I feel a buzz in the air as New York slowly begins to wake up from its winter deep freeze mode. Signs of life are promising as we shed some of our layers, change out our winter boots for more festive options, and feel less inclined to stay in with a bottle of wine and Netflix. This could not come at a more opportune time as this week Bushwick’s art offerings are richer than ever! More than a dozen openings this weekend range from performance and experimental to the more traditional, and there’s bound to be a little something for everyone. Here are our top ten!
#1 Space Heater @ Harbor (SAT 7-10PM)
Harbor Gallery always aims to be an incubator for emerging artists in Bushwick, and this weekend they take this goal literally! Space Heater is a group show featuring artists utilizing warm color palettes and changing the way we traditionally think of space. The artists work with their materials to distort, twist, multiply or minimize space, all the while pulling the viewer in with them.
#2 Upon the Skin @ 49B Studio (FRI 6-9PM)
This show seeks to explore the role that clothing plays a role in emotion. Whether used as protection, a disguise, or a way to express oneself, regardless of how ubiquitous clothing may seem, it is directly tied to our psyche and the way we interact with our physical world. A few of the artists in the show are designing clothes specific emotions, as artists Jiyoung Yoon and Yuchen Chang, while others like Vincent Tiley’s and Xu Wang focus more on the ritualistic components and the way the garment is activated by the body inside of it.
#3 Think of YR Future @ Grace Exhibition Space (FRI 9PM)
Grace Exhibition Space never disappoints, and this Friday should be no exception. Changing up their program slightly this time, Grace will be featuring live performance as well as video works by several artists. All of the works are informed by the concept of fame, success, and the pressures of preparing for the future. While it is impossible to know what to expect, I personally cannot wait to see how the artists approach the intangible concepts presented.
#4 Outside(r) @ Associated Gallery (SAT 7-10PM)
Toying with the phrase “outsider art,” or art that exists outside the academic and historical canons of traditional art making, the new show at Associated Gallery takes the meaning to a different level to that of art that transports one outside, both literally and figuratively. In today’s art world where (almost) anything goes, Outside(r) seeks to focus on the work of artists whose creativity might set them outset the normal realm of contemporary art, while also spotlighting artists working on art projects outdoors, like Angela Beallor and Kate Sopko who created rudimentary fort-inspired structures in Texas, or like Arthur Matuszewski, an artisan-trained glass blower toeing the line between art and craft. Walk with these artists as they continue to blur the edge of what constitutes contemporary art.
#5 Jeff Baij: Yautja Moms & Melissa Sachs and Cameron Soren: Freelance Hellraiser (Studio Visit) @ Interstate Projects (FRI 6-9PM)
Well known for his web-based works that combine technology with the never-ending bombardment of cultural and consumer images, in his first solo show Jeff Baij will translate this aesthetic into the gallery setting, while still maintaing his signature expression and energy. In a concurrent exhibition, Melissa Sachs and Cameron Soren’s Body by Body similarly draws inspiration from the internet and pop culture. While Baij’s new work seems to draw a calm abstraction from the noise and chaos, Body by Body embrace the messiness and disorder with their installations.
#6 Ashen Branches, Vibrant Keys @ Wayfarers (FRI 7-10PM)
Seeking to bring a little spring into the deadness of winter, Charlotte Evans’ paintings and sculptures by the collaborative team Adam Frezza & Terri Chiao bring color and vitality into these bleak days. Painted from memory, Evans’ paintings recall her recent travels, filtered by her experience. Frezza and Chiao’s Paper Forests appear to be popping up into life. Walking into this bright space will make you forget it’s February… for a minute.
#7 Rubberneck @ Lorimoto (SAT 6PM)
Dealing with the common human tendencies toward curiosity and nosiness, Rubberneck at Lorimoto embraces these awkward moments of observation of something out of the ordinary. The artists featured in the show all focus on this less than idealized aspect of human nature differently. From painted images of disastrous car accidents, to the documenting of strangers’ reaction to an unusual citing in the city, each of the artists push the viewer to not only see the work, but see how they themselves react to it.
#8 Off The Wall @ Parallel Art Space (SAT @ 6-9PM)
Playing with the concept of painting that explores different expressions of space within the parameters of the canvas and the flat wall, the artists in Parallel Art Space‘s Off the Wall exhibition push the illusion of depth or flatness beyond the confines of the rectangle and literally off the wall into our actual space. Seemingly coming to life, the works by Gilbert Hsiao, Stacie Johnson, Alex Paik, Kim Tran, and Ken Weathersby stay attached to the wall but explore beyond it, causing the viewer to re-imagine the boundary between imagined and real space.
#9 Christopher Moss: King For A Day @ Theodore: Art (SAT, 6-8PM)
Who wouldn’t want to rule for a day? Christopher Moss does, or at least he will be soon at Theodore:Art. This new show of his recent paintings possess an energy and playfulness that disrupts some of the more traditional tenets of painting. Primarily working on a small (8×8 in) scale, Moss’s pieces often contain a face or anthropomorphic details that convey an emotion.
#10 I’m Not Here to Make Friends @ Morgan Avenue Underground (SAT, Doors 8PM, Performance at 10PM, donations accepted)
You know we all love to hate to watch it! This show at Morgan Ave Underground celebrates the proliferation of reality television in our culture with artists inspired by this ever-expanding genre and viewer’s fascination with getting a peak into the lives of everyone from the rich and famous to the bizarre and degrading. This is a one night multimedia installation with artists Raul Coto-Batres, Jenn Hyland, Ariel Italic, Sarah Jacobs, Jordan Rennert, and Lisa Rosenberg exploring the nature of this fascination with pseudo-reality, alongside Bad Girls Club themed DJ set by Accident Report and the Warm Leatherettes.