Betty Tompkins, “Artistgirl,” acrylic on canvas, 2013 (private collection / image courtesy the artist)
Who: Nancy Grossman, Marilyn Minter, Betty Tompkins, Laurie Simmons, and Glenn Fuhrman
What: Artist talk
Where: The FLAG Art Foundation, 545 West 25th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves., ninth floor, 212-206-0220
When: Tuesday, May 10, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: In case you haven’t been paying attention, FLAG founder Glenn Fuhrman has been hosting a series of conversations at his Chelsea gallery with some pretty big-time players and up-and-comers, including Jeff Koons, Sean Scully, and Awol Erizku. On May 10, he’ll be convening with a terrifically impressive quartet of artists, Nancy Grossman, Marilyn Minter, Betty Tompkins, and Laurie Simmons, to discuss Tompkins’s exhibition “WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories: 1,000 Paintings by Betty Tompkins,” which continues at FLAG through May 14. The exhibition consists of one thousand small-scale, hand-painted acrylic on canvas works that feature words and phrases used to describe women, including “Total Babe,” “Epic Bitch,” “Girly Girl,” “Arm Candy,” “Put a Bag over Her Head,” and “Will She Ever Shut Up?” (In her request for words and phrases from others, Tompkins explained, “They can be affectionate [honey], pejorative [bitch], slang, descriptive, etc.”) You better watch out, because this should be one exciting, illuminating evening.