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The new year is kicking off with a slew of exciting art shows. Included on this list of highlights are pieces focused around themes of excess and overabundance, public works now on view on the subway and politically charged shows, which remind us about past surveillance on U.S. citizens.
In addition, January provides a fond look-back at a favorite winter pastime and a glimpse of what the future may have in store. Below are 13 art exhibits not to miss in January:
Through her fictional scenes, Berlin-based artist, Stefanie Heinze, invites viewers to engage in a though-provoking dialogue about overabundance. The exhibit, Food for the Young (Oozing Out), brings to life the subject of surplus. Heinze’s paintings present various parts of bodies — from plumped-up lips consuming a multi-legged figure to toes dissolving into the background.
Food for the Young (Oozing Out) will be on view from January 6 to February 18, 2018 at the Mary Boone Chelsea Gallery, 541 West 24th Street. The exhibit is in cooperation with, and curated by Poppy Houldsworth Gallery, London.
Mary Boone Uptown Gallery will kick off the new year with a exhibit about Elizabeth Taylor as seen through the lens of the artist Katie Burkhart, who has been painting depictions of the iconic star for more than thirty years. It features a selection of large-scale works created between 1982 and 2017, including pieces of Taylor in different guises, such as the femme fatale or a damsel in distress. The works are collaged with Burhkart’s own sentiments and mixed objects like wallpaper, printed fabrics, fake fur, and even eviction notices.
“Braiding together the idealized, mythic figure with the deeply personal, the paintings of Burkhart offer a double chronicle and critique.” The exhibit, Kathe Burkhart From The Liz Taylor Series, is curated by Piper Marshall. The exhibit will be on view from January 4 to February 24, 2018 at Mary Boone Uptown Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue.
Joshua Liner Gallery will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary with an exhibit featuring the artists that have helped to shape the gallery’s past and future. Entitled 10 Years, it will present the works of 21 artists, and include pieces ranging from landscapes and still-life to images of extreme realism and abstraction.
Ten Years will be on view from January 6 to January 27, 2018, with an opening reception on Saturday, January 6 from 6-8pm. Joshua Liner Gallery is located at 540 West 28th Street in Chelsea.
Steve Schapiro: Heroic Times is Schapiro’s inaugural exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery. It highlights the six-decade career of the well-known photographer, focusing on images taken in the 1960s and 70s.
Schapiro began work as a freelance photojournalist, with images appearing in magazines like LIFE, LOOK, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, and People. He lived through and covered key moments in American history and culture, including the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March, Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign, Andy Warhol’s Factory, and the filming of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Several of the images in this exhibit are unpublished and will be on public view for the first time.
Steve Schapiro: Heroic Times will be on view to January 27, 2018 at Howard Greenberg Gallery, 41 East 57th Street.
Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Co., printer Empire City Skating Rink, ca. 1868. Color lithograph. Museum of the City of New York, The J. Clarence Davies Collection, 2 9.100.1544
Before Central Park was even completed in the 1870s, the lake labeled on Olmsted and Vaux’s original Greensward plan, ‘Skating Pond,’ was opened to ice skaters, and quickly became a big attraction. Ice skating was so popular that in the 19th century, a tradition of ‘raising the red ball’ on Brooklyn streetcars was created to let skaters know of favorable skating conditions in Prospect Park.
An exhibit focused entirely on ice skating in New York City is now on view at The Museum of the City of New York. Through vintage photographs, posters, lithographs, paintings and costumes, New York on Ice presents the history of one of our favorite winter activities and explores its commercialization as an elaborate spectacle as well as its role as a competitive sport.
New York on Ice: Skating in the City will be on view through April 15, 2018 at The Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue, at 103rd Street. Related programming includes “What’s Next for Ice-Skating in New York?” on Wednesday, January 31 at 6:30pm, which will feature leading voices in the sport.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressing a crowd gathered outside the United Nations. Flags from Dag Hammarskjold Plaza fly in the rear. Here he made his speech declaring the war in Vietnam a racist war before an estimated 500,000 people, April 15, 1967. Photo by Benedict J. Fernandez, Museum of the City of New York, gift of Mr. Benedict J. Fernandez, 99.150.3
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1968), The Museum of the City of New York presents the exhibit, King in New York, which traces the life of the civil rights leader in New York from the 1950s until his assassination in 1968. On view will be historic images of his sermons in churches, his speeches at the United Nations, and his meetings with political figures in New York City.
King in New York will be on view from January 13 to June 1, 2018 at The Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street.
Now in its second year, City of Tomorrow, will take place on January 26-27 at the 92Y, bringing together innovators in the worlds of architecture, real estate and interior design for a two-day symposium. The event, which includes more than 50 speakers, holds something for every New Yorker, focusing on topics ranging from Heatherwick Studio’s Hudson Yards Vessel, the Lowline and The Swale to meditation and Feng Shui.
Notable speakers include Robert A.M. Stern, Annabelle Seldorf, Daniel Libeskind, Billie Tsien, John Robshaw, Anthony Baratta, Ken Fulk and many more. City of Tomorrow, Real Estate, Architecture & Design Summit will take place on January 26-27 at the 92Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue between 91st-92nd Streets.
During the 1960s-70s, the NYC Police Department conducted surveillance of individuals and organizations that challenged the administration. Much of this information was gathered by the Bureau of Special Services and Investigation, also known as BOSSI or Special Services Division. The Municipal Archives acquired BOSSI records as a result of a class action settlement in 1985, and this material is now on view in the exhibit, Unlikely Historians: Materials Collected by NYPD Surveillance Teams, 1960-1975. It includes documentation on the 1967 march organized by the Spring Mobilization Committee to end the War in Vietnam, the activities of the Weather Underground, anti-nuclear activism, feminist and gay liberation causes, and class issues like education, fair pay, tenant’s rights, prisoner’s rights and safe working conditions.
Unlikely Historians: Materials Collected by NYPD Surveillance Teams, 1960-1975 will be one view at the Municipal Archives Gallery, NYC Department of Records & Information Services, 31 Chambers Street, to February 28, 2018.
Designer, Milton Glaser for SVA. Image courtesy SVA
The School of Visual Arts and renowned graphic designer, Milton Glaser, have unveiled three new public works in New York City subway stations in direct response to the current political climate. A counterpoint to Trumpism, which is “me for me,” the works are about the collective experience.
The three new posters (with the phrases: “It’s Not About Me, It’s About We,” “Give Help“ or “To Dream Is Human“) join a total of more than 200 posters created over the past 50 years as part of the ongoing SVA ‘Underground Images‘ campaign, 24 of which were created by Milton Glaser, who is Acting Chairman of the Board at the School of Visual Arts. As you move from subway station to subway station, let us know where you see them.
The Kate Oh Gallery will end the year with Future Works, a solo exhibition of artwork by Brooklyn-based artist, Ashley Zelinskie. Simultaneously mathematical, biological, and artistic, the exhibit is focused on the technological future and presents works created using cutting edge technology such as 3D printing and computer-guided laser cutting.
Ashley Zelinskie, who runs The Active Space, has collaborated on events with Makerbot Studios, Google, Shapeways, and NASA. She is a founding member of Lady Tech Guild, and the recipient of the Adobe and Shapeways Ultimate Design Award for Iconic 3D Print. The exhibit, Ashley Zelinskie: Future Works, will be on view to January 13, 2018 at Kate Oh Gallery, 50 East 72nd Street between Park and Madison Avenue.
The Project Find window. Image via The Port Authority
New York City-based non-profit, Chashama, recently partnered with The Port Authority to establish a place for emerging artists to exhibit their work within the terminal.
The space, entitled ‘Project Find,‘ opens with the exhibit “Beyond the Matter” by Italian-artist Michelangelo Bastiani. Beyond the Matter will feature holograms reflected through LED screens in glass bottles, displaying some of Bastiani’s favorite subjects ranging from ‘soft clouds’ to ‘tumultuous storms.’ Beyond the Matter will be on view at The Port Authority, Nineth Avenue between 40th-41st Streets.
The Society of Illustrators is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a two-part exhibit, featuring over 400 pieces of the most outstanding works created throughout each year. Part One of the exhibit features work in the Advertising, Institutional, Surface/Product Design and Noncommissioned categories. This includes works from billboards and theater posters to carpets, pillows, rugs and clothing. Awards are presented to the illustrators and art directors who are judged to be the best in each category.
The opening reception and awards ceremony for 60 Exhibit: Part One at Society of Illustrators will be held on Friday, January 5 at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street. Part Two of this exhibit will feature work in the Book and Editorial categories, with an opening reception on Friday, February 2, 2018.
The 1979 art film “Stalker” is loosely based on a novel with a screenplay written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The story takes place in an indefinite future, and the “Stalker” works as a guide who leads people through the “Zone,” an area in which the normal laws of reality do not apply.
Using the Strugatsky Brothers’ work as theme, the curators of Roadside Picnic present an exhibit by 10 Chinese artists — each educated in the United States, and living in New York — who have created pieces “that defy the eroticization of their Chinese-ness” and touch upon themes of displacement and changing realities. This multifaceted exhibit includes painting, video, film, installation, performance, dance, drawing, and sculpture.
Curated by Hiroshi Sunairi and Yixin (Sam) Gong, Roadside Picnic – The Zone will be on view to January 27, 2018 at Chambers Fine Art, 522 West 19th Street in Chelsea.
Next, check out what else is happening in New York City’s arts and culture scene. You can get in touch with the author at AFineLyne.
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