"Arlene Shechet: Girl Group" at Storm King Art Center
The Kingston-based sculptor debuts six new large-scale commissions—spanning heights of 10 to 20 feet and lengths of up to 30 feet—along with complementary indoor works in wood, steel, and ceramic. "Girl Group" is colorful—Shechet brings an array of pinks, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, and purples to Storm King's terrain for the first time—and by far the largest the 75-year-old artists has ever worked. The pieces both tick out and fit in with the minimalist male-dominated pieces at Storm King by the likes of Mark Di Suvero and David Smith. May 4-November 10.
"Other Realities" at Bill Arning Exhibitions
This month at Bill Arning Exhibitions, work by Justin Vivian Bond, Lionel Cruet, Paula Hayes, Elizabeth Insogna, Fred Kahl, most intriguingly, Jesse Brandsford—a group of artists who have transitioned from interested observers of magic to true practitioners who bring their necromancy skills into the gallery. Brandsford's influences include including Philip K. Dick, Aleister Crowley, Walter Benjamin, the Sufi Idries Shah, and the Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. The works' titles offer insight into his intent: To Receive All You Ask For, To Protect Trees; To Help Plants Grow; To Speak to Plants, Against Melancholy II. Each piece is both a work of art and a literal magic charm to create the effect of its title. In a circuitous way, Bransford is actually returning to the earliest roots of art. Through June 23.
"John Fleming Gould (1906-1996)" at Bannerman Island Gallery
John F. Gould had a long career, both as an artist and art instructor. Gould was born in Worcester, MA, studied art and graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and later instructed at Pratt for 22 years. He was a prominent illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post for over 8 years and for many other national corporations. The Bannerman Island Gallery exhibition will include some early pulp illustrations, General Electric School and College posters, original Hudson Valley paintings, pen and ink illustrations, and many more historic scenes of New York. Through June 2.
"Spillover" at the Hessel Museum of Art
With the fiery blaze of the polarizing press surrounding the Whitney Biennale aflame, it seems appropriate that the ever-progressive Bard College would align with the seasonal engorgement that the art-world is so famous for—and Bard delivers. The current exhibition “Spillover” is a brilliant example of everything that we both admire and question about the integrity of the art-school-prep for a career in the art industry—its creative core, its visibility, its viability, and its potential commercialization.
Featuring a collection of 11 curatorial projects (i.e. thesis exhibitions) organized by 11 soon-to-be graduates of the Center for Curatorial Studies Masters of Art program, “Spillover” reflects the raw intelligence and talent of this class. According to the brochure, “Spillover” aims to “create a sequence of distinct but converging artistic encounters” that “connect through their leaking points.” With these vaporous notions as the baseline, one must consider the ways in which the high-flown-ness of art pushes its audience into a realm of cerebral oblivion by way of conceptual smothering. Yet isn’t that the aspiration of a biennale-style show such as this one? Through May 26.
"This Must Be the Place?" at Mad Rose Gallery
At Mad Rose in Millerton this month, photographs by Alon Koppel, Jada Farbizio, and Lee Day. Diptychs from Koppel's “Locomotion” and “Shipping Lane” (once of which appears on the cover of the May issue) together with Lee Day and Jada Fabrizio (whose work appeared on the cover of the January issue of Chronogram), with an opening party Saturday, May 11 from 4 to 7pm. Koppel’s photos will be further complemented by the inclusion of maritime maps displaying each photographed ship’s journey around the world over the course of a year. May 9-June 9.
"Suprina: Out on a Limb" at Jane St. Art Center
In “Out on a Limb,” Poughkeepsie-based artist Suprina presents a series of symbolic works at Jane St. in Saugerties made largely from discarded plastic and other found objects, transforming the detritus of our material culture into figurative sculptures, mandalas, and other spiritually infused objects, along with a large-scale, immersive, forest installation made entirely of trash. Referencing iconography ranging from the tarot to images of endangered plants and wildlife, she builds haunting and beautiful creations out of often harmful, recycled materials, reminding us of the potential to imagine a better future. May 18-June 23.
"Ruth Soffer: From Sky to Sea" at The Local
Emerge Gallery is curating a show of work at The Local in Saugerties by 89-year-old Brooklyn-based artist Ruth Soffer, who specializes in botanical, animal and natural science subjects. Soffer has illustrated over 50 books, capturing a wide range of themes, including exotic butterflies and moths, mammals, underwater and rainforest life, plants, insects, and other fascinating flora and fauna. May 2-June 16.
"Steve McQueen" at Dia Beacon
The director of 12 Years a Slave presents a new work, co-commissioned by Dia and Schaulager, Laurenz Foundation, Münchenstein, in which he builds upon past experiments of how light, color, and sound affect and upend our perception of space, time, and ourselves. McQueen transforms the 30,000-square-foot ground-level gallery into an immersive installation, journeying through the complete spectrum of visible light in concert with a sonic component that responds to the space. On long-term view beginning May 11.
"Roy Gumpel: Photographs From Over 50 Years" at 415 Gallery
Long-time Chronogram contributor Roy Gumpel exhibits five decades of photographs at 415 Gallery on Main Street in Rosendale, including his resplendent shots of Joshua Tree National Park at night.May 3-17. Opening reception May 3 at 7pm. Closing reception May 17 at 7pm.
"Guzman: Family/Values" at LABspace
Guzman return to LABspace with a new exhibition of recent photographs in Gallery One. Gallery Two will showcase their famed Kurt + Courtney images from 1992. Guzman write: "Rather than confronting our thoughts and ideas directly, we choose to look at things a bit more obliquely. This approach can raise more questions than answers, and that is our preferred mode of working. We are two photographers who examine the state of the world with a sideways glance." May 4-June 30.
