— ARTSPACE PICK —
Opening Receptions for the group show "Meshes of the Afternoon" and Nathan Mabry's "Shapeshifter" at Sean Kelly Gallery, 475 Tenth Avenue, 6 – 8 p.m. (Through May 4th)
Themed after the influential 1943 Surrealist-inspired film Meshes of the Afternoon by Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, this group show opening Friday presents work by nine painters ranging from David Salle to Thomas Zipp that echos the dreamlike, semi-narrative key of the avant-garde movie (which will also be on view). Present in the gallery's two other spaces will be new works by Los Angeles-based sculptor Nathan Mabry, who is known for his humorous juxtapositions of minimalist forms with those from ancient cultures.
— WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27TH —
Opening Reception for Jennifer Riley's "Memory From Sight" at Allegra LaViola Gallery, 179 East Broadway, 6 – 8 p.m. (Through April 27th)
In this exhibition of new works, an intentional expansion of experimental geometrical abstraction and color palettes finds painter Riley enlivening her already humanly suggestive forms.
"The Kitchen L.A.B." at the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, 7 p.m.
In its new L.A.B. series, which stands for "Language, Art, Bodies," the Kitchen has invited four experimental sound and visual artists—Marina Rosenfeld, Aki Sasamoto, Tina Satter, and Ben Vida—to create a hybrid event that throws the differences between their practices into relief.
— THURSDAY, MARCH 28TH —
Opening Reception for Elizabeth Peyton at Gavin Brown Enterprises, 620 Greenwich Street, 6 – 8 p.m. (Through May 14th)
While GBE's press releases are notoriously tightlipped, if you're a fan of Peyton's popular portrait style, you'll most certainly want to catch this show.
Opening Reception for Thomas Ruff's "photograms and ma.r.s." at David Zwirner, 525 and 533 West 19th Street, 6 – 8 p.m. (Through April 27th)
Two bodies of work by the experimental technical photographer will be on view in this exhibition: 1920s-era photograms of shapes and lines, and manipulated, high-res satellite images of the surface of planet Mars, some of which have been rendered as 3-D images.
Opening Reception for "Cleaning Up" at Johannes Vogt Gallery, 526 West 26th Street, 2nd Floor, 6 – 8 p.m. (Through April 27th)
For the premise of this intriguing exhibition, the gallery has invited a number of artists, including Claire Fontaine, Alfredo Jaar, and Michelle Lopez, among many others, to comment on how the line between order and chaos is constructed, and how power determines where that line is set.
— FRIDAY, MARCH 29TH —
Opening for "Atlas, Kahrs, Mucha, Whiteread" at Luhring Augustine, 25 Knickerbocker Avenue, Brooklyn, and 531 West 24th Street, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (Through April 27th)
In this group show that spans two exhibition spaces, the gallery has assembled works from four artists; Charles Atlas, Johannes Kahrs, Reinhard Mucha, and Rachel Whiteread, that comment on the role memory plays in individual and collective histories.
Opening Reception for "Thanks" at Lu Magnus, 55 Hester Street, 6 – 9 p.m. (Through April 26th)
"Curated" by artist Adam Parker Smith, this exhibition is comprised—with ex post facto permission—of artworks and objects that he pilfered while visiting the various studios of his friends and acquaintances.
Book Launch and Performance at Artists Space, 55 Walker Street, 7 p.m.
In what is sure to be the hip literary party of the weekend, magazine, and editorial collective Triple Canopy has partnered with Artists Space to launch both Invalid Format, their annual anthology of artist projects, and Corrected Slogans, which includes words and works by artists like Nora Abrams, Erica Baum, and R.H. Quaytman. There will also be a performance by noted actor Jim Fletcher and others based around literary formats and textual registers.
— SATURDAY, MARCH 30TH —
Closing for "40/40: A Double Vision" at A.I.R. Gallery, 111 Front Street #212 & #228, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
This Saturday marks your last chance to see the feminist A.I.R. Gallery's 40th anniversary show, which pairs each of the gallery's New York member-artists with an emerging female artist, celebrating both the past and the future of women in the arts.
— MONDAY, APRIL 1ST —
"Boom: The Future of the Museum in China" at Columbia University, Avery Hall, 1172 Amsterdam Avenue, Wood Auditorium, 6:30 p.m.
Organized by the China Megacities Lab, this panel will touch on what the future holds for the 386 new museums China built in 2011 alone—many of which, lacking a clear curatorial vision, sit empty.
Opening Reception for "F.A.T. GOLD: Five Years of Free Art & Technology" at Eyebeam, 540 West 21st Street, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. (Through April 20th)
Celebrating their quinquennial anniversary, the group of artists, hackers, scientists, and lawyers, that go by the moniker "F.A.T. Lab" will be presenting a "smorgasbord exhibition" of work ranging from video and performance to installation and net art, which will be concurrently accompanied by a week's worth of activities and events.
— TUESDAY, APRIL 2ND —
Opening reception for Dennis Stock at Milk Gallery, 450 West 15th Street, 7 – 10 p.m. (Through April 17th)
Candid photographs of famous actors from Hollywood's "Golden Age," like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Audrey Hepurn will be on view at this exhibition of work of by the celebrated Magnum photographer.
