by Michael Anthony Farley on August 12, 2016
Last week I had the pleasure of participating in The Contemporary’s first artist retreat. The first, I hope, of many. For four days, 50 artists from Baltimore joined dozens of “consultants” and “guests” that included national arts professionals and artists, representatives from nonprofit organizations, gallerists, curators, and critics at a Jewish retreat center with a farm in rural Maryland. The program included presentations from artists, numerous panels and workshops, and one-on-one meetings; all catered towards networking or “this weird vortex hellhole that is professional development for artists,” as director Deana Haggag described it. What follows is a diary assembled from the notes I ended up scribbling near-constantly.
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by Michael Anthony Farley on August 8, 2016
Has the art world been getting lonely in a slow summer defined by gallerists and museums phoning it in from the beach? That might explain why so many art people seem to be planning something fun and social this week, from a Monday night campy screening of a Paul Morrissey film starring Warhol Superstars to open studios across Brooklyn. Wednesday, both BRIC and American Medium are hosting events for artists to relax and mingle, and out by the Hamptons, the Parrish Art Museum is throwing a Grey Gardens costume contest on Thursday. If you can’t make that trek, pass the time in Yiyang Cao’s debut New York exhibition. Friday, head to Bushwick for a night of openings at Tiger Strikes Asteroid and Underonk, both of which promise to be pretty fun. Saturday night, catch up on the latest episodes of fake reality TV show “Sad Girls Club” (trailer above) at the Anthology Film Archives, which is pretty much a party in and of itself. Finally, Sunday marks the last chance to score a smiley face portrait from Nobutaka Aozaki in Corona, followed by more open studios, DJs, and more at Red Hook’s Pioneer Works.
This might not be the best week for delving into heady art in Chelsea or museums, but it’s sure a good time to embrace campiness and fun, even in the stuffiest reaches of Long Island.
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