fee's LIST (through 7/19)

WEDNESDAY
NYC
* "Soft Machines" @ The Pace Gallery / 545 W 22nd St. The title makes me think of Claes Oldenberg, he of literal soft-construct sculpture. But this actually alludes to William S. Burroughs' titular 1961 novel, in how control mechanisms (from narcotics to TV to religion) affect our psychological and physical disposition. Heavy stuff for a summer group show!

* "25 Years/25 Artists" @ Julie Saul Gallery / 535 W 22nd St. The gallery celebrates 25 years as a public exhibition space, with as many artists represented, each featured in one year of the show: from Tseng Kwong Chi and Maira Kalman to Julie Evans and Rineke Dijkstra.

* NYAFF: "City of Violence" (dir. Ryoo Seung-wan, 2006) screening @ Walter Reade Theatre / Lincoln Center @ 65th St (1 to 66th St), 3:30p. My first brush w/ Ryoo, one of Korea's eminent young directors/action choreographers AND stars, was at this very festival four years ago, in the heart-wrenching crime-family drama "City of Violence". It still reigns as one of my favorites, matching exhaustingly brutal fight sequences with tear-inducing emotion.

* NYAFF: "The Unjust" (dir. Ryoo Seung-wan, 2010) screening @ Walter Reade Theatre / Lincoln Center @ 65th St (1 to 66th St), 9p. In Ryoo's "return to form" (though incidentally I loved his "Austin Powers"-ish "Dachimawa Lee"), everybody's bad, or corrupted, or generally unlikeable. It's garnered strong reviews, and I trust Ryoo, so brace for crime-riddled mayhem and dive in. Plus, Ryoo attends the screening, which is epically dope.

* Sweet Bulbs @ Death By Audio / 49 S 2nd St, Williamsburg (L to Bedford, JM to Marcy), 8p. Local fuzz-rock darlings Sweet Bulbs are the bees knees, controlled sonic maelstroms. w/ Monitors and American Sun

* James Blake (UK) + Teengirl Fantasy @ Webster Hall / 125 E 11th St (NR/L/456 to Union Square), 7:30p/$25. So I took my sweet time acclimatizing to the runaway success story that is James Blake. But I'm there now, and he's an incredibly accomplished, sonically striking young musician. Matched w/ Teengirl Fantasy and you've got a mind-altering trip in the works.

AUSTIN
* "Future Present: Five Artists, Five Weeks" feat. Brian Bress @ Arthouse / 700 Congress, Austin. As the title suggests, each artist gets one week to display their video work in the 2F space. This third installment delivers Bress' "Status Report", feat. the artist playing six different roles.

* "Riot on Sunset Strip" (dir. Arthur Dreifus, 1967) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E 6th St, 9:45p. You thought YOU had it bad growing up? Check out this 90 min. long parental advisory warning aimed at their grass-smoking, hotpants-wearing teens. Feat. a grizzled police captain named "Aldo Ray" and his daughter Mimsy, who has an acid-addled dance sequence that is both the film's turning point, key scene, climax, epiphany and undoubtedly plenty of other terms I've forgotten.

* Ghost Wolves @ Beerland / 711 Red River St, 9p/FREE (w/ RSVP to therumbleaustin.eventbrite.com). I can't over juke-joint duo Ghost Wolves…particularly frontwoman/guitarist Carley Wolf's voice, an emotive rasp that sinks deep in and refuses to let go.Think of her as one part Hill Country raconteur, one part trip-hop chanteuse. w/ The Asteroid Shop, as part of the venue's monthly Rumble matchup

TOKYO
* Eiko Ishibashi + Jim O'Rourke @ Liquidroom / 3-16-6 Higashi, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote Line etc to Ebisu station), 7p/4000 yen. This is by no means a first-time collab by multi-instrumentalist Ishibashi (she sings, drums and is versed in winds and piano) and Tokyo-based bassist/producer O'Rourke. She contributed to his "All Kinds of People - Love Burt Bacharach" and he played on her new LP "Carapace". This "Magic of Music vol 2" array, feat. Sudoh Toshiaki, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and Atsuko Hatano, should be particularly inspiring.

* Shooting Spires (aka BJ Warshaw/Parts & Labor) + Takashi Ueno, Kasumi Hiraoka + more @ Super Deluxe / B1F 3-1-25 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku (Hibya/Oedo Line to Roppongi Station), 7:30p/2300 yen. New Shambala Day vol 8 is jam-packed with dopeness, incl. 12-string guitarist and Moog manipulator Ueno (of Tenniscoats), film and pole-dancing by Hiraoka (of My Brassiere Film), junk electronics from BING (aka Toshio Kajiwara) and a solo set by Brooklyn NY's own BJ Warshaw, the bearded guy in noise-rockers Parts & Labor.

THURSDAY
NYC
* "Silver Bullet" @ Priska C. Juschka Fine Art / 547 W 27th St. As we dip further into summer, you've undoubtedly noticed many NYC galleries (even some restaurants) taking a European holiday. Not Juschka: this compelling international gallery mounts a group show organized by artist Danielle Tegeder and focused on objects that literally recall the title (silver and shiny stuff) and figurative (the mythical "silver bullet"). Feat. Arne Arnejorg, Richard Coleman, Pierre Denis Moreau, Jesse Heyes, Nadai Lovinescu, Vo Nyuyan Thu, Kati Schenk and Tegeder.

* "Cabin Fever" @ Mixed Greens / 531 W 26th St. A summer group show named after — but not necessarily extracting from — my favorite Eli Roth film (yes, on the record here, I dug "Cabin Fever" WAY more than "Hostel"). There is some B-horror tenseness here, via Josh Peters, Megan Crump and Mike Calway-Fagan, but the overall exhibition is steeped in a more generalized terror, like Jonathan Ehrenberg's looping two-channel video and Ilene Sunshine's wall-mounted sculpture.

* "The Inglorious Bastards" (dir. Enzo G. Castellari, 1978) + "The Psychic" (dir. Lucio Fulci, 1977) double-feature @ reRun Theatre / 147 Front St, DUMBO (F to York, AC to High St), 7p. The Severin insanity continues! War film-wise, you don't get much bad-asser than Castellari's "The Inglorious Bastards", both inspiration and impetus to Quentin Tarentino. And Fulci's "The Psychic" is a personal favorite, a chiller straight out of Poe's world (think "The Cask of Amontillado"), with Evelyn Stewart as the titular figure.

AUSTIN
* The French Inhales @ Emo's / 602 Red River, 9p/$6. If you can "French inhale" off your cig, you'll look pretty cool. If you check out this pretty dope local garage-rock band (joined by the spare, bassy Hatchet Wound and creatively named Ovary Action), you'd be THAT MUCH COOLER.

TOKYO
* Yoshio Suzuki @ Hidari Zingaro / 3F 5-52-15 Nakano, Nakano-ku (JR Chuo Line to Nakano Station). Part one of art journalist and BRUTUS deputy editor Suzuki's photo series "Fukuhen", documenting his international travels via a compact camera.

* LastDayBikini presents "Analogic Insert" @ Bar Bonobo / 2-23-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku (Fukutoshin Line to Kitasando Station, JR Yamanote Line to Harajuku Station), 9p/1000yen. Welcome to "Maniac Thursdays" — at least that's how I'm translating it, w/ your hosts LastDayBikini (aka tag-team Kayo and GJ). I first "experienced" LDB's freak-beat set at Superdeluxe last April before a noise concert and I was hooked. I want them to DJ my birthday party, if I'm in Tokyo next time that happens...

FRIDAY
NYC
* Romare Bearden "The Soul of Blackness: A Centennial Tribute" @ Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (23 to 135th St). In celebration of this seminal New York artist, the Center draws from its collection of Bearden's unique interpretations of the African-American experience, including his 50th anniversary collage tribute to the Center and the tapestry "Spring Festival".

* Japan Cuts: "Three Points" (dir. Masashi Yamamoto, 2011) screening @ Japan Society / 333 E 47th St (E/M to 53rd/Lexington, 6 to 51st St), 8:30p. The title comes from three takes on Japan's working-class underbelly, from Kyoto to Okinawa to Tokyo. But look: this also stars mega AV idol Sora Aoi, she of "Tsumugi" and "Illegal Tits Violation 14" (I'm not making that up), and if her horror film "Big Tits Zombie" wasn't "highbrow" enough for you, consider this Sora-chan's move to the mainstream. Dir. Yamamoto AND Sora Aoi attend the post-screening Q&A and afterparty (major!).

* Lawrence Weiner + Kathryn Bigelow short-film showcase @ MoMA / 11 W 53rd St (E/M to 53rd St/5th Ave, 6 to 51st St), 4:30p. An incredible series of collaborations b/w Bigelow (the engaging director) and Weiner (the key Conceptualist), feat. "Affected and/or Effected" and "Done To" (both 1974, w/ Bigelow in front of the camera), "Green as Well as Blue as Well as Red" (1975-6, w/ commentary by Bigelow & Weiner) and "Altered to Suit" (1979, filmed by Weiner and edited by Bigelow). ALSO TUE 4p

* "Labyrinth" (dir. Jim Henson, 1986) midnight screening @ Sunshine Cinema / 143 E Houston St (F to 2nd Ave). What, I ask you, is better than watching a hot vampiric David Bowie and a teenaged Jennifer Connelly in a surreal fantasy film, the one that taught me the term "oubliette", at midnight ALSO SAT

* Asobi Seksu + The Radio Dept @ South Street Seaport, Pier 17 (23/34/JMZ to Fulton St), 7p/FREE. Sweet sweet shoegaze and atmospheric dream-pop outdoors. LIST faves Asobi Seksu will leave you spellbound, and that's before Sweden's dream-pop icons The Radio Dept take the stage.

* Rayon Beach (Austin) @ Bruar Falls / 245 Grand St, Williamsburg (L to Bedford, G to Lorimer), 8p/$6. Psych-tinged garage-rock deep in the heart of Texas. This is the early leg of Rayon Beach's big summer tour. w/ John Wesley Coleman, another Hill Country badass of the songwriterly persuasion

* Noveller @ Shea Stadium / 20 Meadow St, E. Williamsburg (L to Grand), 8p. I've been a Noveller enthusiast since before I realized its one-woman juggernaut Sarah Lipstate was also an accomplished experimental filmmaker and alumni from my university (UT Austin for the win) — I knew her as the axe-slayer Brooklyn's eminent noise-rockers Parts & Labor (whose bearded bassist BJ plays a special show in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo on WED), and caught her opening for them as Noveller, conjuring these stunning soundscapes w/ just her guitar and effects pedals. Her latest LP "Glacial Glow" takes me back to that night at Union Pool when I first discovered how awesome she is. w/ Garrincha & the Stolen Elk

* The Wooden Birds (Austin) @ The Rock Shop / 249 4th Ave, Park Slope (D/NR to Union St), 8p/$12. This pretty awesome Park Slope venue continues its one-year anniversary w/ a treat: Austin TX's dynamic acoustic indie rockers The Wooden Birds, in town a few days for their delightful 2nd LP "Two Matchsticks". Show the South some Big Apple love. w/ Mascott

AUSTIN
* "Identity Crisis", curated by Hector Hernandez @ Grayduck Gallery / 608 W Monroe Dr. Altering oneself and its impact, both personal and outward, in society — whether that means a more explicit gesture (the mask) or a more subtle costume. Hernandez, painter/printmaker Carlos Donjuan and multimedia artist William Hundley (winner of the Juror's Award at Texas' 2007 Biennial) contribute.

* Stephen Pruitt "Encryption" @ Salvage Vanguard Theatre / 2803 Manor Rd, 8p/$12. Pruitt — who has collaborated with the Rude Mechanics, Forklift, amid others — stages his first solo performance in five years, exploring the peripheries of the sensory-overloaded chunks of our existences. UFOs factor into this show, which began as a live radio performance at the 2009 Fronterafest Short Fringe, as "TBA". ALSO SAT

* The Sour Notes @ Cactus Cafe / 2247 Guadalupe St, 8:30p/$5. Austin powerhouse collective The Sour Notes (whose membership boasts ineffable singer/songwriter Elaine Greer) complete their summer tour with an intimate show at UT Austin's Cactus Cafe. w/ Waldo & the Naturals

TOKYO
* Recoride vs. Sexy Synthesizer @ Shibuya Cyclone / B2 13-16 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku (JR Lines etc to Shibuya Station), 7p/2300 yen. Which electroclash band shall prevail in this "summer storm disco dance"? Recoride, boasting a pounding new EP and a pink-haired, Crystal Castles-like frontwoman Tatta? Or the 8-bit punk duo Sexy Synthesizer? I mean…they even made a T-shirt commemorating the event, which should epitomize a BASH.

* Angree Yung Robotz (aka Verbal/m-flo, Mademoiselle Yulia, Trippple Nippples) @ Club Asia / 1-8 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku (JR lines etc to Shibuya), 11p/3500 yen. An auspicious pairing of supernova proportions. Let's break it down: Verbal is a founding member of (IMO) Japan's premiere hip-hop blend m-flo. Mademoiselle Yulia is one of the hottest DJs in Tokyo's electro scene, plus this blue-haired fashionista scribes for NYLON Japan. And Trippple Nippples are that saccharine-drenched electroclash/performance duo. Yulia's debut LP is on the way (produced by Verbal), and I am beyond stoked.

SATURDAY
NYC
* Japan Cuts: "A Liar and a Broken Girl" (dir. Natsuki Seta, 2010) screening @ Japan Society / 333 E 47th St (E/M to 53rd/Lexington, 6 to 51st St), 7:15p. "Post-traumatic stress disorder made cute", says Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter. Sure, easy enough when a child kidnapper is a cutiepie and her Dior Homme-ish childhood friend stabs young women. Really? Darker than your wildest imagination. + Seta Q&A

* Company Flow + Juggaknots @ Santos Party House / 96 Lafayette St (NR/JMZ/6 to Canal St), 8p/$20. NY, I love you, but you're bringing me down. I leave the Big Apple and then two of underground hip-hop's legendary acts, the incomparable Co Flow (El-P, Bigg Juss & DJ Mr. Len, reunited!) and the super-solid Juggaknots (Breeze Brewin', Queen Herawin and Buddy Slim), take the stage of a decently intimate venue! Takes me back to '96, where mind you I was a youth stuck in Houston TX, but you get what I mean.

AUSTIN
* Kill the Client + Baring Teeth @ Headhunters / 720 Red River St, 9p/$5o. Dallas metal!!! Kill the Client split an LP w/ that other famous Dallas grindcore band Agoraphobic Nosebleed, plus they're on super-heavy Relapse Records. Baring Teeth inject like Atari glitch sounds into their ferocious sonic froth, plus they've got a new LP "Atrophy" that just dropped. w/ Lions of Tsavo

* Iceage @ Emo's / 602 Red River, 9p/$8. Insanity. Copenhagen's fiercest punks are like these 17-year-olds Iceage, but they mauled NYC in a series of shows so don't underestimate 'em! They share the stage w/ some stateside hard-rockers, Austin's own Women in Prison & The Creamers.

TOKYO
* Mikiya Takimoto "Land Space" @ MA2 Gallery / 3-3-8 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku (Yamanote Line to Ebisu Station). The exhibition focuses on Takimoto's photographs of space shuttles, begun in 2009 during trips to Florida, which also incorporate detail shots of jet engines and natural rock formations that resemble one another.

* Sachiho Ikeda @ Gallery MOMO Roppongi / 2F 6-2-6 Roppongi, Minato-ku (Hibiya/Oedo Lines to Roppongi Station). I love this gallery and I dig this young artist, who grew up in St. Petersburg before returning to Tokyo to attend Musashino Art University. This is Ikeda's 2nd solo exhibition at the gallery, acid-colored gardens and shrines that mix Nihonga technique with a vivid contemporary twist.

* "In the Waitingroom" @ Waitingroom / 3F 2-8-11 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote Line to Ebisu Station). This pretty neat indie Ebisu space fills up w/ like three dozen artists, from Yohei Watanabe and Makiko Nawa to Mayumi Oku and mumbreeze (a collab b/w mumbleboy and Kao). Waitingroom extends its hours to Sunday in celebration of this salon event.

* Motoyuki Daifu @ Otomeshi / 2F 3-57-7 Koenji-Minami, Suginami-ku (Marunouchi Line to Higashi-Koenji Station), opening 4-7p. The Yamagata-style pub hosts a homecoming exhibition of young photographer Daifu-kun, entitled something like "The family's pubis hidden in pretty panties" or aka the "Daifuman summer festival". I really dig his photography, invasive yet intimate documentation of his family's crowded Tokyo flat.

* Koji Onaka "Tokyo Candy Box", slideshow & lecture w/ Kotaro Iizawa @ Emon Photo Gallery / B1 5-11-12 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku (Hibiya Line to Hiroo Station), 5p/1000 yen - RSVP: emon_photogallery@emoninc.com. Iizawa, the celebrated author, photography critic and historian, joins the artist in a discussion of Onaka's documentation of Tokyo's architecture boom.

* Nisennenmondai + Sachiko M + Hisato Yamamoto @ UFO Club / B1F 1-11-6 Koenji-Minami, Suginami-ku (Marunouchi Line to Higashi-Koenji Station), 6:30p/2800 yen. MAYJAH, particularly for lovers of the avant-garde. Nisennenmondai (literally "Y2K") are like Tokyo's Battles, i.e. three math-rocking groove-purveyors (and drummer Sayaka Himeno is AT LEAST as fierce as John Stanier). Sachiko M's drone project used to be tied w/ Merzbow. Yamamoto's a brutal punk rock guitarist. They're joined by Phew, who's sung alongside Otomo Yoshihide, Bill Laswell, Ryuichi Sakamoto and her own punk band Aunt Sally.

SUNDAY
NYC
* Japan Cuts: "A Night in Nude: Salvation" (dir. Takashi Ishii, 2010) screening @ Japan Society / 333 E 47th St (E/M to 53rd/Lexington, 6 to 51st St), 9p. Did you catch Ishii's 1993 film "A Night in Nude"? — or even heard of it? It's OK, this grim, neon-lit thriller returns Naoto Tatenaka (about the gruffest MF in Japanese cinema today) to the lead, a guy who'll do anything for the right price.

* "I Saw the Devil" (dir. Kim Ji-woon, 2010) @ Museum of the Moving Image / 36-01 35th Ave, Astoria (E/M/R to Steinway St), 7p. You are not ready for this. Ahead of its proper screen-run at IFC Center in two weeks is a dark sphere of depraved, gruesome energy, a revenge tale so sickening that it pushes the envelope way further than you'd ever dare. That said, I loved it. If you've seen Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy" and wondered what happened to that rugged slice of man-muscle named Choi Min-sik, well he's back as the evilest sociopath since Hannibal Lecter.

* Xray Eyeballs + Frankie Rose @ Beekman Beer Garden / South Street Seaport Pier 17 (23/34/JMZ to Fulton St), 3p. Alix Brown and Carly Rabalais of Xray Eyeballs (who share members w/ Golden Triangle) play extra-catchy psych-tinged garage-rock. Frankie Rose conjures images of '60s doo-wop in her multi-part harmonies. Yet pairing these two consummately Brooklyn groups together sounds like summer in the city to me.

AUSTIN
* Transcosmic Geometry @ Salvage Vanguard Theatre / 2803 Manor Rd, 7p/$6-15 sliding scale. Church of the Friendly Ghost affiliate artist Paul Baker updates his circa-March program w/ some 20 videos, incl works by Sergio Martinez ("Pink",, via cellular automata synth), Eric Archer ("0D 03 0D 02", CRT + electronics), and Yoshi Sodeoka's video "Everything Falling Apart" for Nice Nice. Baker ends the mind-bending program w/ a live analog video mixer performance, feeding off the audience's beguiled statuses.

TOKYO
* Caucus @ 20000Volt / 1-7 Koenji Minami, Suginami-ku (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line to Higashi-koenji Station), 6p/2000 yen. I fell in love w/ indie-pop darlings Caucus when they played this year's NYC Popfest. Their latest dreamy single "Wandering Ones" just debuted on the stateside label Cloudberry, and this is their proper local release party. w/ Groundcover + SiNE

* Enban Summer Festival @ O-Nest / 6F 2-3 Maruyama-cho, Shibuya-ku (Yamanote Line etc to Shibuya Station), 4p/2500 yen. Acid Mothers Tenniscoats (aka psych lords Acid Mothers Temple + indie darlings Tenniscoats) helm this afternoon/evening fest. I suggest you show up early for Yasawan and Mayonaka Music — but save some of your cerebrum for Nisennenmondai's three-prong math-rock assault: it's beautiful.

MONDAY
TOKYO
* Eiko + Pikachu + Tatsuhisa Yamamoto @ Superdeluxe / 3-1-25 Nishi-Azabu, Minato Ward Tokyo, 7p/2800 yen. A super-fierce three-drummer combo! Who's the best, Eiko Ishibashi (well-versed in like a dozen instruments and plays Liquidroom Ebisu w/ Jim O'Rourke on WED), Pikachu (the vocalist/drummer of original Osaka noise-girls Afrirampo) or Tatsuhisa Yamamoto (the acoustic improvisor and frequent tag-teamer w/ Ishibashi, as SSW)?

TUESDAY
NYC
* "La Carte d'Apres Nature", curated by Thomas Demand @ Matthew Marks Gallery / 522 W 22nd St. If you're a Rene Magritte freak like myself, you'll recognize the exhibition title from a journal published by the Belgian surrealist. Demand takes that as the jump-off (plus adding three Magritte paintings into the mix, two from Houston's Menil Collection) for a labyrinthine exhibition on representation. Luigi Ghirri's vintage color photographs, films by Tacita Dean and Rodney Graham, a birdsongs recording by Henrik Hakansson (created for this show) and other works contribute to this very special experience.

* The Return of the Living Dead" (dir. Dan O'Bannon, 1985) screenings @ BAM / 30 Lafayette St, Ft Greene (23/45 to Nevins St, AC to Lafayette), 6:50/9:15p. This is my 2nd favorite "Living Dead" film (the 1st is definitely part three, which might sound weird if you've never seen Brian Yuzna's pitch-perfect zombie romance classic, w/ the lovely Melinda Clarke as a pierced and sadomasochistic stunner — trust me), half for the absurdly ace soundtrack (The Cramps! SSQ! The Flesh Eaters!) and half for the awesome cast of coed punks vs. a graveyard full of the undead.

AUSTIN
* "TerrorVision" (dir. Ted Nicolaou, 1986) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E 6th St, 9:50p. Trivia: Nicolaou was a sound recordist on "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" after he graduated from UT Austin's film program. His VAN was the hippie-mobile in the film! Kick-ass, no? This film…think of Jabba the Hutt with a "Gremlins"-like face, beamed to earth from some guy's satellite dish. See why TV kills?

TOKYO
* Hair Stylistics + Tori Kudo @ Superdeluxe / 3-1-25 Nishi-Azabu, Minato Ward Tokyo, 7:30p/2500 yen. Absolutely essential duo for you avant-guardians. Kudo-san is a naivist composer and musician, perhaps best known for his alter-ego Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Hair Stylistics is a ferocious noisician (and the famous Violent Onsen Geisha) and writer, but a quite nice chap in person. w/ freak-beat DJ unit LastDayBikini

CLOSING SOON
NYC
* Picasso and Marie-Thérese "L'amour fou" @ Gagosian Gallery / 522 W 21st St. The 3rd chapter (2nd, stateside) of Gagosian's wonderful exploration into Pablo Picasso is terribly romantic. It fell well after Valentines Day but coincided with springtime in NYC, which is pretty romantic if you ask me. The exhibition itself is exemplary, furthering the gallery's tradition over the past several years of pushing the envelope on what constitutes a "gallery show". Soft lighting, painted temporary walls everywhere, even Met-esque murals and source material set the mood. The works themselves — dozens of paintings, plus a handful of bronzes and works on paper — are stunning, many from private collections (meaning this writer and probably YOU have never seen 'em before) but also some high-profile loans (like straight off the Met's Picasso exhibition), and encompass 13 years of the artist's life with his blond darling. (ENDS FRI)

AUSTIN
* Susan Collis "So It Goes" @ Lora Reynolds Gallery / 360 Nueces St, Austin. The beyond discreet workings of this British artist (the 2010 Armory Show representative) include more of what I expect from her laborious, subtle oeuvre: screws embedded w/ precious gems, mother of pearl paint splatters — plus some seductive surprises. She fills a picture frame with thousands of 0.9 mm pencil leads for "Anything really", a crosshatched forest of dark gray, and she covers lovingly crumpled paper wads in "On second thoughts" w/ an impossible pattern of hand-drawn linework. Pencil leads recur in "I miss you" and "I missed you", painstakingly arranged squares on thick reams of paper.
+ Tom Molloy "Woman". The Irish artist works in graphite drawings that neatly complement Collis' show in the main room. What he's done is take Johannes Vermeer paintings as reference ("Young Woman with a Jug", "The Milkmaid" etc), recreated them in deft pencil compositions…only w/ the women removed from the frame. Did she leave after 'Vermeer' completed the work, has she not arrived yet? In a sense, we see these spaces as the Dutch painter saw them. (ENDS SAT)

AUSTIN
* Claire Falkenberg "Bloom" + Wura-Natasha Ogunji "not a ghost" @ Champion / 800 Brazos St. Brooklyn-based Falkenberg collages jagged layers of photography a bit Edward Hopper-style, before burying much of it under an ethereal swamp-cloud of oil paint. Ogunji's film was shot earlier this year around Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria.

TOKYO
* Kohei Yoshiyuki "The Park" @ BLD Gallery / 2-4-9 Ginza, Chuo-ku. (JR Yurakucho Station, Marunouchi Line to Ginza Station). I was pleased to catch the iconic photographer's 1970s series at Yossi Milo Gallery in NYC back in 2007. This is double voyeurism: Yoshiyuki capturing spectators watching clandestine trysts in Tokyo parks — triple if you count yourself the viewer.

* Ron English "Popaganda in Japan" @ Public Image 3D / 1F 2-32-2 Ikejiri, Setagaya-ku (Tokyu Den-en-toshi Line to Ikejiri-Ohashi Station). Welcome to English's world, Tokyo. This is the subversive American artist's culture-jamming debut in Japan, filling the gallery w/ designer characters and collaborative works w/ Jason Freeny, Kim Songhe and Touma. (ENDS MON)