus far been running the space as an exclusively female-artist-focused exhibition space. Now she’s tapped curator Gabrielle Sirkin for the tongue-in-cheek-titled show Men I Love and Other Things I Think About. None of the art seems to have anything in common beyond the fact that the makers have penises, but hey, that’s just the inverse of how all-women shows are curated most of the time. Beyond that, a lot of the work looks pretty good, if not overhung in the cramped space. It’s up through July 14th. [Cool Hunting]
- Artist Zissou Tasseff-Elenkoff is opening a new gallery in Chicago, All Star Press, that will feature exclusively art about sports. Is there even enough sports-themed art in the world to keep a gallery roster full? [dna info]
- The Srihatta-Samdani Art Centre and Sculpture Park will be Bangladesh’s first major contemporary art museum, with 5,000 sf of galleries, 10,000 sf of residency space for artists, and acres of landscaped gardens. It’s the brainchild of collectors Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, who have previously organized biennials and other events to draw attention to the impoverished country’s art scene. [Smithsonian]
- A megaproject at 80 Flatbush will include much-needed studio space for artists in Downtown Brooklyn. Alloy Development is partnering with BRIC to renovate the building at 505 State Street into free studio space for artists in BRIC’s residency program—doubling the organization’s capacity. This is one of several good decisions Alloy has made in the 80 Flatbush project. It’s an all-too-rare case of a developer starting a project by speaking to neighbors first to see what an area needs. Here, that means preserving the existing historic buildings on the site as cultural space and building vertically to create space for new schools, neighborhood retail, and nearly 900 mixed-income apartments in addition to a profit-generating office tower. More developers should approach projects this way—if you get your neighbors on board with planning from the beginning, it’s easier to fudge zoning and avoid endless lawsuits. [Curbed]
- In other development news, the ridiculous-hipster-amenity-laden luxury rental tower Urby (the new Jersey City skyscraper that looks like stacked boxes… it’s kinda cool) will be launching an artist in residence program with Mana Contemporary. Will resident artists have access to the DIY apothecary classes, saltwater pool, and morning meditation deck? One can only hope. [Dezeen]
- Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have failed to disclose their multi-million-dollar art collection in financial papers related to their roles in the Trump administration. The couple is claiming the collection is just for “decoration” and not an investment. That’s certainly a murky distinction—one the Trump clan seems to blur with cosmetic procedures as well. [artnet News]
- Yay! Artists Space will be reopening in a new location in TriBeCa sometime in 2018. The nonprofit left their longtime home on Greene Street because the owner wanted to create a penthouse. Here, though, they’ll be leasing 8,000 sf spread over two floors from art lovers—their new landlords are Gerry and Martin Weinstein. Martin Weinstein is the cofounder of Art in General. [ARTnews]
