NYC
* "A Visual Essay on Gutai" @ Hauser & Wirth / 32 E 69th St. A landmark survey of the postwar Japanese art movement's legacy via 12 of its core artists: Norio Imai, Akira Kanayama, Takesada Matsutani, Sadamasa Motonaga, Shuji Mukai, Saburo Murakami, Shozo Shimamoto, Kazuo Shiraga, Yasuo Sumi, Atsuko Tanaka, Tsuruko Yamazaki, and founder Jiro Yoshihara. This exhibition, curated by Midori Nishizawa and organized with Olivier Renaud-Clément, features two decades of masterworks and coincides with the half-century anniversary of Gutai's first U.S. exhibition.
* Gerhard Richter "Painting 2012" @ Marian Goodman Gallery / 24 W 57th St. His German eminence has been challenging traditional art tropes — the portrait, the drawing, the abstract, the minimal — for decades, at every turn of his oeuvre. Here, Richter combines rigorous structure and the explosiveness of chance in his sublime new "Strip Paintings". Which, ostensibly, are colorful stripes. Perhaps a sublime experience? Also perhaps: a big middle-finger to richies getting off on Richter's telltale abstract paintings (so hot right now).
Either way, you know you can't miss it.
* Teresita Fernández "Night Writing" @ Lehmann Maupin / 201 Chrystie St. I have a…complicated relationship with Fernández's output, which (in this writer's opinion) tends to favor highly stylized "stuff" over contemplative objets d'art. That her latest solo exhibition consists of a single, site-specific installation based on night-sky viewing and utilizing fully Lehmann Maupin's lofted space heartens me that it'll be a subtler, more rewarding experience.
* Karin Kneffel @ Gagosian / 980 Madison Ave. The brilliant German artist's vividly patterned, naturalist paintings haven't received fair play in NY (her last solo stateside was in 2008), so I'm stoked to see what Kneffel unveils at tony Gagosian.
+ Mark Grotjahn. Earthy, painted-bronze sculpture from the Pasadena, CA-born artist, a grounded complement to Kneffel's sublime pairings.
* "8 Artists Making Sculpture", curated by Jamie Sterns @ BRIC Rotunda Gallery / 33 Clinton St, Brooklyn Heights (NR to Court St, 23 to Clark St). A properly edgy grouping of young sculptors, awash in an art climate of painting, photography, and "performance". Sounds dope to me. Feat. Arielle Falk, Jamie Felton, Mary-Kate Maher, Abraham McNally, Jong Oh, Carolyn Salas, Ian Umlauf, and Matthew C. Wilson.
AUSTIN
* "Ms. 45" (dir. Abel Ferrara, 1981) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St, 10p. So much awesomeness going on here: same director of cult splatterpunk classic "Driller Killer"; one of the preeminent "Girls With Guns" films; the debut for ultra-gorgeous actress/screenwriter Zoë Tamerlis Lund, playing the titular role (subhed: "Angel of Vengeance"!).
* "Hausu" (dir. Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977) screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Village / 2700 W Anderson Ln, 7p. If you've never seen this Technicolor- and blood-soaked meta-horror favorite on the big-screen (or — shriek! — AT ALL), schedule this screening on your iCal NOW. And even if you, like me, have seen "Hausu" in a proper theatre multiple times, in multiple cities, see it again. This tale, the feature film debut of a man known for his caffeinated commercials and co-written by his then-13-year-old daughter, is classic as all time and yet unlike anything you've ever experienced. Cute high-school girls visit old auntie's country house, which is haunted, and features a regal Himalayan cat with lasers or something shooting out of its eyes. And carnivorous pianos. And killer futons. And action soundtrack sequences. And tons else that just doesn't translate to "text". ALSO THURS
THURSDAY
NYC
* Mr. "Metamorphosis: Give Me Your Wings" @ Lehmann Maupin / 540 W 26th St. My favorite otaku-loving artist transforms the gallery into a contemplative sanctuary of angst and frustration in post-3/11 Japan. This is the first time Mr. has created such an installation outside his native Japan, and its blending of traditional "cute" subculture and uplifting imagery with the chaos of everyday life should elicit an insightful look into the contemporary Japanese subconscious.
* Mike Kelley "Memory Ware Flats" @ Skarstedt Gallery / 20 E 79th St. The gallery presents the nonpareil late artist's meditative series "Memory Ware Flats", an eight-part suite begun in 2000 of shimmering doodads and trinkets floating across seas of grout.
* Gelitin @ Greene Naftali Gallery / 508 W 26th St 8th Fl. The Austrian art collective promise a large-scale interactive piece that'll probably keep in line with their messy, exuberant style. Plus, apparently noise-rockers Japanther are planning a related performance to coincide with Gelitin's exhibition. The two groups collaborated in the preview days of the 2011 Venice Biennale at the site-specific Gelitin Pavilion (of course).
* Diana Al-Hadid * "The Nature of Disappearance", curated by Dr. Dieter Buchhart @ Marianne Boesky Gallery / 509 W 24th St. The young, internationally recognized, and supremely awesome artist investigates the 2D picture plane within sculpture's three dimensions. She re-stages "Suspended After Image", the wonderful, gracefully monumental sculpture that premiered at Austin, TX's Visual Arts Center last year, plus showcases works referencing a 14th C. fresco by Jacopo Pontorno and more.
* Wendy White "Pix Vää" @ Leo Koenig Inc / 545 W 23rd St. The NY-based artist presents her new Fotobild and PVC series, which incorporate photography and sculptural framing into her painting practice.
* Barney Kulok "Building" @ Nicole Klagsbrun / 532 W 24th St. Full disclosure: I've not seen Klagsbrun's new 24th St space, but I'm pretty stoked about this new exhibition of Kulok's marvelous, gelatin-silver print photography, and the related artist's monograph (published by Aperture in October).
* Desi Santiago "This Pop is Perfection" @ Envoy Enterprises / 87 Rivington St. The LES hotspot keeps it rrrreal (and real edgy), unveiling a dark funhouse of fetish fun and idol brilliance courtesy the former NY club-kid. Of note: Santiago is christening the gallery's newly expanded space with his multisensory tour-de-force, plus he contributes a satellite installation at Envoy's project space (131 Chrystie St).
* Louise Fishman @ Cheim & Read / 547 W 25th St. Big, brushy, and new: Fishman's re-appropriation of Abstract Expressionism after decades in the biz demand your full visual participation.
* Gino Saccone @ Ana Cristea Gallery / 521 W 26th St. The young Amsterdam-based artist's oeuvre explores space and painterly deconstruction. This is his first solo exhibition in New York.
* Chris Johanson "Windows" @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash / 534 W 26th St. The West Coast artist's paintings on found wood and containers (and even the gallery walls) are "meditations on being" and portals to the greater world. This is Johanson's first solo in NY since 2008's "Totalities" at Deitch Projects.
* The Joshua Light Show @ NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts / 566 LaGuardia Pl (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St), 7:30p/$20. The legendary light show, founded by multimedia artist Joshua White and showcased in "Midnight Cowboy" and all your or your parents' favorite '60s psychedelia live bands, returns to Greenwich Village for a sequence of special events. Tonight's the kickoff bash, pairing virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie (a rare NY appearance!) with experimental harpist Zeena Parks.
* WHY? @ Music Hall of Williamsburg / 66 N 6th St, Williamsburg (L to Bedford), 8p/$18. I gotta remind myself that WHY? — aka founder Yoni Wolf, brother Josiah, Doug McDiarmid, and keyboardist Liz — have come quite a way from ethereal, sunny nerd-hop debut "Oaklandazulasylum" (and I LOVED that album). Punchy, loopy, and pretty damn groovy, replete w/ Yoni's nasally lyricism. That's new EP "Sod in the Seed", and I'm still a fan. w/ Doseone
* Turbo Fruits (TN) @ Mercury Lounge / 217 E Houston St (F to 2nd Ave), 9:30p/$10. These liquor-chugging, southern-fried punks BRING the party, kids. We just have to show up and mosh. w/ Roomrunner
FRIDAY
NYC
* Thomas Hirschhorn "Concordia, Concordia" @ Gladstone Gallery / 530 W 21st St. Big time. Remember Hirschhorn's 2009 exhibition in this space, the bonkers "Universal Gym"? Well, he's gonna one-up that, do something Big with a capital "B", like…re-imagine the crash of cruise ship Costa Concordia within a gallery setting. Note: this statement solo coincides with Hirschhorn's collage survey at Dia:Chelsea's new project space at 541 W 22nd St. Mayjah.
* Alessandro Pessoli @ Anton Kern Gallery / 532 W 20th St. The Italian artist celebrates his stateside museum solo debut at SFMOMA later this month. But first! Pessoli returns for his fifth solo gallery show at Anton Kern, an "anarchic" affair of gorgeous, painted ceramic sculptures.
* "The Master" (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012) @ Village East Cinema / 181 2nd Ave (F to 2nd Ave). Straight off the 69th Venice International Film Festival comes Anderson's bracing followup to "There WIll Be Blood", and whether you buy that it's a thinly-veiled depiction of post-WWII Scientology, or not, let's nonetheless state the facts. The cast — Philip Seymour Hoffman as the titular figure, plus Amy Adam, Joaquin Phoenix, and Laura Dern — is all-star, and this theatre is screening it the right way, in glorious 70mm. If you plan to see it NY, see it here.
* "Phantom of the Paradise" (dir. Brian De Palma, 1974) screening @ IFC Center / 323 Sixth Ave (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St). "Phantom of the Opera" told through a glam-rock lens (which facets of "Faust" thrown in for good measure), feat. Gerrit Graham (the dad in "TerrorVision") as a jaded counterpart to our Phantom dude and Alice Cooper as himself! Now THIS is the De Palma I know! ALSO SAT
* The Joshua Light Show @ NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts / 566 LaGuardia Pl (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St), 7:30p/$20. Terry Riley, minimalist pioneer and pan-musical guru, joins his son, guitarist Gyan Riley, in front of a soaring Joshua Light set. Start your evening transcendently, yo.
* The Joshua Light Show @ NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts / 566 LaGuardia Pl (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St), 10p/$40. OR…stay for the big event, featuring downtown legends John Zorn, Lou Reed, Bill Laswell, and Milford Graves revisiting the cinematic colorplay of Joshua Light. For the record: I am envious of anyone attending this spectacular event.
AUSTIN
* Sodalitas "Core" @ Grayduck Gallery / 608 W Monroe Dr. Local art collective all-stars Sodalitas, aka Joseph Phillips, Shea Little, and Jana Swec, are founding members of non-profit studio/gallery Big Medium, the East Austin Studio Tour (hereafter known as "E.A.S.T."), and The Texas Biennial. I reiterate: all-stars. Their collaborative spirit and individual strenghts follow in this exhibition, which focuses on relating the individual and the group via cross-media practices.
* "Ghostbusters" (dir. Ivan Reitman, 1984) 70mm screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St, 3:45p. Lemme ask you: are you ready to see big-screen ectoplasm in stunning 70mm Alamoscope?! How about Stay-Puft stomping into the skyline, while the only thing standing between marshmallowy death and a cowering populace is four jumpsuited wisecrackers? Bask in '80s paranormal bliss! Who ya gonna call? SCREENINGS THRU WED
* "2 Days in New York" (dir. Julie Delpy, 2012) @ Violet Crown Cinema / 434 W 2nd St. Delpy's smart rom-com followup to "2 Days in Paris" finally visits Austin, and it looks sweet. This time, as one may preclude from the title, Delpy's "family" (incl real-life, scene-stealing Dad Delpy) visit her and beau Chris "Mingus" Rock in NYC.
* Swans + Xiu Xiu @ La Zona Rosa / 612 W 4th St, 8p. I can't stop listening to Swans' stunning new LP "The Seer": it perfectly encapsulates this venerable noise-rock band's live experience and entire history w/o sounding precisely like any previous Swans release. Does that make any sense? Crank up track "Mother of the World" and hear what I mean. Genre-defying duo Xiu Xiu and their simultaneously caustic and comforting new LP "Always" make a good match for Swans' aural assault.
TOKYO
* Masumi Nakaoka "Parapraxis" @ Art Front Gallery / Hillside Terrace A, 29-18 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku (JR Lines etc to Shibuya). Ethereal landscapes rendered in soft acrylics and oils, with a deft interplay between colorful forms and cut-out expanses of gauzy white.
* Who the Bitch @ GARDEN / 2-4-5 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku (Keio Inokashira Line to Shimokitazawa Station, S Exit), 7p/2800 yen. Trust me, you don't want to miss a Who the Bitch party, two fierce riot-grrrls and their Guitar Wolf-looking dude drummer. w/ HERE
* Zeni Geva + Melt-Banana @ Earthdom / B1 2-32-3 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku (JR Yamanote Line to Shin-Okubo Station), 7p/2500. Venerable noise-rockers Zeni Geva, like a musical rocketship piloted by guitarist KK Null and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, headline this bracing lineup. Melt-Banana blitz the stage w/ their caffeinated punk. w/ Maruosa + Murochin
* i8u "Surface Tension" @ SuperDeluxe / B1F 3-1-25 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku (Toei Oedo/Hibiya Lines to Roppongi Station), 7:30p/4000 yen. The Quebecois sound artist France "i8u" Jobin touches down in Tokyo for this night of eclectic, electroacoustic pairings. The program includes Yoshio Machida x Tadahiko Yokogawa, Jun Iijima x hakobune + Yuki Aida, Toshimaru Nakamura x sawako, and it caps off with i8u x Keiichiro Shibuya. Sounds good to me.
SATURDAY
NYC
* Rodney McMillian @ Maccarone / 630 Greenwich St. The LA-based artist inaugurates Maccarone's refurbished gallery space in a big way. For though McMillian's "desiccated familiarity" awesomeness had him in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and Rashida Bumbray's curated show at the Kitchen that same year, he rarely shows in NYC. This should be a treat.
TOKYO
* Mamiko Masumura "Scab" @ waitingroom / 4B 2-8-11 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote Line/Hibiya Line to Ebisu Station, West Exit). Remarkable, small-scale carved and painted wood figures by the young Tokyo-born artist. Though this is her debut solo at the gallery, Masumura's been making the rounds of the hot indie scene, including appearances at hpgrp Gallery's NY space this March and the recent Gallerist Meeting x SOMEWHERE group show.
* 住所不定無職 @ Unit / 1-34-17 Ebisu-nishi, Shibuya-ku (JR Yamanote/Hibiya Lines to Ebisu Station), 6p/3500 yen. Killer tune explosions! The candy color-coded cuties behind 住所不定無職 (lit. "no job nor fixed address") rock the house with their potent combo of vintage sway and garage rasp. w/ Keiichi Sokabe's BAND
SUNDAY
NYC
* "Process 01: Joy" @ P! / 334 Broome St. The inaugural exhibition at this "Mom-and-Pop Kunsthalle" from Project Projects co-founder Prem Krishnamurty features works by Chauncey Hare, Christine Hill, and Karel Martens. I'm super stoked to see what Hill, of the "Volksboutique" persona, does in this space, though graphic design impresario Martens (who created P!'s logo) and the sleight-of-hand photographic documentation from Hare sounds dope as well. Put this one on your radar, NY.
* The Joshua Light Show @ NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts / 566 LaGuardia Pl (ACE/BDFM to W 4th St), 7:30p/$20. The final night of Joshua Light Show's return to Greenwich Village promises a funky bang, feat. powerhouse groove-mavens Debo Band & Forro in the Dark. Sending it out in style, yo.
TOKYO
* nisennenmondai presents "souzousuruneji+" @ Ochiai Soup / B1F 3-9-10 Kami-Ochiai, Shinjuku-ku (Tokyo Metro Tozai Line to Ochiai Station), 7:30p/TOTES SOLD OUT! It all comes to this, and count yrselves lucky if you scored a ticket to this way intimate performance. Tokyo's consummate kraut-rock starlets nisennenmondai take it back to their punk and no wave roots for one unforgettable night.
* "Wet Dream" @ AiSOTOPE LOUNGE / 1F 2-12-16 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi/Fukutoshin/Shinjuku Lines to Shinjuku-sanchome Station), 9p/3000 yen. Why am I sending you (again) to deepest Ni-chome? For a sinful, end-of-summer fetish party, that's why! Feat. scene DJs incl RINKO and Zil, a kinky performance by Nasty Cats (aka Nancy & Aloe of tokyoDOLORES), a fashion show, and more surprises courtesy Torture Garden Japan.
MONDAY
NYC
* Deerhoof @ Music Hall of Williamsburg / 93 N 6th St, Williamsburg (L to Bedford), 10p/$15. I am so in love with Deerhoof's vibrant, upbeat, contrasty new LP "Breakup Song", which takes their enviable formula for art-rock and kicks it up a notch. "Then you bring me flowers", indeed! w/ Buke and Gase
TOKYO
* "White Agenda" @ Warehouse702 / B1F 1-4-5 Azabu-Juban, Minato-ku (Toei Oedo Line to Azabu-Juban Station, Exit 7), 3:15p/3000 yen. It's not often that I happen across mid-afternoon fetish parties, but the chilled-out nature of this sporadic bash seems super cool. Feat. Nasty Cats (aka Aloe and Nancy of tokyoDOLORES), plus Erebos party DJ Toru Shimizu, White Agenda resident DJ Toru Takeda, some guest stars from Japan Pole Dance, a "white candle artist", and a VIP lounge just for the girls.
TUESDAY
NYC
* "Remembering Warhol: 60 Artists, 50 Years" @ Metropolitan Museum of Art / 1000 Fifth Ave (456 to 86th St). The Pop purveyor's influence in contemporary art runs deep, whether we like to admit it or not (or whether we prefer Picasso's notoriety to young(er) artists over Warhol). The museum stages a grand dialogue between Warhol and 60 contemporary artists — spanning alphabetically from Ai Weiwei and Polly Apfelbaum to Kelley Walker and Christopher Wool — over five thematic sections, "Daily News", "Portraiture", "Queer Studies", "Consuming Images", and "No Boundaries". The befuddling fly in the ointment? The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts' idea to sell off some 20,000 remaining pieces of Warhol's estate at auction, beginning this fall. Though if we take the (hopefully) carefully considered 45 Warhols in this Met exhibition purely on an aesthetic/historical level — vs their 20,000 kin floating on the market — then maybe we're still good?
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 FRI!) comes the third iteration of her co-curated film series with art historian Andy Campbell. They've been saving this one for maximum impact, so attune your eyes to NY underground heavyweight Charles Atlas and his '85 docu-fantasy "Hail the New Puritan" on London's '80s post-punk subculture.
* TOP SECRET TERRORTIME! screening @ Alamo Drafthouse Ritz / 320 E Sixth St, 10:15p. Terror Tuesday programmer Zack Carlson won't reveal much about this potential gem, except it's from the '80s and a definite "R". One thing: he and Drafthouse programmer Lars recently rescued some 1,300 35mm prints from the midwest…and this super-rare print comes from that haul. That info alone gives me a shot-in-the-dark idea of what it might be, and if so it's gonna be unmissable!
CURRENT SHOWS
AUSTIN
* Anthony W. Garza @ Tiny Park / 1101 Navasota St. The biting, harsh light of Austin summers befits Garza's naturalistic practice: he either draws or paints highly realistic renderings of nature that work in an incredible attention to lighting itself. There is an entire cycle of discovery going on here, from breathtaking graphite drawings of weathered rocks and truncated branches, to seductive collages of animal and inanimate in watercolor (what seems overwhelming at first becomes far more compelling as you stare into them, the animals' eyes, the texture of fur), to a pair of romantic night skies in varying acrylic washes and textures. Garza's oeuvre cues us back into our discovery sides and bears a deep nostalgia in doing so.
* Jim Torok "There Is Nothing Wrong with You" @ Lora Reynolds Gallery / 360 Nueces. Go for it! Don't give up (yet)! (You can do it; just hang in there a little bit more; nobody said it would be easy; it will be worth it (most likely)!). This is the kind of positivity we need, drenched in bright colors and bearing a nuanced realism, highlighted by that deft comma placement. Torok installed 52 cheery — and sometimes quite poignant — ink on paper "cartoons" in two commanding grids across two gallery walls. We are literally caught in the middle, permitting his color washes and talking Jim heads to do their work. Maybe some of the positivity will stick. Outside, in the larger gallery, hangs the titular text-based work and one super-tiny, ultra-realistic self-portrait, a nonjudgmental reminder of the man behind the mottos.
+ Cordy Ryman. Incredible color-slinging and composition awaits visitors to the gallery's project room. I thought I "knew" Ryman from his many solo shows at NY's DCKT Contemporary, but he continues to delight in works like "Green Book" (ostensibly "just" a painting in photographs, but actually a three-dimensional object in real life, swinging open from its right side to reveal like the inner machinations of the artwork). Or the subtle drama in "Strip Line" and its gorgeous pairing of two unpainted blocks of wood sandwiched between two painted blocks. Elsewhere, arrangements of paint-streaked stir sticks or chunks of wood embedded in Gorilla Glue ooze never looked quite so striking.
CLOSING SOON
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! (ENDS SAT)
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. (ENDS MON)
