photo: Allen Frame |
| |
When my boyfriend sends me out for coffee, he wants
it from the
ATLAS CAFE on Havemeyer
Street. It's a hub for area artists and writers
and a good place to start a walking tour of galleries
and other art spots with an artist-centered program.
THE CITY RELIQUARY [307 Grand Street]
is a window display of local artifacts, a project
by 28-year-old artist Dave Herman. In a second window,
Bill Scanga presents other people's collections,
like that of Morex Optimo drummer Heather Wagner,
who indexes the working partners of drumsticks she's
broken while performing.
CINDERS [103
Havemeyer Street], run by Kelie Bowman and Sto,
is happy to be a shop as well as a gallery. It sells
zines and restructured clothing in the back and
has sizzling shows up front, like the recent "Glorious
Holes" by the collective the Third Leg, composed
of Ginger Brooks Takahashi and two Montreal artists,
Logan MacDonald and Onya Hogan-Finlay. Dean Daderko
of Parlour Projects told me to check out this
show of twisted erotic drawings described by Cinders
as "wormholes, assholes, mouths, and peepholes,
exploring queer locations of fantastic desire."
Takahashi hosted quilting forums at which friends
helped her stitch the borders of a nine-panel
quilt of reclaimed linen patterned with rabbits
and women coupling. Unofficial lectors read aloud
from texts like The Writings of Jack Smith
and Elspeth Probyn's Outside Belongings.
At the end of Hope Street is DAM, STUHLTRAGER
[38 Marcy Avenue], run by artists Cristobal
Dam and
photo: Allen Frame |
Leah Stuhltrager. They've upped the ante on invitations,
creating limited editions for each of their shows
for a list of 500. Last year
Dam, Stuhltrager partnered with two nearby galleries,
NAKED DUCK [66 Jackson Street] and
FRONT ROOM [147 Roebling Street],
to do a three-part show of sculptor Mark Esper's
work, whose "Gizmology" made intriguing use of
electromagnets, LED pendulums, and sound.
Front Room plays an indispensable role in this
geographically scattered scene. Its owner, artist
and illustrator Daniel Aycock, publishes Wag
Mag, a monthly art guide and map for Williamsburg
and Greenpoint galleries. Near Front Room is the
grassroots OPEN GROUND [252 Grand
Street], run by artists Jenny Walty and Patrick
May. Their "Williamsburg Wedding" project is an
exchange with a community-oriented gallery in
the Wedding neighborhood of Berlin, Germany. In
April, Berlin's Galerie Scherer8 and Wedding storefronts
will host artwork from 23 Open Ground artists.
A friend of mine calls Williamsburg "the Campus."
True, there are many school affiliations among
the locals, with some folks applying to grad schools
and others recuperating from them. THE HOGAR
COLLECTION [111 Grand Street] is a gallery
I associate with Rutgers University in New Jersey
because its co-founder, sculptor Todd Rosenbaum,
went there, as did several of the artists he shows.
Rosenbaum's partner, Cecilia Biagini, an Argentinean
artist and actress, brings a Latin accent to the
mix. Next fall Hogar (Spanish for "home") will
showcase work from the Belleza y Felicidad Gallery
of Buenos Aires.
photo: Allen Frame |
Just one stop away on the L train in the East
Village, the nonprofit sleeper P.S.122 GALLERY
[9th Street and First Avenue] boasts two
new initiatives, the Internet arts magazine artwurl
(artwurl.org) and a project room upstairs called
the Classroom, which in March will present the
video work of Mary Ellen Strom. The downstairs
gallery does two-person shows, and the deadline
for proposals is April 24. Download the form at
ps122gallery.org. (Full disclosure:
I'm on the advisory committee.)
Upcoming Shows
The City Reliquary
March: Video by the Poo Syndicate
about flea markets
Dam, Stuhltrager
March: Carol Salmanson, Jae Hi Ahn
Front Room
March 18-April 10: "Portraits From
Four Centuries"
Open Ground
March 5-20: "Williamsburg Wedding"
exchange
P.S.122 Gallery
Thru March 26 (upstairs): Mary Ellen
Strom
Thru March 27 (downstairs): Pamela
Dart and Beata Pankiewicz
Cinders
Thru April 3: Paintings and installation
by Adriana Atema
Naked Duck
Thru April 3: "Photographs of Personal
Space"
The Hogar Collection
Thru April 18: Walter Markham, Bill
Hall, and Todd Rosenbaum
