Thanks to Jeanne Krier for this photo, which includes the Con Ed Building on 14th Street to the left...
Sunday, April 11, 2021
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Saturday's parting shot
A presentation of work by Ed Shostak/Rose Royale
Shostak, a longtime East Village resident, died on April 8, 2020, from complications due to COVID-19. He was 78.
Per the reader: "He was an artist stemming from the Warhol Factory. We didn't know to what extent until after he died and his loft on Houston and Avenue A was chock-full of work and over 3,000 photos chronicling EV nightlife."
The exhibit, at the David Richard Gallery, 211 E. 121st St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, is only up through Friday. However, this is the first of several planned shows here to feature Shostak's work.
Here's more via the gallery's site:
It is unusual to uncover an artist of his pedigree for which so little is publicly known after establishing himself amidst the visual arts most notable institutions. Shostak cloistered himself in his downtown loft relentlessly working and opting for a less mainstream practice. This exhibition is the first look at many of his late works.For those who are interested in reconsidering the parallel arcs of art history, examining and expanding the boundaries of the established canon of Post War art, Shostak's work will be a revelation. His work addressed so many of the known formal and conceptual concerns from that period, but through a queer lens.Eventually, he abandoned convention, favoring a more expansive view of the possibilities that an artist's practice could include by embracing a queer social practice and advocacy for the transgender community.This presentation is not a retrospective of his artwork but is comprised of completed sculptural works, drawings, studies, performance, documentary images and films to illustrate and map two key aspects and threads of continuity throughout Ed Shostak's artistic career and life.While the imagery may have changed over the decades, the exhibition is organized to map these threads regardless of the subject matter, form or media. In fact, it becomes apparent that his personal life and art practice were inextricable — one and the same — and ultimately, the artist became both the subject and the art.Shostak had gone full circle from his childhood performances in the family living room to navigating the art world as a gay man and then to activism and politics to become not only his alter ego, but to be himself— transgender.
The gallery's hours: Wednesday-Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. You can view some of the selected works and watch videos with curators Isaac Aden and David Eichholtz at this link.
How to download this Stop Asian Hate poster
A free print was also going to be available today (4/10) at BAMBŪ at 124 Hester St. while supplies last.
Per East Village Walls:
Display it, share it, protest with it.Be the change. Be the voice. Be active.Do more.We can all make a difference because it's time to stop the hate.Awareness, Solidarity, Action.
The Welcome to Chinatown site has more information on ways to help businesses in this neighborhood. Think!Chinatown is another good resource.
Photo by @elliephantdreams via @EastVillageWalls
Nurse Dolly
Friday, April 9, 2021
Details about a day of 'Free Fashion' tomorrow
It's being billed as "a day of free fashion." Drop some clothes off, and take some with you. There is a one-drink minimum at the bar.
Gallery Watch: 'There's the Air' by Clare Grill at Derek Eller Gallery
Text and photos by Clare Gemima
There's the Air,
Derek Eller Gallery, 300 Broome St.
Clare Grill delivers a deeply woven sadness through the formation of beautifully crafted oil paintings in her show There's the Air.
The work is fragile and joyful, fast but considerate, and made me feel instantly calm even amongst Grill's vast range of strokes covering each and every inch of her canvas.
Grief weighs heavily in the narrative that informs Grill's paintings, and when you look closely at the named work you can find hidden forms like boots and brown bananas in Gull and adolescent-looking butterflies flying around in Emaline (oil on paper).
When I read more about how this artist works and what she aims to communicate through her work, I actually began to notice more recognizable illustrations that were child-like, or even infantile in nature.
Abstraction is so rampant in Grill’s works that once you process her sensibility around color, shape and composition and start to see shapes like the ones I mentioned above, it feels as though you've been captured in her own sorrow.
You can feel the work change after a while of contemplating it. It makes sense to learn that these works were made while the artist experienced what I can only imagine being intensive sadness.
Grill can work on a piece for months or even years before the painting is given a name. So while this show centers around grief, a newness comes from these paintings' existence. Once named, they are almost like the gift of a child. The light at the end of a tunnel, or some other terrible cliche grief quote.
Grill's works are full of texture and incredibly satisfying renderings of shadows and light sources. Colors vary in hues and opacities and showcase an exorbitant talent for abstract painting.
Although fun and unruly at first glance, this body of work is actually dealing with a lot of serious stuff — a true testament to an effective and thought-provoking show.
There's the Air is on view at Derek Eller Gallery, 300 Broome St. between Eldridge and Forsyth, until April 24. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointment.
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Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com
'Diamonds, Razors & Champagne' debuts today at 3rd & B’Zaar
3rd & B’Zaar, the mixed-vendor market and event space at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, is hosting a new art show this month.
Diamonds, Razors & Champagne opens today at noon. The show, curated by Leopold Masterson and featuring the work of some 20 artists, will be up through April 23.
Hours: noon to 8 p.m. daily with a closing-night event on April 22.
And coming soon: the space will become the Spring Into Pride market for the month of May. Stay tuned for more details on that.
3rd & B’Zaar debuted late last year as a group of local merchants, artists and designers hosted a month-long Holiday Market ... followed by Sex, Love & Vintage in February.
Member orientations start Sunday at the 6BC Botanical Garden
The orientation dates for 2021:
April 11 (Sunday!), April 17, May 2 and May 15 .. from 1.30- 4 p.m. ...
Per the garden's website:
Orientations start with a workday, so please wear work clothes and leave pets and small children at home (just this once!)
We take membership responsibilities seriously. Please read our rules.
If you feel you cannot fulfill your obligations, please do not join, although you will always be welcome as a guest or volunteer.
Keys will be given out at the end of the workday.
Back to the 1980s (again) for 'Russian Doll'
As previously noted, season two will once again do a time warp, and there are scenes set in the 1980s.
As such ... a few props from along Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C courtesy of Stacie Joy...
... and in Tompkins Square Park... where the crew recreated a small segment of Tent City (and not the first production to recreate this time period)...
... and a few more photos via Steven...
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