There is quite a multifarious group of shows to check out in our neighborhood this evening. At the top of my list is “The Taqwacores: Muslim Punk in the USA” by photographer Kim Badawi, at Abrons Art Center (466 Grand Street) from 6-8PM. Parisian born Badawi, who has also taken photos for both Newsweek and New York Magazine, began his career by photographing refugee families in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The pictures in this show document the growing subculture of Muslim punk bands in the U.S., focusing on bands like The Kominas, and are part of the book “The Taqwacores: Muslim Punk in the USA,” co-authored by Badawi and Michael Muhammad Knight. Badawi will be signing copies of  the book at the reception tonight.
Carrie Marill’s intriguing show, “Visual Aides,” also opens tonight from 6-8PM at Jen Bekman Gallery (6 Spring Street). Marill has re-painted certain aspects of old landscape illustrations from schools in the 1950’s. The work becomes interactive when trying to separate the old work from her new creations and, Marill notes on her website, “the completed image becomes a “Where’s Waldo” of what’s evolved and devolved environmentally and socially since the 1950’s.”
My third recommendation is the group show that is happening at  Allegra La Viola Gallery (179 East Broadway) from 6-9PM. “Monumental Piccolini,” curated by Jennifer Riley, presents work in two segments: Monumentally scaled works (by sculptors Dorren McCarthy and Don Gummer and painters Jim Long and Craig Fisher) are featured in the “Monumental” series upstairs, along with smaller-scaled work from five younger contemporary artists included in the “Piccolini” series downstairs. One of the main artists in the show, Doreen McCarthy, creates inflatable sculptures that resemble balloon animals, only they are gargantuan in size, towering over any human that might try to manipulate it.
