Williamsburg is Dead

Weeeeeeee(!)kend Guide

Wooo, Obama aka New Jesus aka Ol' Hopey Bastard is now our president! It is officially time to celebrate.

Friday

Bye Bye CBGB hits Artbreak, which is slowly becoming my favorite Billyburg gallery after English Kills. Photographer Bruno Hadjadj pays tribute to the 70s punk scene he lived and loved with this tribute featuring anonymous individuals posing in the infamous, now sadly defunct rock club. Opening reception (with live music) from 5pm-9pm.

Our friend Rebecca (Mixer Reading Series) plays with her band The New York Times on Friday, along with Holly Golightly at the Mercury Lounge.

Over at Glasslands, Thurston Moore joins harpist Zeena Parkins while violinist C. Spencer Yeh joins experimental trumpet player Greg Kelley for a night of experimental music celebrating the release of Carlos Giffoni's new album.

Saturday

In Williamsburg is Dead's SOLID GOLD PICK OF THE WEEK, it's the Soul Clap Dance-Off and Dance Party at Glasslands. Dance contest! People dancing to soul, R&B and funk! DJ, pie enthusiast and overall superstar Jonathan Toubin spinning all night long! I seriously love nothing more than dancing to old-school soul, so consider me there. Solid. Gold.

Sunday

I once told a white person we were going to a ramen place and she was all like "You mean like Top Ramen?" and then my head exploded and my soul traveled back to Asia and had to wander thousands of miles to eventually rejoin my lifeless body. The point is, please don't insult my ancestors with your skeptical ramen attitude. On that note, Union Pool is hosting a Ramen Cook-Off, to be judged by cook-off expert and femme fatale o' the kitchen Cathy Erway. (All rules are explained here.) Party begins at 7pm.

Beta Spaces takes over Bushwick for a day of down-and-dirty arty goodness. In a space spanning 10 blocks, artists will use studios, living rooms, sidewalks and whatever else they can think of to display all kinds of cool work.

For the chill chaser to your wild weekend, take in a free show at Sound Fix Records at 7pm from longtime Wburg scenesters Longwave, who play shoegazy rock so shoegazy you will gaze at your shoes and feel sad and happy at the same time and possibly get dizzy and pass out. Also open bar, so yeah, awesome.

Workin' For the Weekend

The True Believer, Kelli Miller, video installation

Friday
Tonight, Cinema 16 returns to Bushwick's Starr Space (108 Starr Street) for the captivating and macabre stop-motion animation of the Brothers Quay with a live soundtrack by Darkbloom and free Radeberger Pilsner. Doors open at 8:30pm, $7 cover.

Brooklyn-based band Stars Like Fleas plays Union Pool.

In Chelsea, the New York Art Book Fair returns for an entire weekend, selling all kinds of contemporary art books, zines and more.

Saturday
Wye Oak, Cut Off Your Hands, Laura Gibson and a bunch of other bands play a free daytime show at Glasslands (289 Kent) starting at 1pm.

Noah Loesberg and Kelli Miller open an intriguing gallery show over at Vertexlist (138 Bayard St). Think fantastic interpretations of mundane objects like giant smoke detectors and renderings of computer circuit boards. Opening reception from 7pm-10pm.

Sunday
Indulge in what some say is a magical fruit at the Underground Chili Cook-off at Barcade at 8pm.

Matt Leines Book Signing Tomorrow

Tired of cramped, sweaty CMJ shows? Head over to Desert Island Comics tomorrow and meet Matt Leines, who is having a book release party for "You Are Forgiven." The New Jersey-based artist has been doing some pretty cool stuff ever since he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, combining themes from non-Western art with modern pop culture, all with an incredibly intricate style.   

Camera Phone Diaries: Independent Drawing Gig 4 at Artbreak Gallery

Living in Williamsburg is like riding a waterslide into a pool of rainbows, or maybe it's more like wailing on an electric guitar while traveling across space on a silver unicorn. Anyway, I guess, ultimately, what I'm trying to say is, y'know, it's fun. Like, when you stop by a gallery opening and instead of just tiny cups of beer, there are tiny cups of beer and live punk rock and live drawing by artists. That was the scene last Friday at the opening of Independent Drawing Gig 4 at Artbreak Gallery on Grand Street. The kicker is that I finished the night with a nightcap of oysters and wine at Walter Foods. For one night, I lived like a king. A KING.

Williamsburg Weekend Guide Thing List

It's Friday! Fun! Good times! Oh, but whatever shall you do? We're here to help.

Friday
The Independent Drawing Gig opens at Art Break, an exhibition from artist Linas Jablonskis described as such: "A hybrid of live music and drawing, the exhibition emphasizes the collision of the underground music scene with the world of independent art, a world in which drawing plays a particularly important role."

Over at Momenta Art, artists Erik Moskowitz and Amanda Trager present Cloud Cuckoo Land (2008), a collaborative video and sculptural installation created by the real-life couple loosely based on Aristophanes’ play "The Birds."

Saturday
Brooklynite Gallery presents Time Machine (above) from artists Dain, Various and Gold who examine "the constant comparisons being made to the current art scene and freedom of expression in present day Berlin, as compared to what was going on in New York City in the late 60’s, 70's and 80’s."

Slotcar Fury takes over East Coast Aliens in Greenpoint, letting you test your driving skills on electric slot-car tracks surrounded by DJs, video art and bands playing downstairs.

Sunday
Test your baking skills at Enid's Annual Apple Pie Bake-Off, or at least enjoy the drink specials and tunes from DJ Jonathan Toubin.
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CKFA Closes; Plus Info on the Fountain Art Fair

David Kesting at the Leo Kesting Gallery. Photo by Aaron Cansler.

Recently I caught up with gallery owners David Kesting and John Leo at the Leo Kesting Gallery in the Meatpacking District. I got good news, and I got bad news. First, the good news: David and Leo are co-directing the Fountain Art Fair in Miami, right in the middle of the Art Basel stew. The bad news? CKFA is closed. One day David and John walked into the gallery to find the electricity turned off--the landlord had apparently sold the building without telling them. David told me he definitely wants to find a new space in Brooklyn, or even buy the old one, as the poor economy has left the former CKFA space empty and unsold.

But back to Miami. Fountain Miami is being held in a 5,000 square-foot warehouse in-between the Photo Miami and Aqua Wynwood spaces, at 2545 N Miami Ave. The intriguing thing about the Fountain Art Fair is the limited number of independent galleries it will be showcasing; around eight galleries (many from Brooklyn) showcased in a giant space with 30-foot ceilings, as opposed to the crammed cubes of most big art fairs. The fee is also much lower for galleries that want to participate, around $2,500-3,500 as opposed to as high as $30,000 that big fairs like Art Basel charge, meaning smaller, edgier galleries can afford to display their work.

The Fountain Art Fair will be open from Dec. 3-7 from 11am-7pm. See you in Miami!

Artist Fights Rape

Very interesting story on ArtCal's website by Hrag Vartanian about an artist who created a beautiful sign on Meserole and Humboldt stating:

"A woman was raped by a stranger on this block. Please protect your friends, lover, sister, daughter, mother, grandmother, niece, cousin, neighbor, the woman you hear call for help late one night. 1 in 6 women in this country have been victims of rape or attempted rape. This needs to stop happening."

The artist, who remains anonymous as her own rape case is in court, was inspired by the various "ghost bikes" around the city. The interview is definitely worth a read.

Gallery Openings, Sep 26-27

Amelia Bauer, Environs, at Capricious Space, 103 Broadway, Sep 26-Oct 12, opening reception Friday, Sep 26, 6pm-9pm

Preview: Obsessively crafted and intricately detailed, Bauer’s drawings and sculptures organize forms from contemporary environments into repeating geometric patterns in the tradition of the decorative arts. The pieces in Environs search for a space somewhere between utopia and dystopia, haunting and ethereal, setting the viewer between two worlds.

Hiroshi Shafer, Evrything seems OK to me, at English Kills Art Gallery, 114 Forrest St, Sep 27-Oct 9, opening reception Sat, Sep 27, 6pm-9pm

Preview below (kind of):

Milt-Mania Grips Williamsburg, Plus More Weekend Fun Timery

That's right Milt-heads, it's your favorite poet's 400th birthday and the folks at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center are throwing him a giant costume ball featuring 90 works by 70 artists created in his honor, a 12-piece swing band, booze and more. Costumes are encouraged, so bust out that old copy of Paradise Lost and get ready to party, John Milton style--which, according to the NY Times, means "enjoying a pipe and a glass of water." Saturday, 8pm, 135 Broadway at Bedford Ave, $40, $20 for students

If you'd rather make devil horns than muse on the fall of Satan, check out the absurdly awesome guitar work of Marnie Stern (above), who plays Silent Barn (915 Wyckoff Ave) on Saturday night. Doors at 7pm, $7.

The WPA (Williamsburg Performance Alliance) presents a weekend of free performances courtesy of the Triskelion Arts, Vampire Cowboys, The Brick and CAVE. Click here for a full schedule of activities.

Sunday is another Brooklyn Record Riot, where more than 40 dealers from all over will be selling your hipster-ass some sweet vinyl while DJs spin for your amusement. Sunday, at the Warsaw, 261 Driggs Ave, 11am-8pm, $3, $20 for early admission (9am-11am).

If obscure 70s rock isn't your thing, head to the Diamond (43 Franklin St in Greenpoint) on Sunday, where you'll get to judge six different home-brewed beer/small plate pairings for $20 in a contest benefiting East New York Farms. Afternoon pairings 3pm-4:30pm, evening pairings 5pm-6:30pm.

And of course, don't forget PWRFL Power tonight and the Lit Crawl tomorrow night.

Art Attack

The big event this weekend is The Last Supper Festival at 3rd Ward, "featuring 13 short films from emerging directors, 13 artworks from budding visual artists, 13 dishes from innovative food artists, and music from 7 talented bands and DJs." Saturday, Sep 20, 6pm-12am, $15 or $10 with 3 cans of food.

Now on to the gallery openings...

New Work, Jacqueline Schlossman (above), at Stripeman Gallery, 97 N 3rd St, Sep. 12-Oct. 15, opening reception Fri, Sep 19, 5pm-7pm

Preview: Schlossman, a photographer specializing in landscape and its relevance to art history, architecture, politics and the environment, continues her golf course landscape series and comparative studies of New Orleans sites along Tchoupitoulas Street.

Sense and Sensitivity, group show, at AG Gallery, 103 N 3rd St, Sep 19-Nov. 16, opening reception Fri, Sep 19, 7pm-10pm

Preview: A group exhibition of six artists who create their own psychological landscapes by expressing different ways of connection between human and nature. The exhibition consists mainly of works on paper with gouache, watercolor, graphite, and ink.