WEDNESDAY
AUSTIN
* Lightning Bolt (Providence) @ Emo's / 2015 E Riverside Dr, 8p/$15. The guerilla-rock Brians—Chippendale mauling the shit outta the kit, Gibson pummeling the bass—will decimate the newer, larger Emo's. Prepare to sweat.
TOKYO
* Satoru Aoyama "The Man-Machine (Reprise)" @ Mizuma Art Gallery / 2F 3-13 Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku (Yurakucho/Nanboku Lines to Ichigaya Station). Aoyama continues his investigation of man and machine's relationship, and that of labor, with a new series of embroidered newsprints on polyester that reference politics and societal concerns.
THURSDAY
NYC
* Xiu Xiu + Talk Normal @ Bowery Ballroom / 6 Delancey St (F/JMZ to Essex/Delancey), 9p/$15. Xiu Xiu's combo of self-lacerating lullabies and blistering art-rock production continue to compel to this day, as kindreds Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo walk the feel bad/feel good line. Brooklyn neo No Wavers Talk Normal commence the heavy percussion and skronky guitars.
TOKYO
* Kazuhiro Ito "bridge" @ hpgrp Tokyo / B1 5-1-15 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote to Harajuku Station, Tokyo Metro Chiyoda/Ginza/Hanzomon Lines to Omotesando Station). The Fukuoka-born artist continues to redefine the possibilities of bronze sculpture, from blobs and twisting spears to meteoric figurative works. I am particularly stoked about his centerpiece "Starman Loves You" and its "Earthbound"-referencing properties.
* Group Show @ Gallery Koyanagi / 1-7-5 Ginza, Chuo-ku (Tokyo Metro Ginza/Marunouchi/Hibiya Lines to Ginza Station). Risaku Suzuki (exhilarating photography), Ataru Sato (his graphite compositions made a splash at the 2010 Gwangju Biennale), Makoto Ofune (spatial-disruption), and Kimitake Sato (twisted traditionalism) form the gallery's end-of-summer group show.
FRIDAY
NYC
* "Fargo" (dirs. Joel & Ethan Coen, 1996) midnight screening @ IFC Center / 323 Sixth Ave (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St). A jag of blood shed across a snowy field. Two thugs swing near the Twin Cities, Steve Buscemi (basically playing an overly caffeinated version of himself) and the sociopathic Peter Stormare. They're meeting the tragic figure of William H. Macy, a bottled-up storm of politeness with dark intentions. Finally, there's Frances McDormand, the "Minnesota Nice"-speaking Sherlock Holmes and linchpin to this creative crime film. ALSO SAT-SUN
* Zambri + The Suzan @ Mercury Lounge / 217 E Houston St (F to 2nd Ave), 7:30p/$10. Sisters Zambri are big on image, but it doesn't overshadow their potent mix of '80s electronic and noise-pop. Couple that with their fashion sense, and they paint a strong stage presence. w/ Brooklyn-via-Tokyo tropic-pop darlings The Suzan.
AUSTIN
* Brooke Bamford "Endless Bummer" @ Forus Gallery / 1502 W 34th St #A. Local art-lovers have seen this young Studio Art major's style already: Bamford co-designed the VAC's Center Space Project's identity. Now she leads us through the last embers of summer with an exhibition of her vivid print media.
* "Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai" (dir. Takashi Miike, 2011) @ Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar / 1120 S Lamar. Finally! Miike's grandiose re-imagining of '62 classic "Harakiri" hits the Drafthouse, in glorious 3D.
* "Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai" (dir. Takashi Miike, 2011) @ Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar / 1120 S Lamar. Finally! Miike's grandiose re-imagining of '62 classic "Harakiri" hits the Drafthouse, in glorious 3D.
* "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1989) @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St. The Holy Grail, the desiccated Donovan, Dad and son Jones (Sean Connery and ol' Harrison, respectively), in glorious 70mm Alamoscope! With special screenings through next WED.
* "Memento" (dir. Christopher Nolan, 2000) midnight screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St. While the commercial geek world usurped Nolan for the Dark Knight Trilogy, before he did all that he directed a chilling, labyrinthine thriller on compromised memories and self-deception called "Memento". I caught its Austin premiere and still remember the heated, enlightening conversations it inspired. ALSO SAT
SATURDAY
NYC
* James Rosenquist "Multiverse You Are, I Am" @ Acquavella Gallery / 18 E 79th St. I remain a huge fan of this consummate American Pop master, despite his sorta funny exhibition of moving canvases from 2010. This one restores his singular vision, speeding ever forward into the cosmos, yet fully embedded with memories of the American experience.
* Erik Parker "Bye Bye Babylon" @ Paul Kasmin Gallery / 293 10th Ave. Henri Rousseau on acid doesn't even begin to encapsulate the experience of seeing Parker's large psychedelic jungle landscapes up close. The Brooklyn-based artist celebrates his related monograph with a signing at the gallery shop around the corner, beginning at 6p.
* "Zombie Doom" (dir. Andreas Schnaas, 1999) midnight screening @ Spectacle / 124 S 3rd St, Williamsburg (L to Bedford, JM to Marcy), $5. AKA "Violent Shit III: Infantry of Doom". That's about all I need to write about this German gore god Schnaas and his metal-masked avatar Karl Jr (not Carl's Junior), son of cyborg zombie Karl the Butcher, who lord over an island of ultraviolent mercenaries. Once two vengeful ninja brothers dare trespass, the only answer is a splatteriffic brawl for the ages. Violent!
TOKYO
* Ryan McGinley "Reach Out, I'm Right Here" @ Tomio Koyama Gallery / 7F 1-3-2 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku (Hanzomon/Oedo Lines to Kiyosumi-Shirakawa Station). The young rockstar-ish artist presents perhaps the pinnacle of his oeuvre: color photographs chronicling summer road trips he took with nude models across the grand ol' US of A.
* Yuichi Hirako "The Green Pieces" @ Gallery MOMO Ryogoku / 1F 1-7-15 Kamezawa, Sumida-ku (Toei Oedo/JR Sobu Line to Ryogoku Station). Hirako's marriage of greenery sculpture with floral, figurative paintings appeared earlier this year at Copenhagen's Galleri Christoffer Egelund. Now the Okayama-born artist conjures some of that magic in Tokyo.
* Yoshihiro Kikuchi "Nullized Layers Inside the Institutional Coverups 1" @ Aisho Miura Arts / B1F 2-17-3 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku (JR etc to Shibuya Station). Don't paint Kikuchi into a corner. The young Tokyo-based painter and printmaker is equally adept at creating visceral collage and highly technical inkjet abstractions.
* "Autumn Place" @ Nanzuka Underground / B1F 2-17-3 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku (JR etc to Shibuya Station). Five artists with strong image-making properties constitute this group show, feat. Kohei Akiba, Hiroki Tsukuda, Julia Chiang (Brooklyn), Johannes Weiss (Berlin), and Klaus Scheckenbach (Switzerland).
* "Blindsight" @ MA2 Gallery / 3-3-8 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku (Yamanote Line to Ebisu Station). Yasushi Kurabayashi curated this perceptive group exhibition, feat. contributions from Kei Imazu, Toru Kuwakubo, Tadasuke Go, Junji Sakai, Midori Sato, Minoru Nomata, Aki Yamamoto, and Heechang Yoon, with a special project by Yasuko Iba.
* Hiroshige Fukuhara @ Ai Kowada Gallery / 6F 1-3-2 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku (Hanzomon/Oedo Lines to Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station). Fukuhara introduces new silkscreens featuring silver leaf embossing alongside pencil and gesso compositions on panel, all featuring hyperrealized wildlife.
* Yusuke Tsuchiya "gilding" @ Kido Press, Inc / 6F 1-3-2 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku (Hanzomon/Toei Oedo Lines to Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station). Very weird-ass figurative sculpture, created with terra-cotta and painted paper, from the young Chiba-born artist.
MONDAY
TOKYO
* Toru Nogawa "Sanctuary of Darkness" @ Span Art Gallery / 2-2-18 1F Ginza, Chuo-ku. (Yurakucho Line to Ginza-Itchome Station). Sumptuous oils of Gothic Lolitas and sorta domino types? Sign me up!
TUESDAY
AUSTIN
* Emily + Andy's Film Club @ Visual Arts Center Courtyard / UT Art Building, 23rd St at Trinity, 6:30p. Ahead of Emily Roysdon's multimedia survey in the VAC's Vaulted Gallery (opening Sept 21, tune back in!) comes this first iteration of her co-curated film series with art historian Andy Campbell, kicking off with two films of rock 'n roll and queer culture by G.B. Jones: "The Troublemakers" (1990) and "The Yo-Yo Gang" (1992).
* "Pieces" (dir. Juan Piquer Simón, 1982) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St, 10:30p. THIS epitomizes '80s cult slasher classics, baby, a psycho stalking college coeds with an oversized chainsaw! If the locker room chase doesn't give you nightmares, the batshit shocker of an ending totally will! BAAASSSTAAARRRD!
TOKYO
* Koji Enokura @ Taka Ishii Gallery / 5F 1-3-2 Kiyosumi, Koto-ku (Hanzomon/Oedo Lines to Kiyosumi-shirakawa Station). Two decades of Enokura's "Documentation" prints, photographs echoing respective exhibitions throughout Japan and abroad, plus additional photographic materials from the mid-'60s through '80s. Enokura's documentation also appears at "RAUM 2012 Revision with Photographs SPACE TOTSUKA 70", at Shigeru Yokota Gallery.
* MERZBOW + Guitar Wolf @ WWW / 13-17 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku (JR etc to Shibuya Station, Hachiko Exit), 6:30p/3000 yen. Aural ferocity, via Nagoya jet-rockers Guitar Wolf and noise god himself MERZBOW! Decibel levels be damned! w/ VJ Rokapenis (ahem)
