Our guide to new art shows and some that will be closing soon.
Group Show, The Least Orthodox Goddess IV, Jenkins Johnson Projects (207 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, Closes Oct 20th)
“The Least Orthodox Goddess IV” is a group exhibit that features the work of a diverse group of artists including Felipe Baeza, Darío Calmese, David Antonio Cruz, Delano Dunn, Jonathan Gardenhire, Billy Ray Morgan, Zachary Richardson, and Kiyan Williams.
The portraits of dark and light skinned bodies are unified by the curator’s effort to “dive into the idea of what constitutes female identity within the contemporary context: it looks at what it means to be a ‘goddess’ outside of the constraints of physiological or socially constructed expectations: what it means to be cis vs. trans vs. non-binary, what it means to be of color vs. black vs. white vs. brown, what it means to be subjugated and/or be venerated.”
It is because many of the female-identified persons depicted through this show’s portraiture have been victims of violence due to their gender, race, cultural affiliation and/or sexuality that this exhibit comes together not only to acknowledge violence towards those who have been othered but to “celebrate those who have been rendered invisible or unimportant by sharing their stories.”
Nathaniel Mary Quinn, The Land, Salon 94 Bowery (243 Bowery, Lower East Side, Closes Oct 27th)
One of the most celebrated artists of 2017, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, is presenting his latest work at Salon 94 Bowery.
In “The Land,” Quinn continues to produce pieces that superimpose features and body parts from different subjects. Quinn breathes life into these new pieces through his use of technique and materials. In his paintings “acrylic, charcoal, gouache, oil paint, paint sticks, and gold leaf” come together to bring to life hybrid and fractured portraits that successfully manage to balance “the beautiful and the grotesque, the sinister and the benevolent.”
This artist’s portraits are interesting not only because of his signature fusion of features and body parts. Quinn’s artwork is arresting because every single aspect of his paintings is enriched by his play with contrasting textures, colors, and materials.
Thomas Lendvai, Landscape, PROTO Gallery (66 Willow Avenue, Hoboken, NJ, Closes Nov 4th)
This exhibit in New Jersey is worthy of New Yorkers time. In “Landscape” the viewer will get lost in the contemplation of large-scale sculptures that stand almost as high as this gallery’s massive walls.
The reason why Thomas Lendvai’s sculptural pieces complement this gallery’s space so well is because these were “created for and installed in response to the dimensions of the gallery space.”
The result of this experiment? - an exhibit that allows its viewers to have an unobstructed view of these larger-than-life sculptures from all possible perspectives.
Katja Loher, What is the Color of Scent, C24 Gallery (560 W 24th Street, Chelsea, Closes Oct 27th)
This month, Katja Loher is transforming the C24 Gallery into “an ethereal world in which the viewer journeys through an enchanted universe altered by vision, sound, and scent.”
In this exhibit, each of Loher’s circular sculptures, which play videos inspired by nature and its self-organizing systems, are matched with unique aromas and sound. The result? A fully immersive sensorial experience where viewers’ senses of sight, smell, and sound are engaged and stimulated.
Martine Gutierrez, Indigenous Woman, Ryan Lee Gallery (515 W 26th St, Chelsea, Closes Oct 20th)
In “Indigenous Woman,” artist Martine Gutierrez uses high fashion magazine’s glossy framework to play with perception and to retake agency over her representation as “a transwoman, a latinx woman, a woman of indigenous descent, a femme artist and maker.”
Gutierrez made sure that for this show the representation of her intersectional identity was fully within her autonomy. This is why “all photography, modeling, styling, makeup, hair, lighting, graphic design, and product design” were executed by the artist.
Gutierrez uses the representation of her fluid identity, of her delicate features, curvaceous body, and full lips to push for a different portrayal of “millennial nonbinary transwomen of color.” In here this artist uses her image as a means to “subvert cis, white, Western standards of beauty and raise questions about inclusivity, appropriation, and consumerism.”
Daniel Arsham, 3018, Galerie Perrotin (130 Orchard Street, Lower East Side, Closes Oct 21st)
Daniel Arsham might just be the world’s most famous installation artist. His work has been shown all over the world from Paris, Tokyo, Washington, and New York and his exhibits are supported by celebrities like Pharrell Williams.
“3018” marks Arsham’s fifteenth exhibit with Perrotin since he joined the gallery in 2005. In this exhibit, the artist continues to explore his signature “Future Relic” theme—“an ongoing project that envisions how common objects of our time will be seen by future archeologists.”
The highlights of this show are Arsham’s eroded sculptural models of two cars—a 1981 Delorean and a 1961 Ferrari 2050GT California, both of which are featured in cult classics Back to the Future and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, respectively. These two pieces have been in development for the last nine years, as Arsham to took his Instagram last month to post a sketch of these sculptures dated 2009.
Yasumasa Morimura, In the Room of Art History, Luhring Augustine Bushwick (25 Knickerbocker Avenue, Brooklyn, Closes Nov 17th)
Yasumasa Morimura’s photographs won’t be completely foreign to this show’s viewers.
In the Room of Art History, Morimura appears in full disguise at the center of masterpieces by Caravaggio, Vermeer, Magritte, and van Gogh. Although Morimura’s pictures are not exact duplicates of these paintings, “they bear an uncanny resemblance to their respective sources, operating in a space in which fiction blends with reality, and thereby disrupting the audience’s preexisting associations of the depicted subjects.”
Through this show, viewers are given the opportunity to reimagine old masterpieces, but also to admire Morimura’s intimate encounters with these artists’ and their most important pieces.
Firelei Báez, Joy Out of Fire, Studio Museum (144 West 125th Street, Harlem, Closes Nov 24th)
Joy Out of Fire continues Firelei Báez’ longstanding effort to change the way in which women,
particularly Afro-Caribbean/Afro-Latina women, have been represented in visual culture and throughout history.
Baez’ work portrays women from different socioeconomic backgrounds and historic eras, intentionally highlighting important females of color, that according to the artist, “have historically been overlooked or thought of as tangential to their male counterparts.” She does this by blending their portraits with “archival photographs, notes, diaries, letters, and manuscripts,” relevant to their histories and narratives.
The artist’s choice to create wall-length canvases from which large portraits of female figures emerge in striking, bright colors, aides Baez’ intent to portray Afro-Latin women as powerful and beautiful.
Judith Eisler, Riffs. Jarman's Caravaggio, Casey Kaplan (121 West 27th Street, Chelsea, Closes Oct 20th)
Another re-imagination of Caravaggio’s masterpieces is on display this month. In here you will find Judith Eisler’s re-invention and re-interpretation of this master’s pieces as well as of his sources of inspiration.
Now that you know what galleries to head out to, do you know what you should wear? Let us help you out with some gallery fashion tips!