The art season began in earnest last Sunday with an opening at the Socrates Sculpture Park’s annual Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition and a block party on Orchard Street and many coordinated openings at many of the Lower East Side (LES) galleries. EAF13 at the sculpture park did not lack a certain controversy caused by a provocative but playful sculpture made by Thordis Adalsteinsdottir (photo 7). Daily News posted a blurred image of the sculpture in an article titled, “Bear bites – and possibly arouses – naked man in Queens sculpture.” Be sure to read the commentary section of the article for some much needed hilarity.
The LES was particularly mobbed, and I ran into friends and acquaintances at practically every block. Broome Street is becoming another hub for galleries in LES with the openings of Jack Hanley Gallery, White Box, Canada and Malborough Broome Street. Malborough had a a big pizza oven parked outside the gallery, handing out free pizzas to commemorate the inaugural group exhibition called Pizza Time! As usual, it was more convivial and energetic in LES than Chelsea. I am posting some photos from the day. Next week I will be in Paris for a friend’s wedding, and will post how “la rentrée” of the art world is going in Paris. A bientôt!
Kira Nam Greene’s work explores female sexuality, desire and control through figure and food still-life paintings, surrounded by complex patterns. Imbuing the feminist legacies of Pattern and Decoration Movement with transnational, multicultural motifs, Greene creates colorful paintings that are unique combinations of realism and abstraction, employing diverse media such as oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and colored pencil. Combining Pop Art tropes and transnationalism, she also examines the politics of food through the depiction of brand name food products, or junk food. Recently, Greene started a figurative painting series spurred by the 2016 Presidential Election, Women’s March, #metoo movement and ensuing crisis of conscience, this new body of work aspires to present the power of collective action by women.