this week in art

RICHARD POUSETTE-DART: EAST RIVER STUDIO

Beautiful Pousette-Dart show at Luhring Augustine includes paintings and wire sculpture (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Luhring Augustine
531 West 24th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Tuesday – Saturday through December 21, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
212-206-9100
www.luhringaugustine.com

Organized by Christopher Wool and Joanna Pousette-Dart, “Richard Pousette-Dart: East River Studio” comprises painting and wire sculpture produced by the Minnesota-born Abstract Expressionist while living and working in a former brewery on East 56th St., including works that has not been seen by the public since they were originally displayed at the Betty Parsons Gallery more than five decades ago. Wool and the artist’s daughter have hung the show beautifully, giving each piece plenty of room to breathe in the spacious Luhring Augustine gallery, allowing visitors to take their time appreciating the enticing black, white, gray, and yellow palette employed by Pousette-Dart, especially on such exemplary works as “Bridge Horizon,” “Dragon Head,” and the nearly blinding “East River Sun.” Vertical wire sculptures such as “The Woman with a Horn” and “Arc of the Bird” are mounted on pedestals, while “Untitled (The Web)” resembles a framed painting from afar but is actually composed of twisting brown wires and found objects. “I strive to express the spiritual nature of the Universe,” Pousette-Dart explained in 1947. “Painting for me is a dynamic balance and wholeness of life; it is mysterious and transcending, yet solid and real.” All of those elements are on view through December 21 at this delightful show at Luhring Augustine.

MATTHEW STONE: OPTIMISM AS CULTURAL REBELLION

Matthew Stone optimistically melds the past, present, and future at the Hole (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The Hole
312 Bowery
Tuesday – Saturday through December 10, 12 noon – 7:00 pm
212-466-1100
www.theholenyc.com
www.matthewstone.co.uk
optimism as cultural rebellion slideshow

Matthew Stone is the very embodiment of the twenty-first-century artist. The twenty-nine-year-old Camberwell graduate is a painter, sculptor, photographer, techno composer, curator, performance artist, provocateur, music-video director, interviewer, art theorist, DJ, shaman, and event host. This past March, he collaborated with Catherine Borra on “The Next 100 Years,” which was about nothing less than “the future of art.” Stone, a protégé of Terence Koh’s and a leader of South London’s !WOWOW! art collective, which made a name for itself through its squat parties, has installed his first major U.S. gallery show at the Hole, a stunning collection of photographs on wooden boards that reaches back into the classical past while also foretelling the next generation of art. Evoking the name of his 2007 debut solo show at London’s Union Gallery, “Future Hindsight,” the new “Optimism as Cultural Rebellion” is based on Stone’s belief that “optimism is the vital force that entangles itself with and then shapes the future.” Upon first glance, it appears that the British artist has created classical-style paintings that recall Caravaggio, Michelangelo, and other Renaissance masters, but it turns out that they are actually photographs printed on birch and, in one case, fabric, making the two dimensional three dimensional. Many of the works are made of frames that have been folded into sculptural pieces set on the floor or dramatically arranged on wooden cubes. As realistic as the images appear to be — one work lies flat on the floor, actual drapery emerging from it — closer inspection reveals impossible poses and body formations. Amid all the cynical negativity prevalent in the art world today, Stone offers a fresh, nearly irresistible alternative, sticking it to the status quo with a calm sense of optimism that is both beautiful and stirring. (Also on view at the Hole through December 16 is Matt Stone’s “Residuum,” consisting of sculptures in a variety of materials and colors in the rear gallery; Matt Stone, an SVA grad who was an assistant to Judy Pfaff and is currently assisting Marilyn Minter, is not related to Matthew Stone, and yes, their shows were put together primarily because of the similarity of their names.)

MELORA GRIFFIS: WINGS AND MURMURS — THE PAINTINGS TALK BACK

Melora Griffis, “bruised kite hope flares,” acrylic, gouache, and pastel on paper, 2010 (courtesy of the artist and 571 Projects)

571 Projects
551 West 21st St. #204A between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Thursday, December 8, free, 7:30
Exhibition on view Tuesday – Saturday through December 16, free, 12 noon – 6:00 pm
212-229-0897
www.571projects.com

In “wings and murmurs,” Melora Griffis’s intimate new solo exhibition at 571 Projects in Chelsea, many of the works feature variations on women’s faces, from the self-portrait “against the wall,” in which the painter, performance artist, and actress holds tight against the right side of the canvas, as if trying to hide from the viewer, to “sister,” which depicts a woman who looks like she has just been through a prizefight, and “unsichtbar,” in which the top part of the subject has been painted over in white, her face and head disappearing into the background. A bold mix of abstraction and figuration with a liberal use of white paint that melds into the small gallery space’s stark white walls, “wings and murmurs” beautifully displays Griffis’s confident brushstrokes and haunting color scheme, particularly in the ghostly “bruised kite hope flares,” which greets visitors as they enter the room. The show runs through December 16, with a special free event scheduled for December 8 at 7:30, “the paintings talk back,” in which poets Betty Harmon, Alystyre Julian, and Shelley Stenhouse will read pieces inspired by Griffis’s work, followed by an open dialogue and a musical performance by the artist.

THE BROOKLYN COMICS AND GRAPHICS FESTIVAL

The charming Galit Seliktar will be signing copies of her highly praised FARM 54, written with her brother, Gilad, at the Fanfare / Potent Mon booth at 4:00 & 7:00 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church
275 North Eighth St. at Havemeyer St.
Saturday, December 3, free, 12 noon – 9:00
www.comicsandgraphicsfest.com

The third annual Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival returns today to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Williamsburgh, featuring an impressive lineup of guests, exhibitors, and special events from 12 noon to 9:00. Admission is free to see such industry favorites as Chip Kidd, David Mazzuchelli, Adrian Tomine, John Porcellino, Sam Henderson, Mark Newgarden, Lisa Hanawalt, Kim Deitch, Brian Ralph, Gary Panter, Dash Shaw, and MAD’s Jack Davis, along with such exhibitors as Acti-i-vate, Drawn & Quarterly, Fanfare / Potent Mon, Fantagraphics, the Jack Kirby Museum, Rabid Rabbit, Top Shelf, and dozens of others. Programming highlights include a Q&A with Davis at 1:30, a “Gestural Aesthetics” panel at 2:30 with Austin English, Dunja Jankovic, and Frank Santoro, moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos (who, with Desert Island and PictureBox, created the festival), “Chip Kidd and David Mazzuchelli: Comics by Design” at 3:30, also moderated by Kartalopoulos, “Phoebe Gloeckner: A Life and Other Stories” at 5:00 with Gloeckner and Nicole Rudick, “The Language in Comics” at 6:00 with Porcellino, Gabrielle Bell, and David Sandlin, moderated by Myla Goldberg, and “C.F. and Brian Ralph in Conversation” at 7:00, moderated by Tom Spurgeon. In conjunction with the festival, a film series continues through Sunday at the Spectacle Theater on South Third St., with the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation showcase at 7:30 and The Idea (Berthold Bartosch, 1932) and The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Lotte Reiniger, 1926), with live music by Chips and Salsa, at 9:30 ($5 per screening, $8 for both). In addition, “Pictures and Performance: A Melodrama,” consisting of multimedia works by Kartalopoulos, Ben Katchor, Shana Moulton, R. Sikoryak, and others, will take place at the Brick Theater at 3:00 on Sunday (free admission).

FIRST SATURDAY: YOUTH AND BEAUTY

Luigi Lucioni, “Paul Cadmus,” oil on canvas, 1928, part of “Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties” (Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund)

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway
Saturday, December 3, free, 5:00 – 11:00 (some events require free tickets distributed in advance at the Visitor Center)
212-864-5400
www.brooklynmuseum.org

Don’t be fooled by the theme of this month’s First Saturday party at the Brooklyn Museum. It might be called “Youth and Beauty,” but you can expect an old-fashioned good time, as it refers to the Eastern Parkway institution’s new exhibit subtitled “Art of the American Twenties,” featuring works by such artists as Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper, Gaston Lachaise, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Alfred Stieglitz. On tap for the free evening is jazz and blues from Hazmat Modine (5:00 to 7:00), a 1920s costume contest (5:30), a collaboration between spoken-word artists and musicians and tap dancer Lisa La Touche that references the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance (5:30), curator Catherine Morris discussing “Eva Hesse Spectres 1960” (6:00), ballroom dance lessons from Nathan Bugh, including the Charleston and the Lindy Hop (6:00), a painting workshop (6:30 – 8:30), a tour of “Youth and Beauty” with museum guide Emily Sachar (7:00), a dance party hosted by the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra (8:00 – 10:00), Farah Griffin discussing Wallace Thurman’s 1929 book, The Blacker the Berry (9:00), and a bodybuilding showcase hosted by Phil Sottile (9:00). The young and the beautiful can always be found at the Brooklyn Museum on First Saturdays, but this month more than ever.

DAY WITH(OUT) ART / WORLD AIDS DAY: UNTITLED

Special documentary about AIDS will screen all over the city on World AIDS Day

Multiple venues
Thursday, December 1
Admission: free
www.thebody.com
www.creativetime.org/daywithoutart
www.worldaidsday.org

For the twenty-third annual World AIDS Day, which provides “an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show their support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate people who have died,” artists and filmmakers Jim Hodges, Carlos Marques da Cruz, and Encke King have joined together to make the hour-long Untitled, a montage that documents the history of AIDS activism, inspired by the life and career of influential artist Félix González-Torres, who died of AIDS in 1996. The film will be screened for free at museums and other arts venues all over the country as part of Day With(out) Art / World AIDS Day. The film will be shown at a number of venues in New York City, including the IFC Center, where Creative Time will host a panel discussion at 7:45 (advance RSVP required) with Malik Gaines, Shanti Avirgan, and Che Gossett, moderated by Nato Thompson. You can also catch the film at the FLAG Art Foundation in Chelsea, the Whitney, La Galleria at La MaMa, the Museum of Arts & Design, Housing Works, the New Museum, the School of Visual Arts, the Gladstone Gallery (in conjunction with Hodges’s current exhibit), the Brooklyn Museum, Exit Art (with guest speakers Zachary Barnett and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis), the Grey Art Gallery, and at Participant Inc. on the Lower East Side, where Justin Vivian Bond, whose exhibition “The Fall of the House of Whimsy” is on view there through December 18, will perform a song accompanying the screening. In addition, Visual AIDS has put together an extensive resource guide about the film, including “Suggestions for Engagement,” an HIV/AIDS timeline and alphabetical vocabulary, important links, and other information “in an effort to honor the sense of endlessness that Untitled suggests [and] for provoking both public and private conversation.”

CARSTEN HÖLLER: EXPERIENCE

The line for the slide can wrap completely around the carousel at New Museum’s Carsten Höller retrospective (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

New Museum of Contemporary Art
235 Bowery at Prince St.
Wednesday – Sunday through January 15, $12-$16 (free Thursdays 7:00 – 9:00 pm)
212-219-1222
www.newmuseum.org
experience slideshow

Just because Carsten Höller’s first-ever New York City retrospective, “Experience,” includes the optional “Upside-Down Goggles,” an optical device that flips everything you see, doesn’t mean the German artist is trying to turn the art world upside down. A former scientist who was born in Brussels and lives and works in Stockholm, Höller has transformed the New Museum into a laboratory / amusement park, complete with merry-go-round, slide, aviary, and wave pool, each with a sly twist. Examining doubt and duality, disorientation and displacement, confusion and confrontation, and, perhaps most critically, perception and participation, Höller has created a mind-bending interactive, experimental journey that requires viewer involvement in order to be successful. If you’re just interested in looking at weird things, then this show might not be quite what you expect. “Höller has provided stimulus to erotic encounters and to hallucinatory or intoxicating experiments,” Lynne Cooke writes in “Amanita Blue,” her essay in the exhibition catalog. “Bliss, ecstasy, and transport are equally subject to his curiosity and appreciation, and, ultimately, come to seem less altruistic than necessary.” Gary Carrion-Murayari puts it even more succinctly in his catalog contribution, “Entertainment”: “Carsten Höller creates works that can provide joy or terror in equal measure,” while in “Panic” Massimiliano Gioni explains, “Carsten Höller’s work brings on attacks of the heebie-jeebies and moments of panic.” But don’t worry; there’s really no need to be frightened of Höller. “Experience” turns out to be a helluva lot of fun.

Slide zooms past “Psycho Tank” at interactive exhibit at New Museum (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The survey begins just past the lobby with “Giant Triple Mushrooms,” a series of colorful large-scale fungi that reference both Alice in Wonderland as well as psychedelic shrooms, especially since some of them have already had bites taken out of them, hinting toward an oncoming acid trip. You’ll want to continue your journey on the fourth floor, where you might have to wait as long as an hour and a half to go through “Untitled (Slide),” a stainless-steel pneumatic tube that will send you twisting down to the second floor. While waiting on line, take an excruciatingly slow spin on “Mirror Carousel,” a horseless merry-go-round with swings as seats, Höller toying with your expectations since swings usually rise up high and carousels generally move significantly faster. You can also pick up one of the three phones on the wall and make a long-distance call, which will be reused as an answering-machine message as part of “What Is Love, Art, Money?,” and listen to the live birds flitting around in cages dangling from above in “Singing Canaries Mobile.” Stop off in the Shaft Project Space on the stairs between the third and fourth floors for a cup of water and a gelatin capsule from “Pill Clock” as you make your way to “Giant Psycho Tank,” a calming, meditative sensory deprivation tank in which you float on a few inches of heavily salted water and let the slight current carry you away. If you didn’t bring a bathing suit, you’ll have to go in naked, and if you’re extremely shy, you should know that your privacy is not completely guaranteed, despite the presence of a security guard monitoring the proceedings. When we sat down on the bench in the back of the pool, we could clearly see two guys outside staring in at us, and later, while we were floating so beautifully, the woman on line after us started talking to us from the doorway, not seeming to mind that we were in nothing but our birthday suit. “Psycho Tank” was originally meant for more people at one time, but the Board of Health said no; in other countries, as many as six can join in together, so just shed your American Puritan inhibitions and let it all hang out. Also be on the lookout for the two-monitor video “One Minute of Doubt,” the funhouse-mirror-like “Infrared Room,” videos in each elevator, “Aquarium” (in which you lie down and place your head inside a viewing tank), and other works that make “Experience” as entertaining and involving an experience as you want it to be.