Contents for May 17, 2021
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Karen Shaw, Emma Amos, David Hammons, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Longo, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, FF Alumns, in new publication
2. Sur Rodney Sur, Jack Waters, FF Alumns, now online at Anchor
3. Guadalupe Maravilla, FF Alumn, at Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC, NY, thru Sept. 6
4. Patty Chang, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
5. David Hammons, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
6. Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Carmelita Tropicana & Ela Troyano, Coco Fusco, Dona Ann McAdams, Eileen Myles, Holly Hughes, John Kelly, Julie Atlas Muz, Julie Tolentino, Kate Bornstein, Lucy Sexton, Lori E. Seid, Nicky Paraiso, Pamela Sneed, Penny Arcade, Peter Cramer & Jack Waters, Ron Athey, Tim Miller, FF Alumns, online at Performance Space New York, May 26
7. Julie Tolentino, FF Alumn, at 47 Canal, thru June 12
8. Rosamond S. King, FF Alumn, online at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, May 19
9. Chloë Bass, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
10. Galinsky, FF Alumn, live online benefit for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, May 27
11. Jay Critchley, FF Alumn, at AMP Gallery, opening May 28 and more
12. Roberley Bell, FF Alumn, at BSG LaunchPad Gallery, Boston, MA, opening June 2
13. Penny Arcade, FF Alumn, now online at Patreon
14. Brahna Yassky, FF Alumn, now online at The Girlfriend
15. Michelle Handelman, FF Alumn, online at Participant, May 22
16. David Cale, FF Alumn, at The Wild Project Gallery, Manhattan, opening May 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Weekly Spotlight: Nancy Alfaro, FF Alumn now online
https://franklinfurnace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17325coll1/id/1/rec/2
This Weekly Spotlight shines on Nancy Alfaro’s 45-minute one-woman show “Sex and the Single Mother.”
Using film, text, movement and song, Alfaro takes a comedic stance as a middle-aged single mom who’s looking for love (in all the wrong places,) from the confines of a tiny New York City apartment. “Sex and the Single Mother” was presented on November 11th, 2000, as part of “Franklin Furnace In Exile” at Dixon Place. The artist thanks Julie Archer, Lucy Sexton, Tony Stinkmetal (on Instagram as @tonystinkmetal), Patricia Decker, Susan Tannenbaum, and Lilly Torres, for their talent and support. Nancy Alfaro is on Instagram at @nancsizzle, and her 2021 children’s book “Sylvie McSlipper,” is available at bookshop.org (yay indie bookstores!) or check out Sylvie on her Instagram page @iamsylviemcslipper (Text by Gabriella Richter, FF Intern, Spring 2021)
Please watch at:
https://franklinfurnace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17325coll1/id/1/rec/2
Thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Karen Shaw, Emma Amos, David Hammons, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Longo, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, FF Alumns, in new publication
I am excited to be included in “Common Practice: Basketball and Contemporary Art” along with over 250 other artists who have used basketball iconography within their work. Published by @skiraeditore, edited by Carlos Rolón (@carlosrolon ), Dan Peterson (@art.work.basketball ), and John Dennis (@madbasic), with written contributions from Michelle Grabner (@michelleagrabner), RaMell Ross (@ramellross), and Titus Kaphar (@__NXTHVN__) “Common Practice” marks the first comprehensive illustrated publication to date to explore the relationship between basketball and contemporary art. Karen Shaw, FF Alumn
Visit @acommonpractice to purchase a limited-edition copy or to make a book donation to a community library. 100% of the proceeds from sales made at www.commonpractice.online go to support the non-profit @project_backboard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. Sur Rodney Sur, Jack Waters, FF Alumns, now online at Anchor
please visit this link: https://anchor.fm/bendoverbackbackwards/episodes/Sur-Rodney-Sur-and-Jack-Waters-Presented-by-Eileen-Dover-and-Gail-Thacker-eqo2b0
thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. Guadalupe Maravilla, FF Alumn, at Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC, NY, thru Sept. 6
PLANETA ABUELX, A SOLO SHOW FROM ARTIST GUADALUPE MARAVILLA, BRINGS HOPE AND HEALING TO SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
NEW YORK CITY, MAY 15
As the world slowly begins to recover from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic, Socrates Sculpture Park further affirms its role as an essential community-centric outdoor arts space with Planeta Abuelx, a solo exhibition of newly commissioned work from Guadalupe Maravilla that addresses and applies holistic healing practices, on view now through September 6, 2021.
In response to a curatorial invitation to use the Park’s five-acre landscape as a sanctuary for recuperation, Maravilla has created new work that expands upon his ongoing Disease Throwers series. Drawing on ancestral, Indigenous, and ritual practices of holistic healing, Maravilla’s sculptures are an accumulation of totemic forms; medicinal gardens; recycled and found materials; Mesoamerican symbolism; and functional sound components. The sculptures’ coral-like texture was achieved through an experimental process of pouring aluminum in the Park’s on-site fabrication studio. The resulting forms suggest connotations of water’s curative properties as well as conjuring the vulnerability of both environmental and social ecosystems.
The title, expanding the idea of “Mother Earth” into the intergenerational, gender neutral, and open-ended “Grandparents Planet”, points to Maravilla’s framing of intimate familial relationships and durational time as crucial to the restorative process. The installation of works serves as an homage to our elders, not only as a group vulnerable and tragically disproportionally lost to illness including Covid-19, but also as keepers of curative ancestral knowledge passed down through generations.
Maravilla’s interest in healing from trauma grew out of his personal lived experiences: as a child he fled from the Salvadoran Civil War and entered the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant and then later in life, he fought and survived cancer. While Maravilla’s personal narrative informs his practice, his exhibition at Socrates invites the public to more broadly consider how we – as communities and individuals – begin rehabilitation and renewal from the collective traumas of the past few years including the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of white supremacist violence. Maravilla’s focus on physical and emotional health through mutual and holistic care are in harmony with the Park as a waterfront estuary, a sheltered green space, and a community hub.
In addition to his new Disease Throwers sculptures, Maravilla also created a work for the Broadway Billboard above the Park’s main entrance as well as a large-scale ground drawing based on the Salvadoran children’s game “tripa chuca” (which translates to “rotting guts”).
Over the course of the Planeta Abuelx exhibition, Maravilla will activate the projects on view through a series of public programs including community workshops and therapeutic sound baths. These programs will be offered in accordance with Covid-19 safety protocols and be responsive to changing conditions.
“With his exhibition at Socrates, Guadalupe Maravilla radically expands on the concept of healing through art, creating new modes of understanding for what holistic care and recovery looks like for individuals and communities in the wake of trauma. The natural oasis that is the Park’s waterfront landscape serves to further amplify the potential recuperative properties of this body of work – literally, in the case of the sculptures’ auditory components, and figuratively, in terms of the intangible (yet very real) benefits of experiencing art in nature.”
– Jess Wilcox, Socrates’ Curator & Director of Exhibitions
“I am so grateful that Socrates has been able to remain open throughout the pandemic, providing the public with essential access to nature and art. Guadalupe Maravilla’s exhibition, Planeta Abuelx, will provide a new and important form of respite to our community as we continue to heal, physically and mentally, from Covid-19.”
– John Hatfield, Socrates’ outgoing Executive Director
ARTWORKS ON VIEW
Disease Throwers (#13, #14) Installation
Cast aluminum, steel tubing, assorted welded details
Dimensions variable
This installation presents the latest sculptures in Maravilla’s ongoing Disease Thrower series, which reflect experiences of illness and migration. The totemic forms recall coral formations and include various symbolic elements relating to the artist’s personal healing journey. The sculptures also feature two large gongs, which are activated by the artist for healing sound baths. During healing sound baths, additional gongs are temporarily secured in octagonal steel holders and a fire is lit in a central fire pit.
The medicinal garden around the Disease Throwers includes the Three Sisters — corn, squash, beans — which are key crops for Indigenous communities in the Americas, along with plants with healing properties. The beds are interspaced with twisting aluminum wires that reference sacred medicinal plants as well as the artist’s own braided hair.
Tripa Chuca
Dimensions variable
Water-based paint
Maravilla expanded upon a game from his childhood in El Salvador called “Tripa Chuca” (“rotting guts”), where players simultaneously draw lines that never touch, to create a temporary artwork inside the circle of medicinal plants . The artist’s Tripa Chuca drawings are often incorporated into his sculptures or presented on gallery walls, so this marks the first time Maravilla has played the game outdoors. Maravilla’s collaborator on this project is, like Maravilla, a cancer survivor. Together they inscribed their individual journeys as two separate lines on the earth, traveling and maneuvering throughout the Park without intersecting, creating an ephemeral ground drawing.
Retablo Billboard
Vinyl Print
12 x 28 ft.
On the Broadway Billboard Maravilla presents an enlarged retablo – a small devotional painting made in collaboration with Daniel Vilchis, a fourth-generation Mexican artist whom the artist met when retracing his migration. For Maravilla, this collaboration is part of a micro-economy he seeks to build through his practice, which centers marginalized people and mutual aid. The painting depicts the casting process used to create the Disease Thrower sculptures, along with some of the symbolic materials that are part of the installation, including twisting gourds and ears of corn in the ancestral/medicinal garden.
SOUND BATHS
Guadalupe Maravilla and sound healers performing a healing sound bath at Socrates Sculpture Park; 2021; Courtesy the Artist; and PPOW, New York; Image by Scott Lynch.
A number of healing sound baths will take place over the course of the exhibition. All sound baths take place in the Park and pre-registration is required. For full details, exact times, and registration, please visit our website.
Saturday, May 15: Opening Day Healing Sound Baths
Sunday, June 6 : Healing Sound Bath for Cancer
Saturday, June 12: Andean Yoga & Sun Gazing with Healing Sound Bath
Saturday, July 10: Women’s Healing Circle with Healing Sound Bath
Saturday, July 31: Herbalism Workshop with Healing Sound Bath
Sunday, September 5: Closing Day Healing Sound Baths
BLOOMBERG CONNECTS
Now visitors can explore the Park and Planeta Abuelx from anywhere with the Bloomberg Connects app. Bloomberg Connects is a free digital guide to cultural institutions around the world, including our LIC neighbors the Noguchi Museum and MoMA PS1. Download the app for your smartphone or tablet and learn more about the Park’s 30-year history of exhibiting bold public art projects, hear from artists, and special performances and s videos about the artworks on view.
Listen to Curatorial Assistant, danilo machado talk about Planeta Abuelx, read more about the artworks on view, and watch videos documenting the artist’s process – made possible by the generous support of Bloomberg Philanthropies. Information on the guide about Planeta Abuelx is available in English and Spanish.
SUPPORT
This exhibition is organized by Socrates Sculpture Park and curated by Jess Wilcox, Curator & Director of Exhibitions, and danilo machado, Curatorial Assistant. The exhibition is made possible with generous support from the Jerome Foundation and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation. Socrates’s Exhibition Program is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Charina Foundation, the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation, Agnes Gund, Lambent Foundation, Ivana Mestrovic, and Spacetime C.C.
The exhibition is funded, in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Special thanks to PPOW, New York; Salem Art Works; & Metalmen.
ABOUT SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK
For over 30 years, Socrates Sculpture Park has been a model of public art production, community activism, and socially inspired place-making. Over 1,000 artists have created and exhibited new works on its five waterfront acres and outdoor studio facilities. Socrates is free and open to the public 365 days a year from 9am to sunset. It is located at 32-01 Vernon Boulevard (at Broadway) in Long Island City, New York. Socrates Sculpture Park is a not-for-profit organization licensed by NYC Parks to manage and program Socrates Sculpture Park, a New York City public park. Covid-19 Updates: Socrates remains open to the public at regular hours, 9am – sunset, with free admission. Park policies and updates regarding health and safety can be found at socratessculpturepark.org/Covid19.
The Park is on the ancestral land of the Lenape, Canarsie, and Matinecock peoples.
Media Contact:
Sara Morgan | sm@socratessculpturepark.org | 415.845.1138 | bit.ly/PlanetaAbuelx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. Patty Chang, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
Please visit this link:
thank you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. David Hammons, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
please visit this link:
thank you
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens, Carmelita Tropicana & Ela Troyano, Coco Fusco, Dona Ann McAdams, Eileen Myles, Holly Hughes, John Kelly, Julie Atlas Muz, Julie Tolentino, Kate Bornstein, Lucy Sexton, Lori E. Seid, Nicky Paraiso, Pamela Sneed, Penny Arcade, Peter Cramer & Jack Waters, Ron Athey, Tim Miller, FF Alumns, online at Performance Space New York, May 26
please visit this link:
thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. Julie Tolentino, FF Alumn, at 47 Canal, thru June 12
47 Canal: 친구
Danielle Dean, Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, Nikita Gale, Elle Pérez, P. Staff, Julie Tolentino, Pigpen, & Christelle de Castro, Carrie Yamaoka, Anicka Yi
May 14—June 12, 2021
Organized in collaboration with 47 Canal
291 Grand St, 2nd Fl
New York, NY 10002
Tuesday—Saturday, 11AM—6PM
Open via appointment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8. Rosamond S. King, FF Alumn, online at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, May 19
Find the meaning of sanctuary with a
nationally and internationally award-winning art ensemble hailing from
the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, the Indian Oceans . . .
Witness the world premiere.
Wear white, join the ritual, be Sanctuary.
Sanctuary, A Performance
May 19th, 12-1:00PM.
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
A collaboration between
Ana-Maurine Lara, Rosamond S. King, Courtney Desiree Morris, Akiko Hatakeyama
Director: D’Lo
Sanctuary is a live-streamed event of combined live and virtual performance exploring women/queer people of color’s collective experiences of seeking refuge from persecution under the ongoing violence of colonization.
REGISTER AT THE FOLLOWING URL FOR A FREE TICKET TO WATCH SANCTUARY, A PERFORMANCE
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sanctuary-a-performance-tickets-152598166223
Wednesday, May 19th, 12:00PM-1:00PM PDT
Live-streamed at: Jordan Schnitzer Museum’s YouTube Channel
REGISTER AT THE FOLLOWING URL FOR A WEBINAR CONVERSATION WITH SANCTUARY ARTISTS
https://uoregon.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_owodQn-eQR-6Qmk8cHrKPw
Moderated by Dr. Jillian Hernández
Wednesday, May 19th, 6:00-7:00PM PDT
Zoom Webinar at Jordan Schnitzer Museum
“In this time of so much despair, anger and pain, we as artists were able to find sanctuary with each other.
Over the past two years, our creative process and collaboration became a sanctuary that
provided so much joy and love to each of us: as artists, as women and queer people of color.”
~Ana-Maurine Lara
#sanctuaryperformance
Media Inquiries:
Dr. Alaí Reyes-Santos, alai@uoregon.edu, 503-269-0498
Alaí Reyes-Santos, PhD
https://www.alaireyessantos.com/
Associate Director: PNW Just Futures Institute for Climate and Racial Justice
Associate Professor: Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies Dept.
University of Oregon
Contact: alai@uoregon.edu
Caribbean Women Healers: Decolonizing Knowledge Within AfroIndigenous Tradition/Digital Humanities Project
HOW WE DID IT? Equity Panel Case Study: Eugene’s Climate Action Plan 2.0
The UO Puerto Rico Project: Hurricane María and Its Aftermath
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9. Chloë Bass, FF Alumn, now online in The New York Times
please visit this link:
thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10. Galinsky, FF Alumn, live online benefit for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, May 27
On May 27 at 9:30 PM EST, the Actor Trade Table Read Series will present short plays by David Lewison, “Sex, Love, Death, and Other Improbabilities.” Watch the reading by registering for free at http://www.actortrade.eventbrite.com. The reading is directed by Galinsky, and stars Tony Award winner Maryann Plunkett (Film: Little Women, Broadway: A Man for All Seasons), Tony Award nominee Stephen McKinley Henderson (Film: Fences. Broadway: A Dolls’ House Part 2, A Raisin in the Sun), Chad Morgan (Film/TV “This is Us,” The Purge: Anarchy), Obie Award Winner, NAACP Image Award Nominee Roger Guenveur Smith (“Do The Right Thing,” “A Huey P. Newton Story,” ”American Gangster”), and Ajay Naidu (Film/TV: Office Space, “Blindspot”) and is being presented as a benefit for Literacy for Incarcerated Teens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11. Jay Critchley, FF Alumn, at AMP Gallery, opening May 28 and more
Greetings,
I am privileged to live in a safe and beautiful place called Provincetown with a resilient community response to COVID, but the pain and suffering and the racial and economic inequality exposed by the pandemic is a global catastrophe. And linked to climate change.
Democracy of the Land: Viral Warming examines our global health and its dependence upon the dominant cultural, economic and political foundations that engage in ruthless extractive strategies that degrade the land and the livability of individuals, communities and the planet.
You are cordially invited to:
May 28 – June 23: AMP Gallery, Provincetown, will present my new work created in 2020: Democracy of the Land: Viral Warming; showing with M P Landis and Lori Swartz;
May 28 Opening, 6:00-9:00 pm
June 16 – 25: Provincetown International Film Festival has selected my short film, Provincetown 2020: 36 Solar Lights
-and-
Please check out the feature on my work in the March/April issue of Sculpture Magazine of the International Sculpture Center
Looking forward to a safe and open summer. Hope to see you.
Thank you.
-and-
The Provincetown Independent
By Josephine De La Bruyere May 12, 2021
WASTE NOT
At Home in Jay Critchley’s Cesspool
Converting your old soak pit into a rental unit, experts warn, is a no-go
PROVINCETOWN — In 1997, Jay Critchley uncovered a backyard manhole, peered into a cesspool, and “discovered a new world.”
He had always known about his property’s cesspit, a pre-Title 5 relic that had sat unused for a decade and a half. But Critchley had never before felt compelled to study the pit, or to consider his defunct, inherited cesspool as anything more than just that.
On that day, Critchley, the activist-artist-provocateur, saw a split-level stage, an apartment-slash-commentary-on-artists’-living-conditions. Toned down a level, he saw something simpler: “A gorgeous space.”
Critchley’s cesspool is shaped like a cinder-block beehive. It swells at its widest point to six feet in diameter and extends five feet underground. In its past life, the beehive could fit a single family’s waste. Now, Critchley claims, it is quasi-livable. Long ago, to make the point, he carpeted the dirt floor, whitewashed the cinder blocks, added a mattress, electrical cord, TV, altar. He called it a Septic Summer Rental.
This was Critchley’s indictment of Provincetown’s looming affordable housing crisis, not an actual solution to the problem. Provincetown Health Director Morgan Clark stresses that “a livable space needs at least two means of egress, and natural light.” And, as she points out, “a cesspool has neither of those.”
“I know it’s tempting to make use of something you’ve used in the past,” says George Heufelder, who works with the Mass. Alternative Septic System Test Center in Sandwich. “But I could see no positive thing about using a used cesspool for anything else.” Not even for a root cellar? No, he says. “If there’s remaining organic matter in there, it can create sewer gases like methane, which do things like kill you.”
These are not facts Critchley cares to take up. His was a “good-sized unit, with a rooftop sundeck and a shared shower,” he recalls. He’d rent it now for at least a couple thousand a week, he says. Except that, after stints as a theater, an opera house, and a poetry stage, his cesspool has moved on.
Critchley’s cesspool can fit this reporter, sitting, with room for a friend. Standing is a different story.
What does it mean to have one’s body in a cesspool and one’s head extending from a manhole, level with Jay Critchley’s shins and a statue of Saint Francis? That, says Critchley, is called “a moment of transformation.”
The dirt floor is uncarpeted again. But some décor remains: five bunches of fake flowers; a windchime dangles near ground level; some slugs have made themselves at home. The first thought when one lowers oneself into a cesspool is neither “gorgeous” nor “transformative.” The first thought is, likely, “I am in a cesspool.”
Yet this cesspool does not smell like a cesspool. Its smell is dark, basement-y, two beats from unpleasant. Critchley calls it “flavor.”
A cesspool operates simply. Pipes carry waste from homes to their backyard pits. In Provincetown, those pits’ sides are mostly walled, with cinder block or brick or pounded concrete. “This town is a sand dune,” says Critchley. “With no walls, a cesspool would cave in.” But the pit’s floor is open dirt. Liquids leach through it, into the water table; solids compost and decay.
Critchley has studied up on local cesspools, he says, deadpanning — his gift for deadpan is sublime — that he has seen enough beehives, prisms, and ordinary pits to propose a historic septic district to the town.
Before 1995’s Title 5 legislation, cesspools reigned supreme in Provincetown. Now, the law deems them “nonconforming systems.” They only come up, says Health Director Clark, “because they’re bad and need to turn into something better.” Clark estimates that about 150 functioning ones remain in town.
But Critchley has a point. Look past the slugs, past the worry about the possible contaminants entering your airways, and a quiet elegance reveals itself. When was the last time you studied a cinder-block beehive? Each of those blocks, says Critchley, was built specifically for its role in the structure. To the extent that cinder blocks can nestle, these ones do. Through the manhole opening above — a circle of blue sky and greenery — is Critchley’s face peeking in.
“It’s a small space for big ideas,” he says. “Do you feel transformed?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12. Roberley Bell, FF Alumn, at BSG LaunchPad Gallery, Boston, MA, opening June 2
Roberley Bell: BETWEEN UNCERTAINTY
Launchpad Gallery Boston Sculptors Gallery
486 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA
617.482.7781
www.bostonsculptors.com
bostonsculptors@gmail.com
June 2 – July 2, 2021
First Friday Receptions
June 4 and July 2, 5 – 8:30pm
Gallery Hours
Wednesday – Sunday, 11am – 5pm
Roberley Bell’s debut exhibition in Boston, Between Uncertainty, features work from two of the artist’s ongoing series, Still life, and Something, as well as Foreign Objects, a new series which emerged during the pandemic.
Bell’s practice draws on the world around her, focusing on the observation of nature. She both borrows from and abstracts aspects of flora and fauna to reveal her signature hybridized forms. Delightful and delicate, Bell’s sculptures investigate the boundaries between color, material, and form. Playful amalgams encompassing many media, the works are thoughtfully constructed and balanced, embedded in the formal language of spatial composition. Unexpected color, contrasting materials, diverse textures and distinctive shapes are all at play—straddling the space between representation and abstraction.
Roberley Bell’s work has been exhibited internationally. She is the recipient of numerous fellowships including awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Pollock Krasner Fellowship, and a Senior Scholar Fulbright to Turkey. Her numerous residencies include Stadt Künstlerhaus, Salzburg, Austria; The International Studio Program in New York City; and Sculpture Space in Utica, NY; among others. Most recently, she was awarded a residency at the Cite International in Paris. Bell lives in Pelham, MA, and maintains her studio in Easthampton.
www.roberleybell.com
@roberleybell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
13. Penny Arcade, FF Alumn, now online at Patreon
Just uploaded to my Patreon page a performance I did in 2011 when Vallejo Gantner, then artistic director of PS122, invited me to do an eight-minute performance for their annual benefit. I had not performed at PS 122 since the departure of artistic director Mark Russell in 2002. Here’s a short excerpt. You can join Patreon for as little as $2/month and view the entire performance. https://www.patreon.com/Penny_Arcade
As is my style, I improvised the one-off performance. I enjoy going on stage with only IDEAS and trying to make theatre out of NOTHING. I brought a small bag with a little derringer lighter I bought at a truck stop. It had a red beam…and I decided that would be my prop.
I discussed with Steve Zehentner my long-time collaborator a three-part structure. We didn’t rehearse. Steve improvised the music live. The third part would start when stage manager Lori E Seid yelled, “Start now!”, signaling the last 12 seconds where the lights would do a slow fade leaving me in the dark.
The piece focused on all the people who once worked in the space and the reality of my not having performed in the space that had been my home theatre in New York since 1985. I also revealed how I had long dealt with my career frustration over the years in the Not For Profit Industrial Complex, and broke down the categories that make it up: The arts administrators, the boards and funders, the artists, and the critics. I also spoke about the difference between the Avant-Garde and the rear guard.
In the last minutes I sang the first verse of ‘Mein Herr’ from Cabaret, ending the performance in total darkness.
You have to understand the way I am,
Mein Herr.
A tiger is a tiger, not a lamb.
Mein Herr.
You’ll never turn the vinegar to jam,
Mein Herr.
So I do…
What I do…
When I’m through…
Then I’m through…
And I’m through…
Toodle-oo!
Of the hundreds of improvised performances Steve and I have done together, this is his favorite! Enjoy. xo Penny
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
14. Brahna Yassky, FF Alumn, now online at The Girlfriend
please visit this link:
thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15. Michelle Handelman, FF Alumn, online at Participant, May 22
Michelle Handelman, DOOMSCROLLING
Michelle Handelman x Shannon Funchess
Saturday May 22, 8pm EST / 5pm PST on participantafterdark.art
Presented in collaboration with The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) This event includes live ASL interpretation by Candace Davider
PARTICIPANT AFTER DARK and PICA present DOOMSCROLLING, a livestream video premiere of Michelle Handelman’s THE PANDEMIC SERIES (2020-2021), with a live collaborative reading and performance between Handelman and musician/performer Shannon Funchess, co-founder of the band Light Asylum.
THE PANDEMIC SERIES (2020-2021) recontextualizes characters from Handelman’s previous works into a hypnotic visual essay about the transfiguring of interiority during periods of isolation and fear. It takes as its starting point the current coronavirus pandemic and filters it through theorist Jill Casid’s writings on the necrocene, which Casid has described as living and dying on a dying planet; and Walter Benjamin’s writings on the difference between thresholds and boundaries. Handelman’s characters, who each have already struggled with existential questions of belonging and fear in her projects DORIAN, A CINEMATIC PERFUME (2009/11), IRMA VEP, THE LAST BREATH (2013/15), and HUSTLERS & EMPIRES (2018) are juxtaposed with found images and texts sourced during the pandemic to take on a new form that both denies and struggles with containment.
Videos and Live Reading by: Michelle Handelman
Live Performance: Shannon Funchess
Livestream/Video Director: Glen Fogel
Technical Director (PICA): Chris Balo
Audio & Video Engineer (NY): Lazar Bozic
Animation: Enrique Maitland
The Pandemic Series:
Director/Producer/Editor: Michelle Handelman
Cinematographer: Ed David
Performers: Quin Charity, Zackary Drucker, Shannon Funchess, K8 Hardy, John Kelly, Armen Ra, Viva Ruiz, Mother Flawless Sabrina, Sequinette
Costumes: Neon Music, Garo Sparo, Karen Young, Zaldy
Hair/Makeup: Michael Gwaltney, Armen Ra, Naomi Raddatz, Sequinette
Composers: Vincent Baker, Quentin Chiappetta, Jonathan Kreinik, Stefan Tcherepnin Full credits for Hustlers & Empires (2018/2020), Irma Vep, The Last Breath (2013/2015), Dorian, A Cinematic Perfume (2009/2013) can be found at www.michellehandelman.com.
Coming up through the years of the AIDS crisis and Culture Wars of the 1990s, Michelle Handelman has built a body of work that uses live performance and moving images to confront the things we collectively fear and deny–sexuality, death, chaos. Handelman is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow (2011) and Creative Capital awardee (2019). Her latest project Hustlers & Empires was commissioned by SFMOMA as part of their Performance in Practice series. She has exhibited at Broad Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MIT List Visual Arts Center, PARTICIPANT, INC, PERFORMA Biennial, Guangzhou 53 Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center among others. During the 1990s Handelman worked in San Francisco where she collaborated with Monte Cazazza, a pioneer of the Industrial music scene and performed in several films by Lynn Hershman-Leeson. Handelman’s writings can be found in QED: A Journal in LGBTQ Worldmaking, n.Paradoxa, Intl Feminist Art Journal, and her work has been written about in Artforum, Art in America, Filmmaker Magazine, and The New York Times. Her 1995 feature documentary BloodSisters: Leather, Dykes and Sadomasochism is being re-released by Kino Lorber this summer, and her exhibition These Unruly and Ungovernable Selves is currently on view at The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art through August 15, 2021.
Co-founder, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist of the dark, electronic band LIGHT ASYLUM. Shannon Funchess developed her powerful contralto singing in a Southern Baptist church choir as a child, adding Joy Division and Bauhaus to her list of influences as a teen. She moved to Seattle in the late ’80s, performing in indie rock bands, before moving to New York in 2001. Funchess’ vocal prowess has been sought after for many collaborations with acts such as TV on the Radio, The Knife, and LCD Soundsystem. In 2015, she participated in a Knight Foundation residency in Detroit, spearheaded by the electronic duo ADULT. Funchess, now residing in Portland, Oregon, is currently enlivening a 20-year DJ career, performing new solo material under the moniker HEALING CRISIS and producing the sophomore follow-up album to LIGHT ASYLUM’s 2012 self-titled debut LP released on Mexican Summer Records.”
PARTICIPANT AFTER DARK is a virtual performance, screening, and exhibition space launched by PARTICIPANT INC in 2020. PARTICIPANT invited artist Glen Fogel to design and develop AFTER DARK, working with artists to inhabit the site and modify it for their projects’ specific needs.
PARTICIPANT INC’s exhibitions are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Our programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Archiving and documentation projects are supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
PARTICIPANT INC is supported in part by an Artists Council Grant of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Online projects are 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.
PARTICIPANT INC receives generous support from the Harriett Ames Charitable Trust; Artists’ Legacy Foundation; Michael Asher Foundation; Willem de Kooning Foundation; The Greenwich Collection Ltd.; Agnes Gund Foundation; Marta Heflin Foundation; The Ruth Ivor Foundation; The Meredith E. James Charitable Fund; Jerome Foundation; Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation; Henry Luce Foundation; The MAP Fund; NADA Gallery Relief Grant; Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; Andrea Stern Charitable Fund; Still Point Fund; Teiger Foundation; The Jacques Louis Vidal Charitable Fund; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; FRIENDS of PARTICIPANT INC; numerous individuals; and Materials for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs/NYC Department of Sanitation/NYC Dept. of Education.
contact lia@participantinc.org, 646-492-4076
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16. David Cale, FF Alumn, at The Wild Project Gallery, Manhattan, opening May 22
Opening! “The Smiling Squirrels of Tompkins Square Park” will have it’s official opening next Saturday May 22 from 2-6 PM at The Wild Project Gallery, 195 East 3rd Street, NYC (between Avenues A & B). Almonds will be served!
The gallery generally right now will only be open on Saturdays from 2-6 PM, except by appointment. The exhibition will run till June 19. Come on by!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Goings On is compiled weekly by Harley Spiller
