This Week’s Must-See Art Events: We’ve Got a Talk Show, Emojis, and a Death Match

You never know when and where you’ll find the future great artists of tomorrow. Chances are, some of them might be found in this year’s graduating class at Hunter. We’ve been to the Times Square gallery before, and that huge, sprawling space gives a great, uncluttered chance to see a sampling of work by each of the 25 students who’ll have work on view.

Using the organizing principle that every invitee’s name should begin with the letter p is pretty funny, but is that enough to spark actual conversation? I guess we’ll find out. Prem Krishnamurthy (P!), Parker Posey (yes, that Parker Posey), Alexander Provan (Triple Canopy), Ksenya Samarskaya (aka Postrophe) tend to have lots smart to say, so that part, at least, sounds promising.

From the press release: “Gleaned from the ceremonial caves of Purgatory, New York City, and Hell Holes beyond, Beasticon is a distinctly pungent selection of works by magnificently ungroomed creatures.” So, it’s just slightly more Hellish than SantaCon, right? We’re down.

An exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, arranged in pairs. We’re promised juxtapositions such as Mapplethorpe’s Self-Portrait (1980) in drag next to a portrait of the singer and actress, Amanda Lear (1976) and a photograph of a marble statue of Hermes paired with a human skull. In each case a contrast of body, identity, and purpose is made.

It’s not hard to understand what this art and design exhibition is about: emojis, those cartoons that give off a world of meaning with just a glance. It’s only up for two days, and with a kawaii pop-up shop of Emoji-related gifts from graphic tees to earrings.

Just because digital art got a slick, big-time auction with Paddles On! doesn’t mean net art has become too serious to poke fun at itself. On Saturday, Daniel Temkin will unveil NETVVORTH.com, an exhibition of works by the likes of Rollin Leonard, JODI, Petra Cortright, Eva & Franco Mattes and Aram Bartholl; all were asked to make anonymous ripoffs of any artist under the sun. The authors will be unveiled the night of the exhibition, but in case you can’t make it, Temkin’s made a glossy ripoff of high-gloss digital art and auction sites like S|edition and Paddle8, where you can purchase works in NETVVORTH.com. But only in Bitcoin, since this is still net.art, after all.

We’re excited for the return of Flux Death Matches—it’s been months since the last one. Held at the newly renovated Queens Museum, each of the three contestants (Tom Finkelpearl, Ben Davis, and Natalie Jeremijenko) will be egged on with questions on the pros and cons of biennials. Tom Finkelpearl and Ben Davis should be a great pairing; the two have been sparring online over the last few months over Ben Davis’s new book 9.5 Theses on Art and Class.

Join AFC’s Corinna Kirsch early Saturday morning for a talk on how to make a living as an artist after art school, and how to deal with the economic realities of being one art-fish out of many in the city. Honestly, the panel couldn’t be better; joining Corinna (who’s moderating) will be Bard and Goldsmiths faculty Suhail Malik; Postmasters founder Magda Sawon; curator Laurel Ptak; and artist and W.A.G.E. organizer Lise Soskolne.