CONTENTS:
Contents for March 08, 2021 (Scroll down for more information):
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Barbara Ess, FF Alumn, in memoriam
Simone Gad, FF Member, in memoriam
1. Coco Fusco, FF Alumn, live online at Smithsonian American Art Museum, March 10
2. Alicia Grullón, FF Alumn, now online in Bomb Magazine
3. Dread Scott, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
4. Murray Hill, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
5. Suzanne Lacy, Guadalupe Maravilla, Naeem Mohaiemen, Xaviera Simmons, Sable Elyse Smith, FF Alumns, now online at the Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Park, NY
6. Wanda Ortiz, Arantxa Araujo, Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo, FF Alumns now online at The Bronx 200 and more
7. Katya Grokhovsky, J. C. Lenochan, FF Alumns, at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, opening Mar 20
8. Ray Johnson, Geoffrey Hendricks, Yoko Ono, Martha Wilson, David Wojnarowicz, FF Alumns at David Zwirner Gallery, Manhattan, opening April 8
9. China Blue, FF Alumn, receives Canada Council of the Arts grant
10. George Peck, FF Alumn, now online at vimeo.com
11. Kathleen Chalfant, FF Member, now online in The New York Times
12. Laura Ortman at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, March 15 & 26
13. Paul Zelevansky, FF Alumn, now online at vimeo.com
14. Babs Reingold, FF Alumn, now online in Art Spiel
15. Peculiar Works Project, FF Alumns, at NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, March 10-14
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Barbara Ess, FF Alumn, in memoriam
please visit this link:
https://www.artforum.com/news/barbara-ess-1948-2021-85210
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Simone Gad, FF Member, in memoriam
With great sadness we announce the passing of our beloved Simone Gad (1947-2021). She was a force of perseverance and independence in the Los Angeles art community. We feel very fortunate to have worked with her, shown her art, and had her as a friend. In her later years she had the duality of being physically fragile but with a spirit that was relentless.
Best known for her collage drawings, Simone’s playful, brutal, sexual, and kinetic pieces oscillate with vulnerability, trauma, and magnetism. She approached subjects, which focussed on models and rescue animals, with humor and empathy. Her own experience of being unprotected as a teen actress in Hollywood resonates through the work. In 2019 she participated in the three person exhibition Stuck Together at Track 16. Her last exhibition was the 2020 online show The Siren Shores.
Simone and I had a visit scheduled this Sunday. She was excited to show me the new work she’d been making. We were all so relieved she had made it through her hospitalization in 2020. It’s now hard to absorb that she couldn’t soldier on forever. I’m very sorry to have to share this news with all of those who loved her. Simone, we are going to miss you greatly.
–Sean Meredith, Director, Track 16
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Weekly Spotlight: Rae C Wright, FF Alumn, now online at https://franklinfurnace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17325coll1/id/39
In “Arthieves,” originally performed and netcast on September 25, 1998 from New York City, Rae C Wright is exploring the idea of “stolen” art and its ease with the rise of digital media. In this 23 minute video of the performance netcast via Pseudo Programs’ Channel P, Wright owns up to stealing herself, and suggests that on some levels, all art is stolen – whether from life, nature, or, say, Anna Mosby Coleman’s clouds. As the artist writes, “In ‘Arthieves’ I own the acquisitive aspect of experiencing love/ admiration/ identification…how the experience of fully apprehending something, [art, nature, another] can convey a sense of ownership.” These documentary video clips are combined with prompts to the audience to create their own encompassing experience – watch “Arthieves” and become a part of the art. Music by composer Terry Dame, FF Alumn, and work by the following artists is included or referenced: Anna Mosby Colman, Deborah Edmeades, Galinsky, Halona Hilbertz, Deb Margolin, Nora York, FF Alumns, plus Jesse Boggs, Douglas Hudgins, Bennet Kirshner, and Molly Kirshner. (Text by Eve Vishnick, FF Intern, Winter 2021)
Please watch here:
https://franklinfurnace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17325coll1/id/39
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1. Coco Fusco, FF Alumn, live online at Smithsonian American Art Museum, March 10
Please visit this link:
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2. Alicia Grullón, FF Alumn, now online in Bomb Magazine
please visit this link:
https://bombmagazine.org/articles/many-silenced-histories-alicia-grullón-interviewed/
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3. Dread Scott, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
please visit this link:
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4. Murray Hill, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
please visit this link:
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5. Suzanne Lacy, Guadalupe Maravilla, Naeem Mohaiemen, Xaviera Simmons, Sable Elyse Smith, FF Alumns, now online at the Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Park, NY
please visit this link:
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6. Wanda Ortiz, Arantxa Araujo, Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo, FF Alumns now online at The Bronx 200 and more
please visit this link:
https://bx200.com/the-interior-beauty-salon/
thank you.
-and-
please visit this additional link:
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7. Katya Grokhovsky, J. C. Lenochan, FF Alumns, at Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, opening March 20
FANTASYLAND
Katya Grovhovsky
UNDOING WHITE MESS
jc lenochan
March 20-May 2, 2021
Opening Day: Saturday, March 20th
4:00-8:00 PM, RSVP Required*
Katya Grokhovsky presents FANTASYLAND, a site-specific, mixed media installation, which explores the rise and fall of a fantastical empire and its uncertain future. Using a variety of mediums and objects, the artist investigates the American Dream through an immigrant lens, exposing a desirable yet unattainable mirage. In FANTASYLAND, the enchanted forests and docile characters of Disney fairy tales become sinister metaphors for the “land of opportunity,” an alluring veneer for a post-industrial landscape of human-made consumerist waste and debris.
Drawing from his experience as a longtime public school teacher, jc lenochan’s work scrutinizes the way that history is taught, which narratives are given voice, and which ones are suppressed. In UNDOING WHITE MESS, lenochan employs a process of deconstructing objects and de-circulating institutional relics, posing a series of questions about the acquisition of knowledge. In this body of work, he reconfigures everyday commodities, such as books, furniture, and tools in order to rethink the way that they can be understood, to open up their potential meanings, and to initiate art’s transformative function. Through investigative research, drawing, riffs on traditional sculpture, and performance based installations, lenochan’s interests engulf ideas of re-appropriation of historical imagery and misrepresented educational lessons that possess an entrenched colonial mentality.
*Because of limited capacity, guests must register for a timed ticket to attend the opening day. There will be an RSVP link via Eventbrite that will soon be updated on the exhibition webpages:
http://www.smackmellon.org/exhibition/katya-grokhovsky-fantasyland/
http://www.smackmellon.org/exhibition/jc-lenochan-undoing-white-mess/
After opening day, the gallery will be open regular hours, Wednesday-Sunday, 12-6PM, and reservations will not be required.
These exhibitions are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York City Council Member Stephen Levin, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and with generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Robert Lehman Foundation, Select Equity Group Foundation, many individuals and Smack Mellon’s Members.
Smack Mellon’s programs are also made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and with generous support from The Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of The New York Community Trust, The Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Inc., and Exploring The Arts. In-kind donations are provided by Materials for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs/NYC Department of Sanitation/NYC Department of Education.
This program is made possible with funds from the NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in Partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Space for Smack Mellon’s programs is generously provided by the Walentas family and Two Trees Management.
Smack Mellon would like to extend a special thanks to all of the individuals, foundations, and businesses who have contributed to the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund.
FANTASYLAND is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.
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8. Ray Johnson, Geoffrey Hendricks, Yoko Ono, Martha Wilson, David Wojnarowicz, FF Alumns at David Zwirner Gallery, Manhattan, opening April 8
please visit this link:
https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2021/ray-johnson-what-a-dump/press-release
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9. China Blue, FF Alumn, receives Canada Council of the Arts grant
I am happy to announce that I have received a two-year Canada Council of the Arts grant in New Media! China Blue
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10. George Peck, FF Alumn, now online at vimeo.com
please visit this link:
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11. Kathleen Chalfant, FF Member, now online in The New York Times
please visit this link:
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12. Laura Ortman at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, March 15 & 26
Fine Arts’ Project Third is excited to present LAURA ORTMAN for an Artist Talk (3/15) and a Live Performance at Dekalb Gallery on Campus (3/26).
ARTIST TALK:
LAURA ORTMAN: WOODS THAT SINGS
Monday, March 15, 7pm, Online, RSVP at
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJXmFQtS5c1-pCB626Pw-V_x0bSAqtNn77cgEaquCklvJrGw/viewform?gxids=7628
LAURA ORTMAN recollects highlights of the endless entwinement of her immersive music and art worlds as an innovative soloist, composer, and vibrant collaborator.
LIVE PERFORMANCE:
LAURA ORTMAN: WILD WALKS SING
Friday, March 26, 6pm, Duration 45 minutes
IN PERSON at Dekalb Gallery, Pratt Campus
Laura will perform inside the gallery and the audience will gather outside the gallery where the sound will be amplified. The event is open to the Pratt community. To attend you must have access to campus by signing the COVID-19 Social Contract and submitting a negative test to HR. RSVP at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfWh21P18sbpd9ywQ7IY473m_Q6YaqI2VZ6iO2AIoG2DTy-yA/viewform?gxids=7628
ONLINE at Pratt Fine Arts’ Instagram Live: @prattfineart
WILD WALKS SING is a customized 35-minute performance for amplified violin, field recordings, and megaphone.
BIO: A soloist and vibrant collaborator, LAURA ORTMAN (White Mountain Apache) works across recorded albums, live performances, and filmic and artistic soundtracks. An inquisitive and exquisite violinist, Ortman is versed in Apache violin, piano, electric guitar, keyboards, and pedal steel guitar, often sings through a megaphone, and is a producer of capacious field recordings. She has performed at The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Toronto BIennial in Ontario, the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, among countless established and DIY venues in the US, Canada, and Europe.
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13. Paul Zelevansky, FF Alumn, now online at vimeo.com
TO THE GREAT BLANKNESS
MAILING LIST:
On Feb. 26th in conjunction with the Printed Matter Virtual Book Fair, I had a zoom conversation with writer and critic Stephen Mayes about my work: word, image, video, collage, autobiography, New York City, and much more. You can watch it at:
PZ, 3/5/21
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14. Babs Reingold, FF Alumn, now online in Art Spiel
please visit this link:
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15. Peculiar Works Project, FF Alumns, at NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, March 10-14
PECULIAR WORKS PROJECT is proud to announce that our short film, LANGUAGE GAMES, is an official selection of the 5th annual NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival. Please join us, March 10-14, 2021, for this very special virtual event!
Presented by the New Ohio Theatre, this year’s Festival is national! The competition was intense, so we’re honored to be included. Our creating artists even went back into the editing studio to refine their peculiar work—it’s a brand new film, and we can’t wait for you to see it!
GET TICKETS HERE! – https://watch.eventive.org/nycitff2021/play/603472b940d40800766bd645/60343a3813d94800b732e9df
DESCRIPTION: In an absurdist take on philosophy and language, a young woman conjures three great thinkers from the past, and as she spars with them over a spirited game of Mahjong, words spin out of control until a mythological hare inspires her to confront their chauvinism and she wins the game.
https://nycitff2021.eventive.org/films/60343a3813d94800b732e9df
LANGUAGE GAMES is in a block of short films, THE ABSURDITY OF LIFE (we love this title!). Come for Peculiar Works and stay for the entire block—all for one price. And there is no fixed time to watch: once you start a screening, you’ll have 24 hours to finish.
“Laugh, cry, and go a little mad: stories about how life can feel
sideways sometimes. This screening includes 7 films: FITNESS: or a
story about SWEAT; No More Beautiful Dances; Grinding Doubt, There’s
No Wrong Way to Eat a Cupcake; Call From: Godot; Language Games; The
Bad Infinity.” — New Ohio Theatre
https://nycitff2021.eventive.org/schedule/60355762ed5d31007e20da61
CAST: Matthew Trumbull, Nikki Calonge, Kevin R. Free, Christopher, Borg, and Desmond Dutcher. (Actors appear courtesy of SAG-AFTRA, the union for professional film, television and radio performers.)
CREW: Barbara Yoshida, Ralph Lewis, Barry Rowell, Catherine Porter, Heather Olmstead, David Castaneda, Michelle Beshaw, Mike McCabe, Harrison Adams, Evan Seplow, Ward Sutton, Nathan Davis, Phyllis Chen, and Akia Squitieri.
Stay safe and healthy, make some popcorn, and enjoy the show!
Ralph Lewis Catherine Porter Barry Rowell
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Goings On is compiled weekly by Harley Spiller
