We’re seeing a spike in subject matter being shown in Bushwick and the surrounding borders – truthfully, it’s in the frenzied cuts of paint in John Legere’s upcoming show at Sugarlift. Legere cuts away the distractions of his subjects in “Maelstrom” opening Friday night, the same night as Todd Bienvenu’s second solo exhibition at Life on Mars Gallery: “Exile on Bogart Street.” Where wild abstractions give way to earthly expressions, other fine-tunings can be found at SIGNAL, Sardine and the 99¢ Plus Gallery.
#1 “Exile on Bogart Street” @ Life on Mars Gallery (FRI 6-9 PM)
56 Bogart Street
The Morgantown Catwalk’s main thoroughfare makes an appearance in Todd Bienvenu’s latest show at Life on Mars Gallery. The title “Exile on Bogart Street” references the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street, a nod to Bienvenu’s own rock and roll imagery, which has made its way onto the cover of Iron and Wine’s most recent album, and will be on Aziz Ansari’s current show on Netflix. Described by Hyperallergic critic Thomas Micchelli as “the wild man of Bushwickian figurative Expressionism, ” Bienvenu is setting out not to show us strippers, wrestlers and boozers, but rather what he sees around him and his subjects.
#2 “Maelstrom” @ Sugarlift (FRI 7-9 PM)
200 Morgan Avenue
Bermudian mixed media artist Jon Legere is mixing it up for “Maelstrom,” opening Friday, October 9th at Sugarlift. Frenetic paper cuts and dissected imagery braid together with paint and found materials to a point that Legere has done away with all distractions of recognizable imagery from the selected images. A form of urban recycling, where the pieces originate from printed matter found at coffee shops and newspaper stands, his work is described as a commentary on our oversaturated media diets.
#3 “Writing in Threads” @ 99¢ Plus Gallery (FRI 7-10 PM)
238 Wilson Avenue
Francesca Capone’s “Writing in Threads” opens Friday night at the 99¢ Plus Gallery, displaying email threads of woven-to-written collaborations between Capone and fifteen other artists. These threads are bared in the passing back and forth of information, from traditional cloth weaving and stitching, to compilations of digital messages through instant messengers, Twitter feeds, Facebook messages and other mainstream posting practices.
#4 “Towards an Inverse Sky” @ SIGNAL (FRI 7-10 PM)
200 Johnson Avenue
“Towards an Inverse Sky” is Bennet Schlesinger’s third solo show at SIGNAL. After “On The Bleached Sun (A Turbine)” in 2013 and “Atlas” in 2012, Schlesinger continues his study of space, nagivation and geographic location with steel structures and latex paintings on board, though with a lighter, out-of-this-world take on the matter and materials.
#5 “Thirsty” @ Sardine (SAT 6-9 PM)
286 Stanhope Street
In a poetic fine-tuning of materials, Janine Polak addresses the moments both remembered and longed after in “Thirsty.” Her second solo show at Sardine (there was “Shoulder Touch” back in April 2013), Polak imagines the things right and wrong with nature, sex and beauty, and applies her poetic fine-tuning to illustrate those moments of insight and observation without telling the viewer how to feel.
What to see during gallery hours this weekend
“Checkered History” @ Outpost Gallery (Gallery hours WED-SUN 1 – 7 PM)
1665 Norman Street, Ridgewood
“Checkered History” opened on October 2nd at Outpost Gallery, a non-profit arts organization through, Outpost Artists Resources. Applying “the grid of art and life” nearly 100 works by 60 New York artists illustrate how the grid is embedded everywhere in our environment and our culture, from our most intimate possessions to the screens on our TVs and phones. The exhibition also celebrates the use of the grid as a structural component, a design element, and a game in the creation of artworks.
“Checkered History” runs through October 30, 2015.
“Inside 200” @ Amos Eno Gallery (THURS-SUN 12-6 PM)
1087 Flushing Avenue, inside The Loom
“Inside 200” opened October 2nd at Amos Eno Gallery, showing new paintings by Mimi Oritsky. Gritty landscapes and terrains reign among the works of oil and gouache, conveying the lusciousness and plasticity that would be lost with only a casual glance at these outdoor scenes. Through uncommon orientations of the compact and open spaces, all traditional logic and perspective is lost as air and light take over nature’s natural rhythm within the works.