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Abrons Art Center

The Best of Everything, 2016

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on December 30, 2016
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We were pretty sure 2016 was a stinker until we sat down to reflect on all that was good. Going through the images on our phones and our archives, we learned there’s actually quite a bit to celebrate. So much so, in fact, it took us an entire week to assemble this post. That’s quite a bit of time, but it was worth every minute. Here’s to all the artists, curators and performers that made our days and lives better this year.

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Art Is The New Black: An Interview With Tatiana von Fürstenberg On “On The Inside”

by Emily Colucci on November 11, 2016
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After Donald Trump’s election, private prison stocks soared. While this small but ominous tidbit might be overshadowed by the glut of other horrifying news pouring in since Tuesday, it makes On The Inside, a group show of incarcerated LGBTQ artists at Abrons Arts Center, that much more crucial.

Curated by Tatiana von Fürstenberg (yes, the daughter of designer Diane von Fürstenberg), the exhibition is an essential reminder that art can be harnessed for activism. Many shows claim to make the invisible visible, but rarely does the work come from the silenced populations themselves. Von Fürstenberg organized the show in collaboration with LGBTQ prisoner grassroots organization Black and Pink. They placed an open call for art in their monthly newsletter, which reaches 10,000 prisoners. The response was overwhelming, receiving around 4000 submissions from prisons in all fifty states.

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This Week’s Must See Events: So Many Open Studios

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on April 26, 2016
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Okay, this map above might be hard to read at this size (big one here), but it gives you an idea of the scale of Greenpoint Open Studios, which runs this weekend and will feature hundreds of artists. That kicks off tonight (Tuesday) with a meet-and-greet happy hour at Le Fanfare. Before that starts, head to Hauser & Wirth for a retrospective of midcentury painter Philip Guston. Wednesday, laugh (or maybe be scared) with Nao Bustamante at MoMA. Thursday, there’s a solo show of Anthony Cudahy’s funeral-inspired paintings at Mumbo’s Outfit in Geary Contemporary and a group show that positions artworks as set pieces at 99¢ Plus in Brooklyn.

The weekend begins with yet more open studios at SVA’s MFA program, followed by the IRL reception and performances for AC Institute’s current online exhibition. More online/offline fun is to be had late night in MoMA’s lobby, where social media artist/rapper Yung Jake presents a multimedia art and music experience that sounds like it will be quite the party. If you’re not too hungover, head to Greenpoint Open Studios on Saturday, followed by a bizarre-sounding Yale MFA show at the Abrons Art Center and a Xiu Xiu performance of music from Twin Peaks at the Kitchen. In a week of “must-see” events, that stands out as a can’t miss. Sunday, Michael Mahalchick’s solo show at CANADA promises to be weird and wonderful, and Greenpoint Open Studios wraps up with yet another party. Wear layers—the weather, like so much art, is going to be unpredictable while you’re trudging around North Brooklyn.

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In Review: American Realness at the Abrons Art Center

by Paddy Johnson on January 22, 2016
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Once a year “American Realness” takes over the Abrons Art Center to present two weeks of new and experimental dance-cum-performance. Last year, the pervasive theme running through the festival told a story of survival. It’s hard out there for an artist. This year, curator Ben Pryor assembled a group of performances focused on identity and institutional critique with a bit of self-reflexive formalism thrown in.

I saw too many performances to review, so what follows is a brief recap of my viewing, along with a few thoughts and reflections.

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This Week’s Must See Events: Bad Assery Abounds

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on January 11, 2016
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This week’s highlights include a performance by Yvonne Meier as a fur clad  baby-devouring witch, a show in a repurposed restroom and what we hope will be a lot of work by Alex Bag in a van.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Gallery Armageddon

by Paddy Johnson Michael Anthony Farley Rea McNamara on January 4, 2016
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Those who thought they’d ease into the work week after the holiday break will be sorely disappointed. Nearly every gallery in the city has an opening. Between the Abrons Art Center’s American Realness Festival opening this week and a rash of Chelsea and Lower East Side shows, your calendar will be full. And not just with the usual crap. Painter Jane Corrigan will debut fresh new figurative paintings at Feuer/Mesler—it’s her first solo show in two years. Grids, systems and minimalism take over The Kitchen, Cheim & Read and Lesley Heller, all in unrelated shows. And for those following all the climate change stories, Dana Sherwood’s exhibition at Denny Gallery focuses on our destruction of the earth. Assuming we survive long enough to see the show, it should be illuminating.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Sign of the Times

by Katie Waddell on March 17, 2015
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You got your art for poo-lovers. You got your art for flag-burners. And you got your art for astrology fans. Basically, it’s a special week for art. Viewer discretion advised.

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At Abrons, Avant-Garde With Bear Costumes

by Paddy Johnson on January 16, 2015
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By the end of this weekend, the AFC staff will have seen a total of 15 out of 21 performances at the “American Realness” festival at the Abrons Art Center– which, so far, has been defined by a mix of blow jobs, spray blood, DIY aesthetics, and self-referential institutional critique. On the messier fringes of these performances is Keith Hennessy’s “Bear Skin”.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Best Events of 2015 So Far

by Whitney Kimball on January 5, 2015
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Already, a couple art events have potential for our 2015 “Best of”s. The American Realness Festival returns with some of the best performers in town; Jayson Musson debuts a new web series; Angela Washko keeps pushing for feminism in gaming; some of our favorite Internet artists are on a new press release.

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The Ten Best Exhibitions of 2014

by Paddy Johnson on December 31, 2014
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With this job, you don’t always have a chance to write up all the exhibitions you saw and loved, so for me, the 2014 year-end review is a Godsend. It gives me a chance to give a shout out to everything I saw and loved. And this year, there was an awful lot of it. May 2015 be this bountiful and more.

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