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Hank Willis Thomas

This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Winter is Coming

by Michael Anthony Farley on March 13, 2017

The week is of course dominated by two news items: The Whitney Biennial and The Wintery Downfall.

After the blizzard, Wednesday is a great opportunity to get yourself in the snowy mood, art-wise. Enjoy doses of culture from freezing, windswept regions, including Marsden Hartley’s Maine at The Met Breuer (if you’re missing the Whitney’s old digs) and Berlin-based Danish/Norwegian duo Elmgreen & Dragset in conversation with Dan Cameron at The Flag Art Foundation. Later, catch the Icelandic thriller Hevn at Scandinavia House’s New Nordic Cinema screening series.

Other highlights include Fort Gansevoort’s female-perspective sports show March Madness Thursday night and TRANSFER’s four year birthday party, which will feature affordable editions from some of our favorite digital artists.

Oh yeah, and make time to check out the Biennial. I’m told it’s good, but “traumatic”. An appropriately bleak show to match our physical and political climate?

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Nightmares Before Christmas

by Michael Anthony Farley on December 12, 2016

This week there’s not a lot of art stuff happening beyond holiday parties and craft fairs. One could say NYC’s taken an unexpectedly Middle-American turn in that regard, were it not for how morbid so much of the week’s happenings are. Tuesday night, scholars Sam Tanenhaus and Richard Wolin perform a post-election autopsy on the American Republic and speculate about its afterlife (hint: It’s not looking good) at CUNY. For a slightly less depressing evening, head to Ubu Gallery where German artist Heide Hatry is opening a new series of drawings made with the ashes of human remains. If that’s not enough mortuary holiday cheer for you, Con Artist Collective is throwing a fake memorial art show for the comedian Bill Murray (one of the few national treasures that hasn’t died in 2016). Thursday night we’re looking forward to a subversive holiday group show at Kate Werble Gallery, and a six-hour night of discussions about Art After Trump at Housing Works.

Friday night, things get a little less bleak city-wide. P! and Beverly’s are hosting events for a Bard CSS project that sprawls across Chinatown and continues with satellite events all weekend. At Brooklyn’s Orgy Park, a group show invites painters to make something collaborative, and in Queens, MoMA PS1 is throwing a holiday party for artists that looks totally bonkers. Have some spiked hot chocolate. After a week of thinking about Trump and death, you’re going to need it.

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This Week’s Must-See Art Events: Sports, Space and Sandwiches

by Emily Colucci Rea McNamara on May 31, 2016

Even after a lazy and steamy Memorial Day, the art world shows no signs of slowing down for the summer. Returning rested, refreshed and ready to go, this week is flush with performances from Itziar Barrio’s The Perils of Obedience to András Böröcz’s satire of artist’s practices, Leitz & Fuchs Escape Through the Chimney, to Cayla Lockwood’s tasty Free*Sandwiches and the inimitable Yvonne Rainier at The Kitchen. If live performance isn’t your style, this week also boast openings like the sporty Children’s Museum of Arts’ Game On! and Sardine’s starry-eyed Space Oddity.

And since it’s June, kick off Pride month with Visual AIDS’ First Saturday panel Women, Art, AIDS and Activism at the Brooklyn Museum and Natalie White For Equal Rights at WhiteBox. Who knows? Maybe you’ll feel radical enough to follow White on her two-week march down to D.C. starting July 8.

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This Week’s Must-See Events: Let’s See Frieze Best the 70-foot Bee Magnet

by Paddy Johnson on May 2, 2016

This is not the week to let your inner researcher go crazy. It’s Frieze week, which means there’s a mountain of events, all of which will seem essential to visit. After spending the day combing through all the talks, the openings, and the fairs we have a little secret we can let you in on. Very little of what we’ve read about constitutes a “must-see” for the average artist. We’ve gone through and selected what we think is actually relevant to artists. That means there are no galas, no co-branding kick-off parties, and no invitation-only events we can’t attend anyway. What we do recommend is Meg Webster’s 70-foot bee magnet at Socrates Sculpture Center, a round table discussion on why artist-run galleries are the bomb, and a Chucky-like doll by Jordan Wolfson we’re pretty sure will scare the crap out of you. Brace yourself.

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Monday Links: The Inflatable Doll Gets It

by Paddy Johnson and Rea McNamara on April 25, 2016

Watch star of the Japanese independent wrestling circuit and former headliner for New Japan Wrestling Kota Ibushi fight Yoshihiko, an inflatable doll. Incredible. There are so many different themes in this performance: sexuality, the body, the spectacle, humor not to mention the possibility of triumph without defeat. Also, this level of wrestling is no joke. According to AFC sources, this is one of the most physically dangerous matches they’ve seen that didn’t involve ladders or jumping off buildings. The 4:30 mark is where things really get off the hook. [Youtube]
AFC alumnus Corinna Kirsch discusses the evolving stop-and-start Twitter personas of Jayson Musson (@therealhennessy), Genevieve Belleveau (@gorgeoustaps) and Shawné Michaelain Holloway (@cleogirl2525). [art21 Magazine]
Lemonade is here. In case you were out of town this weekend, Beyonce flash-released Saturday night her latest visual album. It’s a wild ride — the “Formation” video was definitely a #blackgirlmagic teaser that got blown out into southern gothic afrofuturism reflections on black American womanhood. Oh, and it looks like Jay cheated on her, but they’re still tight because she dropped this on Tidal (#BeckyWithTheGoodHair). [Facebook]
One of Zaha Hadid’s final works, an oyster-like maritime terminal at the southern port of Salerno, Italy, will be posthumously inaugurated today. [artdaily.com]
Looks like bankruptcy is now the least of dealer Perry Rubenstein’s worries. He’s been accused of fraud—Rubenstein sold a work by Takashi Murakami to Eli Broad and according to documents, paid $825,000 for the work, while Rubenstein told consigner Michael Salke that the buyer had paid just $630,000. [Artnet news]
“The details of Knoedler’s collapse offer a kind of clarity that is typically nonexistent in this business, raising all sorts of questions about whether the lack of transparency at the high end of the art market will be viable in the future.” M.H. Miller weighs in on the behind the scenes of the Knoedler trial, and its legacy. [ARTnews]
Hank Willis Thomas has co-founded a super PAC. While For Freedoms lacks the bank roll of Priorities USA Action, the artist-driven PAC won’t support or oppose candidates, and will focus on support a national advertising campaign spurring dialogue on issues like campaign reform, racism and gender equality. Works by artist like Carrie Mae Weems, Rashid Johnson and Marilyn Minter will appear on billboards and subway ads, eventually culminating into a group show at Jack Shainman. [New York Times]
Myrna Ayad is the new director of Art Dubai. The UAE-based critic, editor and consultant replaces Antonia Carver, who was recently appointed the director of Art Jameel. [Artforum]
For artist Maria Eichhorn’s at Chisenhale Gallery in London, she’s shut down the gallery and office for 5 weeks, 25 days, and 175 hours. The gallery staff are not working. So, what’s for sale? A lucky institution can buy the rights to perform this piece. [The Art Newspaper]
Okay, this looks like an amazing raffle: Buy a $25 ticket and you could win a one month residency at Taipei Artist Village—treasure Hill and one month at Bamboo Curtain Studio anytime between January and June 2017. Raffle proceeds support Residency Unlimited, so the reasons to enter this raffle are only good. [Residency Unlimited]

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There’s So Much Giant Single-Word Public Artwork in New York City

by Michael Anthony Farley on April 20, 2016

Next month, Public Art Fund is installing a giant text piece by Martin Creed in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This will be one of three text-based sculptures in the area when it opens. What is up with New York’s love of big, single words?

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Hotel Art That Makes You Feel Richer: On 21c in Durham

by Paddy Johnson on November 6, 2015

I visited the 21c hotel in Durham North Carolina, which was established by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson as a means of housing their art collection.

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This Week’s Must See Art Events: We’re Throwing a Post-Apocalyptic Dance Party

by Paddy Johnson and Michael Anthony Farley on October 19, 2015

Tuesday night, we’re throwing a revolutionary dance party at Brooklyn’s Lovegun to celebrate our Fall Fundraiser. The world is a pretty dystopian place—and we need you to join the resistance. We’ll be collecting donations at the door; offering fabulous raffle prizes; and enjoying performances, DJ sets, and more post-apocalypstick than you can possibly scrub off your collar from Trey La Trash, Molly Rhinestones, Orlando Estrada and Ellen Degenerate.

But enough about us—if you survive tomorrow night’s apocalypse, you’re in for a week of solo shows opening, lectures from the likes of Ta-Nehisi Coates, open studios at the fantastic Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and several nights to see the weirdest beauty pageant imaginable from Psychic Readings Company. The week ends with an epic four exhibitions closing in Bushwick just after Sunday brunch time.

See? Art F City is always helping you navigate the treacherous wastelands of 2015. Won’t you help us survive?

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