Today we’re re-introducing Gallery Goer, a weekly roundup of gallery shows on the Lower East Side. Check out our top picks for shows opening each week that you won’t want to miss.
Friday, March 20, 6 pm to 8 pm
Sargent’s Daughters: Laura Lancaster, A Stranger’s Dream
“A Stranger’s Dream” marks the first New York solo show for Laura Lancaster, who lives and works in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK. If you like abstraction, this is the show for you. Lancaster’s paintings are extracted from random images she finds at thrift stores and flea market photographs. She also tapped into home movie reels of super 8 film and incorporated them into her work for the first time for this show.
Through April 19, 2015 // Wed.-Sun. 12 pm to 6 pm and by appt. // 179 East Broadway
Friday, March 20, 6 pm to 8 pm
Nicelle Beauchene: Owen Kydd, Out-of-Place Artifacts
The Los Angeles-based artist Owen Kydd explores various ways of seeing in “Out-of-Place Artifacts.” Kydd conceptualizes his “durational photographs” through tightly contained video loops that simultaneously function as still videos and extended photographs. The work presents near static segments of time that slowly reveal elements of movement or change. His subjects include photographs of storefronts, urban landscapes and studio-based images.
Through April 19 // Wed.-Sun., 11 am to 6 pm or by appt. // 327 Broome St. (Between Bowery and Chrystie)
Sunday March 22, 6 pm to 8 pm
Miguel Abreu: Pieter Schoolwerth, Your Vacuum Blows, which Sucks
Apart from the provocative name of the show, Schoolwerth’s work is worth seeing for the backstory that inspired the work. The idea for the show came to Schoolwerth when he was cleaning his house using a decrepit and failing green vacuum that wasn’t up to the job. Out of frustration, the artist blurted: “this vacuum sucks!” Upon further consideration he thought, “if it didn’t suck, it wouldn’t be a vacuum! In other words, if the vacuum works – it sucks; if it doesn’t work – it sucks. The fact that it can only be one way seemed to me inordinately unacceptable.”
The paintings combine photography, digital processing and printing, drawing and oil painting to produce a contemporary portrait. Along with the paintings and objects, an episodic video tells the story of a figure who has been digitally erased from the image, and is present to his corporeally embodied friends and co-workers entirely through his visual absence.
Schoolwerth’s work appeared at Miguel Abreu in 2010 with Portraits and Paintings.
The show appears in both locations of Miguel Abreu: The video, in collaboration with Alexandra Lerman, plays at 36 Orchard St., while the paintings and objects are on view at 88 Eldridge St.
It’s also worth noting that Schoolwerth ran Wierd Records and Wierd Party at Home Sweet Home on the LES from 2003–2013. Wierd released music by 42 bands working in the genres of minimal electronics, coldwave and noise, and produced over 500 live music, dj, and performance art events internationally.
Through May 3, 2015 // Wed.-Sun. 10:30 am to 6:30 pm or by appt. // 88 Eldridge St. + 36 Orchard St.
Tobi Elkin is a freelance writer and editor who lives on the Lower East Side. She works as a journalist at eMarketer, a digital marketing and media research firm. Follow her on Twitter at: @TobiElkin.
