December 7th - December 14th
Reflecting on Puerto Rican art at the Whitney, William Eggleston, NYPL Picture Collection, Marilyn Nance signing, Dashwood event, CARA Market, Genesis Báez and Jenny Calivas show + more!
Content-warning: Animal gore, blood
Where to begin? This last week I made a trip to the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman main building where I spent hours in the Picture Collection where 1,500,000 images are sorted into more than 50,000 headings, pulling from “montage constructions” and “cross sections” on the recommendations of the front desk staff. I also pulled from “New York City - East side” and “New York City - interiors” in curiosity but also for reference images for Susan Schiffman’s “i am a rent-stabilized tenant” project. I’m sharing some of the most interesting images I pulled below.
After spending some hours in Schwarzman, I went across the street to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library to look through some photography books. Alice Fall got me thinking about artist Emmett Gowin after sharing some of his pictures on her Instagram. I was struck by their vivid theatrical quality— one’s family transforms into a set of performers narrating somewhere between imagination and lived experience.
I also looked at Edward Weston’s work, interested in his ability to transform the mundane and seemingly dead object into one that holds secrets, mystery— something worth being understood.
Larry Fink, Opening reception at Robert Mann Gallery (14 E. 80th St.)
Tonight, 4pm-7pm
I never got to meet Fink at Bard College while he was teaching in the Photography department but have heard a many stories about him. The show will be on view until January 27th. Fink will be in attendance at the reception tonight. Free.
Virginia Zwanzger: Casos de Insolito, Zine launch & talk at Printed Matter (231 11th Ave.)
Tonight, 12/7 6pm
“Join punk vocalist/artist Virginia Zwanzger, in conversation with Freddy Alva, as she introduces her new zine Casos de Insolito.” Punk vibes, enough said. Don’t be tricked by the cover image, there’ll be lots of color in the zine as well. I’ll be working the event so come by and say hi! Free.
Marilyn Nance: Last Day in Lagos at The World is Change: Books (368 Tompkins Ave. at Putnam)
Tonight, 12/7 7pm
“From January 15 to February 12, 1977, more than 15,000 artists, intellectuals and performers from 55 nations worldwide gathered in Lagos, Nigeria, for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, also known as FESTAC’77. Taking place in the heyday of Nigeria’s oil wealth and following the African continent’s potent decade of decolonization, FESTAC’77 was the peak of Pan-Africanist expression. Among the musicians, writers, artists and cultural leaders in attendance were Ellsworth Ausby, Milford Graves, Samella Lewis, Audre Lorde, Winnie Owens, Miriam Makeba, Valerie Maynard, Queen Mother Moore and Sun Ra.” A rich record and document of Nigerian cultural history. The former Village Voice freelancer and Studio Museum artist-in-residence will be in attendance for any needed signing. Free.
Brett Llyod: Napoli Napoli Napoli, Book signing at Dashwood Books (33 Bond St.)
Tomorrow, 12/8 6pm-8pm
I’ve been interested in Dashwood’s recent more fashion-leaning photography book launches and events particularly because it’s been bringing out a different crowd than I’ve usually seen at Dashwood like Supreme founder James Jebbia and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. I haven’t been able to make it to the recent events but am hoping to soon.
An evening with Anaïs Horn & Eilert Asmervik: Double book launch, reading, conversation and sound performance at Printed Matter (231 11th Ave.)
Tomorrow, 12/8 6pm-8pm
“Join us for a double book launch, reading, sound performance and conversation with Paris based artists Anaïs Horn (AT) and Eilert Asmervik (NOR), each presenting their new publications. Writer and curator Wendy Vogel will read her text from the latter, as well as a selection of texts and poems from the other artist’s books present. The reading will be followed by a conversation between Asmervik, Horn and Vogel, moderated by Craig Mathis (Printed Matter) and a sound performance by Eilert Asmervik.” Another Printed Matter event that I’ll be working, come by!
Bread and Puppet Theater: Ophelia + Antiapocalypse Rally at Theater for the New City (155 1st Ave.)
Tomorrow, 12/8 8pm - Playing till 12/8
Not necessarily a photography event but a cultural arts event nonetheless that will need to be on your to-do list! More exciting is the fact that my talented friend and artist Sarah Bastacky who has been making floats for Mardi Gras in New Orleans, LA has been on tour with Bread and Puppet! I’m so excited to see them perform at this rich institution of Theater for the New City since I’ve seen Susan Schiffman exhibit there and also go to vote there with my family. I saw Bread and Puppet last at Bard College in Spring 2019 when I had the fortunate opportunity to work with Phoebe Hiltermann from Bard’s Theatre Artist Guild to put on Bread and Puppet’s “Diagonal Man” touring show.
CARA Holiday Market at Center for Art, Research and Alliances (225 W. 13th St.)
Saturday, 12/10 11am-6pm & Sunday, 12/11 12pm-5pm
CARA is an emerging non-profit arts organization located in Chelsea, that I am actively learning more and more about. Excited to see Canal Research Association among the exhibitiors. ”Join us next Saturday and Sunday for a special CARA weekend! Our Holiday Market featuring @wowprojectnyc, @paltoflats, @bigapplegiftsandsouvenirs, @bembrooklyn, @canal_street_research, @soft___network will be up December 10 from 11-6pm and December 11, from 12-5pm!! @shrits2000 will also be joining us on Sunday,” from their Instagram post below. Free.
“Revolution is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation" Book Launch & Signing; Qween Jean in conversation with Ryan McGinley, Moderated by Elena Ketelsen González at Artbook @ MoMA PS1 Bookstore (22-25 Jackson Avenue & Instagram Live)
Saturday, 12/10 at 2pm EST
“‘Revolution Is Love’ is the powerful and celebratory visual record of a contemporary activist movement in New York City, and a moving testament to the enduring power of photography in activism, advocacy, and community. Qween Jean is a New York-based activist and costume designer who has designed for over fifty shows. In 2020, Jean founded Black Trans Liberation, an organization aiming to provide access and employment resources for trans and gender-nonconforming communities. In 2021, she was artist-in-residence at MoMA PS1, New York.” You won’t want to miss this important conversation between three important voices in the intersection of arts and social justice. Learn more about the book and RSVP for the in-person event here. Free.
Boo-Hooray Christimas Party at Boo-Hooray (22 Eldridge St. #2A)
Saturday, 12/10 5pm-8pm
"Open all day-- everything 20% off. Glögg will be served." Enough said, no? I became familiar with archival arts organization Boo-Hooray through founder Kohan Kugelberg’s involvement with arts organization 8-Ball Community during the prime of my volunteering there. Excited to see what I might be able to score.
Genesis Báez and Jenny Calivas: Silt of Each Other, Opening reception at Justine Kurland's studio (20 Jay Street, #309C)
Saturday, 12/10 6pm-8pm
I’ve talked about Báez’s amazing photography before when I met her at the New York Art Book Fair and got to pick up a copy of La Luz También Viaja (2022) published by Matarile Ediciones. She spoke with artist William Camargo at the NYABF about their respective processes and work, with publisher Seaton Street Press. Will be exciting to see this duo-show and Báez’s work in person which I haven’t seen since Kurland’s round of group shows over the Summer.
ABENDBROT: queer holidays edition at the Living Gallery (1094 Broadway)
Tuesday, 12/13 7pm - late
My good friend and artist Lissie Zhang will be showing some photographs in the multidisciplinary event, as will my friend Zara Franke will be performing. More information on exhibiting performers and artists below.
William Eggleston: The Outlands at David Zwirner (525 & 533 West 19th Street)
On view until 12/17
Yesterday I went to William Eggleston’s “The Outlands” show at David Zwirner. I was hoping to go with my friend Raif Wexler who was in town for a day but the gallery was closed. So instead, I went by myself in the pouring rain when the gallery seemed at a quiet presence so all the better for me to view. I was struck by the photographs in the West wing of the gallery as seeming outtakes of his more iconic and publicized photographs. We see the same bedroom graffitied wall in his Untitled photo of himself(?) naked. We see what feels like the same Coca-Cola glass in the airplane, but now at some diner next to an uneaten saltine. In the East wing of the gallery, there were a collection of Eggleston photography books, one of which struck me— his 5x7 (2007) book published by Twin Palms. The book features a collection of color, but also black and white portraits! I was amazed by Eggleston’s attention to the translation of black and white tones from one’s face. It showed a secret side of the Southern photographer, one about depth in grey tones, not full of color.
no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria at the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort Street)
On view until 4/23/23
I went to see the group show last week with my friend Jeanne. The show presents Puerto Rican artists grappling with the environmental, economical, social, personal, and emotional consequences of the Fall 2017 hurricane in the years that follows through today. I was struck by the range of disciplines from abstract printmaking to sewn photographs to film to painting to installation to a literal found lamppost extracted from Puerto Rico. Seeing young artists like Gabriella N. Báez and Armig Santos recognized for their talent is important but frustrating that the museum is including them on the occasion of trauma and not more fundamentally. Báez’s photographs are a profound introspection and investigation into the qualities and effects of an image’s ability to exist beyond one’s mortality. Her work reminds me of artist Myra Greene’s answer to a question to the idea, “Is your work sculptural, installation?”— “Maybe you’ve never thought about a photograph existing, operating this way.” This is my para-phrasing. Báez draws the connection between her deceased father and her literally, or rather sews it literally.
I am also including some still from Elle Pérez’s approximately 23 minute footage of Puerto Rico post-Hurricane.
John Ahearn & Rigoberto Torres: Swagger and Tenderness, The South Bronx Portraits at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (1040 Grand Concourse)
On view until 4/30/23
Genesis Báez and Jenny Calivas: Silt of Each Other at Justine Kurland’s studio (20 Jay Street, #309C)
On view 12/8 - 1/7/23
Anthony Barboza: Moments of Humanity at Keith de Lellis Gallery (41 E. 57th St. #703)
On view until 1/14/23
Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite at the New York Historical Society (170 Central Park West)
On view until 1/15/23
Burn It In: W. Eugene Smith, Roy DeCarava, Ray Metzker and Alex Majoli at Howard Greenberg Gallery (41 E. 57th St.)
On view until 2/28/23
Steven Cuffie: Women at New York Life Gallery (167-169 Canal St. Floor 5)
On view until 12/16
Death in the Making: Reexamining the Iconic Spanish Civil War Photobook at the International Center of Photography (79 Essex St.)
On view until 1/9/23
Jimmy DeSana: Submission at the Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway)
On view until 4/16/23
Jess T. Dugan: Look at me like you love me at CLAMP (247 W. 29th St.)
On view until 1/7/23
Close Enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum at the International Center of Photography (79 Essex Street)
On view until 1/9/23
An Expression of Absence: Selections from the Arab Documentary Photography Program at the Magnum Foundation (59 East 4th Street #7W) & the Bronx Documentary Center (614 Courtlandt Ave.)
On view until 12/18
Adrián Fernández: Sketch for a Monument at Thomas Nickles Project (47 Orchard St.)
On view until 1/22/23
Larry Fink at Robert Mann Gallery (14 E. 80th St.)
On view until 1/27
Jill Freedman: A Night at the FDNY Museum at the New York City Fire Museum (278 Spring St.)
On view until 4/2/23
Life Between Buildings at MoMA PS1 (22-25 Jackson Ave.)
On view until 1/16/23
Elaine Mayes: Haight-Ashbury: Portraits 1967-1968 at Deborah Bell Photographs (526 W. 26th St. #411)
On view until 3/4/23
Our Mother the Mountain at La MaMa Galleria (47 Great Jones St.)
On view until 12/9 — featuring the great artist Patricia Voulgaris
Richard-Jonathan Nelson: A Lacquered Egress at Yossi Milo Gallery (245 10th Ave.)
On view 12/15 - 1/28
Xaviera Simmons: Crisis Makes a Book Club at Queens Museum (Flushing Meadows Corona Park)
On view until 3/5/23
Laurie Simmons: Color Pictures/Deep Photos 2007–2022 at 56 Henry (56 Henry St.)
On view until 1/15
It's Time for Me to Go: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2021-22 at MoMA PS1 (22-25 Jackson Avenue)
On view until 2/27/23
Time Management Techniques at the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort St.)
On view until 1/8/23
Linda Troeller: Self Power | Self Play: 50 Years of Erotic Portraiture (233 5th Ave.)
On view until 1/9/23
Joel-Peter Witkin: The Early Works at Bruce Silverstein (529 W. 20th St. #3W)
On view until 1/14/23
Reminder that a lot of the exhibits I show here are researched from:
Let me know what you thought about the photos I shared, the exhibits, and events. Hoping to add an interview component into the newsletter next week or sometime soon.
Take care and be well,
Rainer