The much-anticipated long holiday weekend is nearly here, and while many of us are busy planning our backyard barbecues or seeking rooftops for fireworks viewing, select Bushwick galleries will also be holding opening receptions Saturday and Sunday to add to the July 4th festivities. Check out this week’s Art Picks below for reception dates and times, and also don’t miss our list of shows closing soon- see ’em while you still can! And, of course, Happy Birthday, ‘Merica!
EDEN is ODETTA’s second exhibition, and features the work of five artists from New York and the Hudson River Valley: Michael Drury, Charles Geiger, Melinda Hackett, Lina Puerta and Sylvia Schwartz. As its name suggests, EDEN investigates the tropes of paradise, the mythologized landscape and man versus nature, illuminating the symbiotic relationship that exists between us and the natural world. Included in this exhibition are Charles Geiger’s quasi-botanical, biomorphic landscapes that evoke primordial life and ancient rituals, as well as Melinda Hackett’s intricately detailed paintings and prints of fantastical, abstract naturescapes. Working in dialogue with Melinda Hackett, Michael Drury’s creates embryonic sculptures that are suggestive of organic forms and ride the line between familiar and Other. Lina Puerta’s hybrid anatomical-biological multi-media sculptures explore the physical connections between the human body and nature, and Sylvia Schwartz’s site-specific installation Field of Grass represents the artist’s attempt to create a sense of grounded space for herself in response to her family history of displacement.
#2 Zoë Ligon, Ingrown @ Big Law Country Club (SUN 4–10)
On Sunday, Big Law Country Club in the Silent Barn will be hosting an opening reception for Ingrown, an installation by Zoë Ligon, alongside performances by Alaina Stamatis, Jake Dibeler, Lazurite and Tonstartssbandht. In an excerpt from the press release, Ligon states:
“The last time I had an ingrown hair, it was right in the crease of my crotch and my leg. At first I wanted to ignore it in order to avoid irritating it, but in a momentary loss of judgement I ran into my bathroom and squeezed that sucker until I was sure it would pop. I was expecting a satisfying trail of waxy pus to ooze out followed by disturbingly long pubic hair, but despite my best efforts, it was trapped beneath my skin. Then it hit me — I could use the same blade I use on my collages to extract the hair with one single slice. I retrieved it, and the hair was liberated with ease. I wiped off the blade, cleaned the area, and went on with my day.”
A sex educator and visual artist, Ligon creates provocative collages exploring the complex issues of sexuality, gender and power. Judging from her bio and statement, which reads as a frank and unapologetic diary of sorts with deliciously carnal imagery and onomatopoeias such as crotch, pop, pus, ooze, pubic and slice, Ingrown seems to investigate how we possess, comport and represent our physical bodies in private versus in public, illuminating how we actively carve out our own identities similar to the way Ligon slices her blade into her collages or even her own skin.
#3 Conclave: BOS2014 Recap @ Parenthesis Art Space (THU 6:30-9PM)
Come tonight to Parenthesis Art Space located at Brooklyn Brush Studios, 203 Harrison Pl., to reflect once again on this past Bushwick Open Studios event. What did it mean for Bushwick, you personally, and the art scene of our lovely neighborhood. Come, mix and talk, with the Bushwick art community.
Last Chance For These Shows!
A few exhibitions will also be ending this weekend, so don’t miss your last chance to see them before they close. Check individual gallery websites for hours of operation.
#5 Leeza Meksin, The AIRPLANE INSTALLATIONS: Indoor, outdoor site-specific work @ AIRPLANE (SUN 12-6PM)
Installed since Bushwick Open Studios, this is your final opportunity to see Leeza Meksin’s beautiful site-specific installations at Airplane. Leeza’s work explores the space of the gallery, both inside and out, playing with the armature and architecture of the existing structure. Her additions are like “architectural drag” where she explores what happens to an inanimate object when it is embellished and dressed up. Explore these concepts and the space – the works come down this Sunday!
#6 Sarah Sieradzki, Same Same @ Jackie Klempay (Through July 7th)
From the gallery’s website:
“The title refers to the linguistics term code-switching, which occurs when two or more languages are used in a single context or conversation. The exhibition includes a series of Arrangements, studio-based photographs of graphic printed fabric and reflective Mylar, alongside paintings imprinted by a marbleization process. Both bodies of work are informed by distortions of space and perversion of pattern.”
#7 Alain Kirili, Drawing in Space @ ArtHelix ( Through July 7)
From the gallery’s website:
Alain Kirili has long been recognized for his forged iron abstract sculptures and for his large-scale public works. His sculptures underscore his interests in verticality and modeling, his practice emphasizes the “aesthetics of spontaneity,” and seeks formal unity through the variety of materials. Kirili is employed in a quest for “organic simplicity.” He has received considerable critical interest and his work has been the subject of numerous gallery and museum exhibitions in America and Europe. He lives and works in Paris and New York.
