The weather has again cooled and the art world is settling in for the winter. We recommend a film noir-tinged exhibition in Chelsea to reflect the current starkness of the city, a marathon reading of Gertrude Stein’s modernist and present participle-heavy “The Making of Americans” in Greenpoint, an ambitious Arthurian gallery-opera on the Lower East Side, a dialogue between two intrepid artists who examine violence and sex on (appropriately) the Bowery, a subterranean art show that crawls beneath Long Island City with performance and sculptures, and then see what’s “on the radar.” So head out and find a good bar for a post-art hot toddy. See you on the streets!
OPENINGS/EVENTS
THU 01/17 McDermott and McGough: “Suspicious of rooms without music or atmosphere” at Cheim & Read, 547 West 25th Street, Chelsea, 6 – 8 pm
This rainy winter makes us feel like we’re in a Fritz Lang film, so this exhibition at Cheim & Read by collaborative duo David McDermott and Peter McGough inspired by the cinema of the 1950s and 60s seems a perfect complement. Paintings done in a photorealist style are paired with movie scenes, with plenty of femme fatales, smoldering ash trays, and atmosphere. — Allison Meier
FRI 01/18-SUN 01/20 “The Making of Americans” at Triple Canopy, 155 Freeman, Greenpoint, 7 pm Friday to 11ish pm Sunday
Coffee, doughnuts, borscht, and booze have been stockpiled for the annual reading of Gertrude Stein’s infamously impenetrable work, starting Friday evening and going until the final word is read in unison sometime late on Sunday. — Sara Roffino
FRI 01/18 “M O N S A L V A T” at Bureau, 127 Henry Street, Lower East Side, 6 – 8 pm
Collaborators Andrea Merkx and Nathan Gwynne are taking over Bureau with a seemingly impossible number of artists for the space (we count at least 60). The exhibition promises to be part music video set for regular filming during the show’s run, and is just the beginning of the duo’s “King Arthur Rock Opera” project that takes on the Arthurian legend. Will the idea be as unconquerable as a sword in a stone? We expect a dramatic showing either way. — AM
FRI 1/18 Judith Bernstein and Paul McCarthy in Conversation at the New Museum, 235 Bowery, Bowery, 7 pm
Bernstein and McCarthy — both artists who make work that bluntly addresses ideas of violence and sexuality — discuss their careers and the subject matter of their work with Margot Norton, the curator of Bernstein’s current (and first solo) show at the Museum. — SR
SUN 01/20 “Double Life” at Sculpture Center, 44-19 Purves Street, Long Island City, Ongoing with Performance at 3 pm
This group show winding through the center’s subterranean space has work by artists bridging performance and sculpture. Go between 3 and 6 on Sunday to see Bryan Zanisnik perform live with his father, Bob. — SR
ON THE RADAR
Under the Radar, Around NYC, through January 20
On our radar is Under the Radar! The annual theater festival is in its last week, and we recommend attending at least one of these offbeat productions, such as the Debate Society’s celebrated and dangerous “Blood Play,” the cut-out puppets in “2 Dimensional Life of Her,” or the experimental “Hamlet, Prince of Grief” from Iran. — AM
Rosemarie Trockel: “A Cosmos” at the New Museum, 235 Bowery, Bowery, through January 20
This is your last week to catch Rosemarie Trockel’s anti-retrospective that jumbles her own knitted wall pieces and other diverse art with the chaos of art history, reflecting her own broad practice in the process. Keep an eye out for a magnificent lobster exoskeleton and Vladislav Starevich’s wonderful “The Cameraman’s Revenge,” a stop-motion film of dead insect drama from 1911, in the commotion. — AM
“Bonni’s Best: A Memorial Exhibition for Bonni Benrubi” at Bonni Benrubi Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, 13th Floor, Midtown East, through January 26
When Bonni Benrubi passed away last November, she left a passionate legacy for the art of photography shown through the striking images that graced her gallery walls, and in her dedication to engaging the contemporary community of photographers. This exhibition includes highlights from the 25 years of the gallery, as well as pieces from her private collection. — AM
“This Red Door” at Kunsthalle Galapagos, 16 Main Street, DUMBO, through January 30
A collaborative project of artists Jomar Statkun, Jared Friedman, and Christopher Stackhouse, This Red Door is currently in-residence at Kunsthalle Galapagos, using it as their own salon-style experimental art workshop. Stop by and you might find a spontaneous performance, discussion, or act of creation. If you don’t like to leave things to chance, there are also plenty of scheduled events happening nearly every night until the end of the month. — AM
Charlotte Dumas: “Anima” at Julie Saul Gallery, 535 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, through March 9
Charlotte Dumas is a master of creating touching animal portraits that bring out the creature’s character without making it just another cute or trite image, such as her series on rescue dogs and strays. In “Anima,” which is fresh off a run at the Corcoran, she’s photographed and filmed the “burial horses” that pull funeral carriages Arlington Cemetery. At rest in their stalls, their exhaustion is a ready projection for human grief. — AM
(Image: McDermott & McGough, “I know lonely nights, 1967,” 2012, oil on canvas, 31 x 60, via Cheim & Read.)
