Back home - July in Beacon

I returned from Germany on Friday night.  I finished up my initial offering in the 10x10x10 exhibit in Ellenville, in which I'm participating, and which opened last night.  I was in Ellenville briefly for the opening there, and since I've been wading through tiny waves of jet lag, I decided to forego Beacon's Second Saturday openings.

If you also were unable to attend any of the openings, here's a bit of what we both missed last night.

 Chris Marchin

Zahra's is back with work by NUBS and Chris Machin in the Pinstripe Show.  Were not talking zoot suits or Vanessa Tellez's show describes the ethos of the the gallery at Zahra's personified by this exhibit: 

The rise of trendy hip bullshit art is rising by the second.  Lowbrow is in, so that means everyone is trying to cash in on any kind of street art or gritty conceptual trite.  We ain't gonna give you art done by a hipster that just decided the way to sell his paintings is to get in touch with his lowlife side. 

 Jonathan Allen, "Away We Go" 2009 paint and paper on paper

Go North's new exhibit of collage and mixed media paintings by Jonathan Allen called Terminal Daydream.  A reading was scheduled prior to the opening featuring writers Chris O Cook, Greg Fuchs, Joe Millar, Chris Ross and Lauren Russell.

bau has an exhibit of paintings by member Michael Gaydos called Temptation.

 Josh Jenkins

Floor One's new exhibit features the work of Josh Jenkins.

Open Space was planning for a massive caravan/happening/cook out for We Are Familia, the group exhibit that will run through Sept. 6.  The show features work by Holly Stevenson, Yoh Nagao, Peter Kienzle/Superette, Jesse Brown, Marc McAndrews, Hisham Bharoocha, Amy Rupple, Chris Yormick, Nightwood, SEEE.  Here's a rundown of the concept behind WE ARE FAMILIA.

Gallery G is showing photography by Sonya Shabinsky. 

I read on the BCN site yesterday that 400 square will be closing at the end of this month, and Hermitage has recently closed.  The guys at Go North announced in early May that they'll be closing at the end of this month as well...I'll have more on this soon.

It appears that a new shop/gallery called Dream in Plastic will be opening at the beginning of August at 177 Main St. The joint is accepting submissions for its first gallery exhibit in the space.  Analog will be on exhibit from August 8 through Sept. 7 and will feature images taken with a plastic camera.  Submission guidelines are on the blog.

Cultural omnivores dilemma: Saturday June 27

There's there will be a lot of offerings vying  for your attention on Saturday.  Here's a sampling:

In addition to the first installment of it's series of professional development workshops held in collaboration with the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Dia:Beacon will also be holding a Gallery talk at 1pm.  Robert Lubar will be discussing the work of Antoni Tapies.

Jaanika Peerna will be on hand from 3-6pm to discuss her current exhibit, Traces of a Sweet Connect at Go North.

Van Brunt Gallery is having an opening for part duex of its Quad show which will be on view in the gallery proper and in the second floor gallery at Hudson Beach glass and at Moxie.   This group exhibit  features the work of Colin Barclay, Richard Bruce, Richard Butler, Bo Gehring, Tadashi Hashimoto, David Loeb and Stephen Niccolls.  The reception starts at 6pm.  The exhibition runs through July 27.

One of the Hessel Museum's Franz West sculptures (Blue Couch) has been relocated on the

roof of the museum by Rachel Harrison.

The Hessel Museum at Bard College will be holding an opening reception for Consider The Lobster and Other Essays, a duo exhibitions, the first is a survey of the work of Rachel Harrison and the second is a curatorial collaboration between Harrison and Nayland Blake, Alan Ruppersburg, Harry Dodge, Tom Burr and Andrea Zittel in which works of the artists are installed amongst selections from the museum's permanent collection.  The opening reception is happening from 1 to 5pm.  As usual, a chartered bus will be bringing visitors up from NYC and returning them after the opening.  For more email ccs@bard.edu.  The exhibits will remain on view through December 20, 2009.

The Center for Photography in Woodstock is hosting a talk by Elinor Carucci starting at 8pm.  This talk looks very interesting I'm not certain if the maykr team will be able to attend, but we're currently in discussion about our plans for that day.  Carruci's work is jarring, dramatic and I'd like to hear her speak about it. Tickets for the talk are $7, $5 for students and members.  Contact CPW to make reservations and to check for availability. 

Dar Williams will be performing a benefit concert for ecoartspace and Habitat for Artists in at the McKenna Theater at SUNY New Paltz.  The show starts at 7:30 Tix are $25 ($30 at the door) call 845.257.3844 for info.

Images from June 13, 2009

The scene outside of the open house at Metal Concepts.

Grace Knowlton's big metal balls @ Metal Concepts.

On June 13, I returned to Beacon from the opening up at SUNY New Paltz.  First stop was the open house at Hermann Roggeman's Metal Concepts.  I then went went over - very briefly - Go North for Jaanika Peerna's opening.  The gallery was majorly packed, hot and stuffy, so I stepped in, snapped a couple quick shots and headed outside.  I'll return to check out the show in the next week or two.

Wall installation of Jaanika Peerna at Go North.

  

He's not part of the exhibition.

Gallery G as Ewok village.

From Go North, where I met up with my BLP (Bavarian Life Partner), we went over to Gallery G to explore the limitless pull of parental devotion.  Jesse Lebwohl-Steiner's proposal to his mom must have sounded like this: "OK Mom, I'm going to videotape myself shaving off all the hair on my body, then I want you to bathe me in milk, after you've massaged some egg yolks, and someone is going to videotape the whole thing." Such is the basis of Milk Bath, a work that invokes the Pieta while exploring the relationship between parent and child and the symbolic life of food.   The second video, Watermelon, again utilizes the physical character of a food to stand in for an emotional state and to illustrate that human compulsions and over indulgences are universal; the object toward which those excesses are directed is of marginal import.   Jesse is a foodie, and to see that food is such a central component of these two works is no surprise, nor is it the result of an unexplored choice of a prop. 

Jesse Lebwohl-Steiner x2 at Gallery G.

Watermelon Love.

An array of Jesse's polaroids in the exhibit Reflections and Cycles.

Above and below:  Collage, inside and outside of Open Space.

We then ducked in to Open Space briefly...here too, I didn't get to see the show, but did enjoy a rousing conversation on successful and insufferable artists as employers.

Some works inside the gallery at Spire.

The view outside the Pack and Paddle cum gallery space.

The next several images depict the exhibit of paintings by Todd Sargood and sculptures by Christopher Manning. in the former Pack and Paddle store.  The space is reminiscent of the old Collaborative Concepts space...but more raw.  It'd be a great space for ongoing exhibits.  It's for rent....$1800/month for somewhere between 2-3000 sq ft.

Jaanika Peerna's "Traces of a Sweet Connect" opens at Go North Jun 13.

Go North's next offering will an exhibit of recent work by Jaanika Peerna called "Traces of a Sweet Connect." The exhibit, consisting of video and installation worksand large and small scale drawings, will open on June 13 with a reception from 6 to 9pm and remain on view through July 5, 2009.

Now for Something Completely different.: BEEP on 3rd Saturdays

The latest group show at bau.
I think my Second Saturday fatigue reached its apex this past weekend.
I recognize the benefit of consolidated gallery openings and similar events, but after some six years of the same month-in-month-out rythm it can feel flat in a "Time to make the donuts" kind of way. There have been small alternative rythms that have pulsed out here and there; the occasional opening on an alternative night, the occasional quiet screening at Hermitage or other venue, or staged readings that pop up. All the things that can fill out a month's worth of evenings.
This coming weekend of April 18 will add a little tweak to the habitual with BEEP, a new monthly series of events geared more toward performance, but including visual art. BEEP is an initiative of the galleries and businesses on the East End of Main St. to concentrate some activity back into their quarter. Joe's Irish Pub, Zahra's Studio, Go North, Floor One, Open Space, Zuzu'a and the Piggy Bank are as the participating venues. Yes, this is just another monthly serial event, one that can, in time, if not guarded against, can become monotonous. But it ain't that yet, and I'd hope that the creative folks behind it can keep it pulsating and evolving. I also think this could be a good way for the East end to redistinguish itself and add a particular tone to that part of the street.
The events include an opening receptions at Zahra's and Open Space, and musical performances at several of the locations, topped of with a Next Step party at the Piggy Bank starting at 10pm. It's also a fundraising event for a second incarnation of the Electric Windows project. Check the link above for details.
The photos herein are snaps from Second Saturday in April, 2009:

Bumblebee Art and Music's newly opened space..

One of Caroline Ruttle's works at Go North.

Above, folks at Open Space. Below, works by Jim Darling.


The way to Floor One.

Teresa Marra's work at Floor One.

Tina Darling's work at Open Space in elegant rhyme with some Main St. mannequins.


Through the window: Jerimiah Lawrence at Mount Beacon Fine Art.

Tomorrow's BEEP line up of events on the East end of Main St.

Caroline Ruttle at Go North opening on April 11, 2009

Caroline Ruttle "You will never be afraid 2".
Next up at Go North is Caroline Ruttle's exhibit colored ink drawings"at the Villa Borghese", opening on April 11 with a reception from 6-9pm. The exhibit will be on view through May 3, 2009.

Retrospective exhibit of Audrey Chibbaro at Go North Gallery. March 14-April 5, 2009

Go North's next exhibit will be a retrospective exhibit of the work of Audrey Chibbaro. The exhibit will run from March 14 through April 5.

GO NORTH is pleased to present “The Sacred Balance of the Irreverent: Remembering Audrey Chibbaro.”This retrospective exhibition is being held to celebrate and honor the art of Audrey Chibbaro, who succumbed to cancer at age 45 on December 11, 2008.The reception for the exhibition will be held on Saturday, March 14, from 6 to 9 p.m.
As was Audrey’s spirit of giving, all proceeds from the sale of her work will be donated to a list of organizations consistent with the artist’s interests and concerns: The Beacon Art Salon has selected drawings from her sketchbook done in 2008 to include in a book titled “Audrey Chibbaro Lived Here” All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the “Audrey Chibbaro Youth in Arts Scholarship Fund”. For further information on the book and scholarship, please visitwww.giraffeandturtle.com/BAS.

The weekend that was..

Friday night: From Left to right, Tom Wolf, Sara Pasti, Beth E. Wilson and Brian Wallace giving acknowledgements for the exhibits at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art.
I did more socializing this week than my hermititious self is equipped to deal with naturally.
The whirlwind started on Friday Evening at the Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz.

Peter Iannarelli's work at the Dorsky.

Bradford Graves at the Dorsky Museum.

Steve Rossi's gum casting material.
On Saturday afternoon, I was back in the Habitat at Van Brunt Gallery, conversing with Steve Rossi (he has a new website) and watching him cast chewed bubble gum. Later that evening I stopped into Fovea in the middle of a talk given by Anthony Suau whose work is on exhibit. One day earlier, one of Suau's images was named as the World Press Photo of the Year for 2009.
Beacon was very much the global village all day as international types converged on the city for various events like the panel discussion on Burma at Mt Beacon Fine Art. I spoke a bit Isreali born Avner Levinson is exhibiting his sculptures at the Iron Fish Gallery. Go North was awash with Estonians of every shape and size, inlcuding various members of the Estonian Press for Marko Maetamm's opening at the gallery. Here's the Go North tv segment produced by Estonian National Broadcasting.

Avner Levinson's sculpture at Iron Fish Gallery.

Marko Maetamm's opening night at Go North and Erica Hauser's Valentine's Day Cupcake extravaganza just next door.



One of Jill Reynold's pieces at Sunday's opening reception for For the Love of Art in Peekskill.
A crush of people made their way down to the Hat Factory in Peekskill for the opening of For the Love of Art. It was a mob scene for a while, and I saw several of the same folks I saw in the previous two evenings, along with a lot of strangers. A highlight of the reception might have been the band kickin out jazzy intrumental renditions of power pop hits from the Eighties, like Eye of the Tiger and many other favs I can't remember.
I'll be posting more images shortly.....which reminds me, I'm several months behind on updating the flickr page. Everything in due time.

It's a snowflake at the Hudson Fisheries Trust on Saturday night.

Marko Maetamm's Another Day With My Family opens at Go North, Feb 14, 6-9pm

Marcko Maetamm Funny Dreams 2
Marcko Maetamm's exhibit Another Day with My Family will be opening at Go North on Saturday, February 14 and it will be on exhibit through March 8. Maetamm is part of a concurrant exhibit at the Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs in Long Island City, NY. Here's a pdf brochure of the Dorsky exhibit.
Go North's presentation of Maetamm's work is part of the gallery's program highlighting the work of Estonian artists.
The exhibit's opening reception will be held from 6-9pm.

"The Go North Gallery's Guide to Debauchery for the Impoverished Sophisticate" or "Dancing with the Dunkin Green Fairy"

My goal for maykr has always been that it serve as an artcentric resource for the community and visitors of Beacon. To that end, on this end of two thousand and eight, we offer a photographic tutorial on pampering your inner dandy (courtesy of Greg Slick). In a gesture befitting the art scene of late 19th Century Paris, Greg served up absinthe in a 21st Century improvised version of the bohemian favorite at an opening in August.

Happy New Year.
Be well and don't be dumb.