7 Arts Shows to See in Bushwick Right Now: ATM Cigarettes Flowers Lottery and More

Sharon Lawless uses mixed media collage and sculpture to experiment with space and structure. Her pieces play with texture using found material like product packaging, fake fur, sheet metal, among others. The viewer’s perception of these three-dimensional works shifts as one moves around them. Lawless’ organized chaos is a must-see.

Multidisciplinary artist Mohammed transformed the Knockdown Center into a fictional thrift store, an immersive installation is meant to serve as a safe space for people of color. Set in Davohaime (a made-up city that gets its name from a combination of the names of the five most crowded black cities in America), the thrift store is filled with Mohammed’s own found and built objects. Mohammed will operate the shop every day as “Jimmy.” The faux-store will also have a music library, where guests are encouraged to share music with one another.

Get ready to feel really weird about your phone: Faith Holland analyzes our intimate relationships with our phones for her solo exhibit using “hybrid GIF-sculptures” of pornographic abstractions on furry and lubricated laptops, and tablets. “The Fetishes highlight the physical way we interact with our devices–caressing, prodding, and cradling them all day long.” A separate piece directs viewers to take off their underwear to optimize the experience, so be sure to bring an extra pair.

 Gwen Shockey displays the interviews, photographs, and prints from her extensive research on New York’s queer community. Along with the experimental sculpture work of Heather Lyon, Shockey crafts a refreshing New York narrative based around memory, vulnerability, identity, and a longing for community.

We all have a favorite bodega, whether it’s because they carry your favorite ice cream brand or you’ve built a friendship with the owner’s cat, your bodega is a staple of your daily life. This group show looks at the bodega dynamic, the aesthetics, origins, politics, and its place in our lives.

Shimon Okshteyn paints still lives of drugs on mirrored surfaces, rendering a complicated literal and figurative reflection of the self. The works explore a world void of moral rules or taboo. Test your limits in Okshteyn’s vice-friendly universe.

On the topic of alternate universes, consider Aaron Elvis Jupin & Zach Martin’s surrealist cartoon land. The duo’s respective painting and sculpture establish a lighthearted atmosphere comprised of abstract not-quite-characters. While their figures lack conventional faces and bodies, they’re personified by daring colors and playful silhouettes. It’s unlikely that you’ll leave this exhibit with a frown.