NEW YORK’S TOP ART EVENTS IN JANUARY

The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

Did you promise that you would become a more creative and culturally-aware person in 2020?  Check out these events happening around New York (and one event in New Jersey!) to learn more about famous artists, cool artmaking techniques, and for opportunities to advance your own career!  Don’t let the cold discourage you from going out– let these hot openings, film screenings, and parties keep your mind ablaze with new art.

ARTS & CULTURE
Catch the latest chapter in a series devoted to screening Jonas Mekas’ diary films and his portraits of people and places at Anthology Film Archives.  These films constitute invaluable documentation of work by the Fluxus artists, dancers and choreographers including Erick Hawkins and Kenneth King, and many others (such as Elvis Presley!).

JONAS MEKAS TRIBUTE SCREENINGS –  PART 4
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 7:30PM
ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
INFO

 

DONE WITH XANAX
Check out the Brooklyn- and St. Louis-based painter Katherine Bernhardt‘s solo show opening at CANADA this month.  The works in this show present an exploration of her grade school obsessions through the lens of a painter at the height of her powers in lively colors.

OPENING RECEPTION: DONE WITH XANAX
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 6 – 8PM
CANADA, 60 LISPENARD STREET
INFO

 

KIM GORDON: THE BONFIRE
Rock ‘n Roll legend Kim Gordon opens her second solo exhibition of new works on canvas at 303 Gallery.  Her typically dark photographs have been layered with digital frame marking around the human figures, suggesting surveillance technology or facial recognition software.

OPENING RECEPTION: KIM GORDON: THE BONFIRE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 6 – 8PM
303 GALLERY, 555 W 21ST STREET
INFO

 

SYNTHETIC ZERO AT THE BRONXARTSPACE
This new group show at the Bronx Art Space questions how digitally-mediated human interactions have intertwined themselves into the fabric of our lives, changing our social and political life worlds, our emotional and mental lives, and our bodies and physical reality.  It’s a virtual reality which cannot be separated from “real” reality. The show includes interactive installations, digital video, prints, sculptures, and visual art.

OPENING RECEPTION: SYNTHETIC ZERO: THE VIRTUAL IS (ALWAYS) ALREADY REAL
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 6 – 10PM
BRONX ART SPACE, 305 E 140TH ST. #1, BRONX
INFO

 

HOME MOVIES AT THE MOMA
Bring in your own VHS, 8mm, and 16mm films and learn more about keeping their day during this daylong workshop and celebration of amateur and personal films.  Related special programs, including presentations, film animation activities, VHS digitization by XFR Collective, and gallery experiences, will take place throughout the day.

HOME MOVIE DAY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 10 – 4:30PM
MOMA THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
INFO

 

MEET AT THE SHED
Come for the crew-versus-crew dance battle, stay for a curator-led tour as The Shed transforms all of its spaces into a one-day-only celebration.  This event is a FREE, daylong, building-wide takeover with exhibitions, special performances and DJs, food, and more!

MEET AT THE SHED
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 11AM – 8PM
THE SHED, 545 W. 30TH ST
INFO

 

KINK OUT: LEATHER LIT DAY
As part of Kink Out’s residency at MoMA PS1, spend a Saturday storytelling, zine making, and community building among kink and sex working people and allies at Artbook at MoMA PS1.

KINK OUT: LEATHER LIT DAY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2 – 5PM
ARTBOOK AT MOMA PS1
INFO + RSVP

 

BOOKBINDING WORKSHOP
The Asia Art Archive in America presents a Bookbinding Workshop with artist Chang Yuchen, focused on three styles of bookbinding: Hidden Book, 3-hole Pamphlet, and Stab-binding.

BOOKBINDING WORKSHOP WITH CHANG YUCHEN
SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 3 – 6PM
ASIA ART ARCHIVE IN AMERICA
INFO + TICKETS

 

APERTURE GALLERY MOVES
Join the Aperture Foundation for a closing reception to say goodbye to their current and celebrate Aperture.  This will be a chance to see our three current exhibitions, The New Black Vanguard, Mark McKnight: 2019 Portfolio Prize Winner, and the 2019 PhotoBook Awards Shortlist, before they close.

WE’RE MOVING! APERTURE GALLERY RECEPTION
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 6 – 8 PM
APERTURE FOUNDATION, 547 W 27TH ST, 4TH FL
INFO

 

WINTER EXHIBITION OPENING
Join us at the Center for Book Arts for their opening reception of four new exhibitions. Refreshments will be served.  The Center for Book Arts promotes active explorations of both contemporary and traditional artistic practices related to the book as an art object.

WINTER EXHIBITION OPENING
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 6:30 – 9 PM
THE CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS
INFO

 

CELEBRATE THE CLOSING OF JAPAN IS AMERICA
To celebrate the closing of Fergus McCaffrey’s current exhibition Japan Is America, the gallery will be hosting a performance by Afuma, featuring Taketo Shimada and Stefan Tcherepnin.  Following the performance, Philadelphia Museum curator Carlos Basualdo, artist and filmmaker Katy Martin, and art historian scholar Reiko Tomii will participate in a panel discussion exploring the rich cultural interchanges between postwar Japanese and American artists—a central theme of the closing exhibition.

PERFORMANCE & PANEL DISCUSSION
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 6PM
FERGUS MCCAFFREY NEW YORK
INFO + RSVP DUE TO LIMITED SEATING

 

CO-STAR ASTROLOGY SOCIETY
Everyone’s favorite astrology app, Co-Star presents a show at the Knockdown Center with Bbymutha, Total Freedom, Joey LaBeija, 8ULENTINA, and more!  All profits go to Al Otro Lado, a non-profit that provides legal aid to asylum seekers, migrants, and deportees throughout Latin America.

REALITY CACHE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 10PM – 4AM
KNOCKDOWN CENTER
INFO + TICKETS

 

HANDS-ON AT NOGUCHI: SCREEN PRINTING
When Isamu Noguchi turned toward abstraction, he created a vocabulary of shapes that reappeared throughout his career. Spend time in the galleries discussing the organic and geometric shapes found in Noguchi’s work. Then join the museum in the studio to create stencils and learn basic screen-printing techniques.

HANDS-ON AT NOGUCHI: SCREEN PRINTING
SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1 – 5PM
THE NOGUCHI MUSEUM
INFO + TICKETS

 

WINDOW INSTALLATION OPENING
Printed Matter presents a commissioned window installation by artist Eugene Terry of Papertown Company. On occasion of this installation, Terry will be releasing two new zines – one called Fire Town and the other called Lunchtime in collaboration with Dollhouse. Terry will also release a new long sleeve shirt design.

WINDOW INSTALLATION OPENING WITH EUGENE TERRY AND DOLLHUSE
SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 5 – 7PM
PRINTED MATTER INC.
INFO

 

DIGITIZATION DAYS AT MOCA
Keep your family and community memories for posterity! Sign up for a time slot where the MOCA Collections team will scan and digitize your most beloved photos, paper documents, and/or 2-D mementos 11″ x 17″ or smaller.  Digitization will take place at MOCA’s Collections on the 2nd floor of 70 Mulberry Street.

HANDS-ON AT NOGUCHI: SCREEN PRINTING
MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 10AM
MUSEUM OF CHINESE IN AMERICA
INFO + TICKETS

 

 

ARTIST STATEMENT WORKSHOP
Join Shama Rahman, integrated marketing manager at the Wall Street Journal, to learn the basics of writing and editing artist statements.  A clear, concise artist statement helps communicate an artist’s intention and the type of work they create to a broad audience.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT: ARTIST STATEMENT WORKSHOP WITH SHAMA RAHMAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 6 – 8PM
MANA CONTEMPORARY (JERSEY CITY, NJ)
INFO + TICKETS

 

MATERIAL CONDITIONS: HANS HAACKE
Join the New Museum’s Archivist Amye McCarther for a lecture and screening of newly digitized materials related to Hans Haacke from the institution’s Archives.

MATERIAL CONDITIONS: HANS HAACKE IN THE NEW MUSEUM ARCHIVES
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 4:30 – 6PM
NEW MUSEUM, 235 BOWERY
INFO + TICKETS

 

JANUARY TOWN HALL: PHOTOGRAPHY
Join the Asian American Arts Alliance for our January Town Hall, highlighting photographers and photo collectives. Learn about the diverse and exciting creative projects and opportunities coming out of the Asian American creative community during Town Hall’s rapid-fire line-up of 60-second pitches!

JANUARY TOWN HALL: PHOTOGRAPHY
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 6:30 – 9PM
ASIAN AMERICAN ARTS ALLIANCE
INFO + TICKETS

 

DOUG WHEELER AT ZWIRNER
David Zwirner presents a new light installation by American artist Doug Wheeler (b. 1939) at the gallery’s 519 West 19th Street location in New York.  This is Wheeler’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery and coincides with the release of the first major monograph devoted to his work.

OPENING RECEPTION: DOUG WHEELER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 6 – 8PM
DAVID ZWIRNER, 519 WEST 19TH STREET
INFO

 

BOOK LAUNCH: ANDREI MONASTYRSKI
This book makes available for the first time in English many of Andrei Monastyrski’s poems, books, and action objects from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, tracing a genealogy of the art action in poetry.

BOOK LAUNCH: ANDREI MONASTYRSKI ELEMENTARY POETRY
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 7 – 9PM
E-FLUX, 311 E BROADWAY
INFO

 

CRIT NIGHT
Arts organization Pioneer Works and Ace Hotel New York team up to present Crit Night, where current and past Pioneer Works artists-in-residence share works in progress during an intimate evening focused around experimentation and discourse.  Visual Arts Resident Jenny Perlin will share films from her explorations of subterranean bunkers across America.

OPENING RECEPTION: DOUG WHEELER
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 6 – 8PM
ACE HOTEL NEW YORK, 20 W 29TH ST
INFO + TICKETS

 

WHITNEY ART PARTY 2020
The Whitney’s annual event welcomes young patrons, emerging artists, and guests from the world of art, fashion, business, and entertainment for an evening of cocktails, music, and exhibition viewing. Art Party proceeds benefit the Independent Study Program and other Museum education initiatives.

WHITNEY ART PARTY 2020
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 9PM – 12:30AM
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
INFO + TICKETS

 

ART INSPIRED BY BETYE SAAR
Come create your own masterpiece inspired by work from Betye Saar. The series will include an overview of the artist or technique, followed by a hands-on workshop.  Saar is an African American artist known for her assemblage work and visual storytelling skills. She is also an accomplished printmaker.

ART INSPIRED BY BETYE SAAR
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 6 – 8PM
GERTRUDE EDERLE RECREATION CENTER
INFO + TICKETS

 

SELF LOVE ~ ADAM J. KURTZ & ERIC HU
AIGA’S “Self-Love” event is back for a second round, this time to tackle how authenticity and creativity (and perhaps a little darkness) can lead to a stronger sense of self and more fulfilling career. Eric Hu and Adam J. Kurtz will speak to how they’ve made peace with the light and the dark, building distinct career paths where they can be their best selves.

SELF LOVE ~ ADAM J. KURTZ & ERIC HU
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 6:30 – 8:30PM
66 W. 12TH STREET
INFO + TICKETS

 

NYPL TREASURES RACE POLITICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Join NYPL at the Grand Central Library (46th btw Lexington and 3rd Aves.) for a panel on race, politics and photography presented by the Doctoral Program in Art History, Graduate Center, CUNY. The event will feature rare and seldom seen images from the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs and showcase their relevance in our ongoing conversation on identity and art.

NYPL TREASURES RACE POLITICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 6 – 7:30PM
GRAND CENTRAL LIBRARY
INFO + TICKETS

 

BAR LAIKA PRESENTS: LIAM GILLICK, PELIN TANAIGA’S
Bar Laika is pleased to present film works from both of these art historian’s research.  For Matera European City of Culture 2019, Pelin Tan researched labour conditions and the new sense of place and community that began with the Riforma Agraria in 1950: from the exodus from Matera’s Sassi to the newly built neighbourhoods in the decades that followed to the re-occupation of the Sassi by left-wing activists in the 1970s, and the contemporary arrival of migrants via the Mediterranean today.

BAR LAIKA PRESENTS: LIAM GILLICK, PELIN TAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 9 -10PM
BAR LAIKA BY E-FLUX
INFO

 

 

FUTURE OF ART – NYC
An art gallery tour featuring physical work and artwork on display via augmented reality by QZ Studios.

FUTURE OF ART – NYC
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 12 – 9PM
35 MEADOW STREET
INFO + TICKETS

 

V ESCAPE
V escape or Escape Velocity refers to the amount of force an object needs to break free of the gravitational pull on it. Each of the artists performing here have amassed the energy required to release them from the pull of the normative, the statue quo. In doing so they’ve expanded the boundaries and intersections of performative media and video art, using technological innovation and prescient artistic vision.

V ESCAPE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 7 – 10PM
SYNESTHESIA
INFO 

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Kirsten Chen

Kirsten Chen

@kirstensly bay area art enthusiast and writer

i'm trying to be as famous as the spice girls