Art & the City: Four Galleries in One Night
Nightlife is endless in New York City. For a college student on a budget, however, the city most definitely has a bedtime. When ramen noodles are the only thing in the pantry, and the refrigerator is close to bare, it’s difficult for students to find something to do on a Friday night that doesn’t break the bank.
Or maybe, we are simply not looking in the right places. The other day, I saw four different art exhibitions in one night. I mixed and mingled with art curators, hipsters, and all it cost me was a subway ride. Here is where I ended up.
1. The Martos Gallery—Jory Rabinovitz’ second solo exhibition.
The show—"oikos love love love"—is composed of materials that were once born from the labor of slaves and made of copper, a metal essential to life but in excess, a threat. Forming the body of the central sculpture—"The Death of Abel"—with Tabby Concrete, casting the head and hand of President Lincoln in copper as well as Lady Liberty’s feet, Rabinovitz seamlessly weaves symbols and substances from the past in order to affect change in the future. "Oikos love love love" is art that conveys a message that goes far beyond the Martos Gallery’s walls.
"The Death of Abel" by Jory Rabinowitz | Photo by Elizabeth Winn
Appealing to both the artist’s eye and the conservationist’s soul, Rabinovitz uses his art as a tool. Taking products, such as Tabby Concrete that was originally the fruit of slave labor and casting symbolic historical figures in metal, Rabinovitz effortlessly takes the lessons we have learned from history in order to create progress in the future.
At the end of the exhibition, The Death of Abel will be donated to the Billion Oyster Project. They will place the sculpture in the Statue of Liberty Estuary where the lime and broken shell components will welcome New York’s oyster population while the statue’s copper elements will ward off predators. However, Rabinovitz’s sculpture will not be lost forever once it is placed at the bottom of the Hudson River. The Death of Abel will live on in a digital 3D scan of the original piece.
This exhibit will be on on display February 2-March 11, located on 41 Elizabeth St. New York, NY 1001.
2. NurtureArt—group exhibition featuring artists Salome Asega, Sophia Brueckner, Ornella Fieres, Sam Lavigne, and Mendi & Keith Obadike.
Photo by Elizabeth Winn
The exhibition—"Call and Response"—is all about coding. As technology has evolved, so has humanity’s perspective and interpretation of the world. These artists use the industrial innovations of this age to reveal the relationship between technology and the real world. With each piece, this exhibit explores how human beings and their machines communicate. One artist represents this relationship by converting a song into code. Another artist does this by collecting the exposure in photographs and translating them into pixels, consequently creating a corresponding photograph focalized on the light in the opposing picture.
With light and code, each artist utilizes technology in order to create something subjective from objective mediums.
Featured below: Curator, Kelly Rae Aldridge
3. The Fresh Window—featuring Brian Hubble’s exhibit, "Whatever is Unknown is Magnified"
This gallery showcases simple pieces, presenting graphite drawings of objects that often go unnoticed. Each piece provides the viewer with a greater appreciation for things that have been stripped down to their core and depicted as the artist views them.
Both exhibitions are on display February 2-25, located on 56 Bogart Street, Lower Level Brooklyn, NY 11206.
4.The Elijah Wheat Showroom—presenting a show entitled "Persistence of Future Memories"
Annie Ewaskio and Aimee Odum, the featured artists, presented vibrant oil paintings and delicate sculptures that capture landscapes, folklore, and expeditions of arctic regions. Both artist’s attempt to capture the timeless battle between man and the natural world.
The exhibit will be on display February 2-25, located on 1196 Myrtle Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11221.
Each individual exhibition featured here approaches art in a different way. Some focusing on societal topics while others highlighting the complexity that revolves around the dynamic between man and technology. Within each showcase, however, the art communicates the sacred relationship between creator and creation in a unique way. And, that alone, is beautiful.
So, if this Friday night you don’t want to just sit at home doing homework or watching Netflix, don’t. Step out of your comfort zone. Go check out some of these galleries, explore a different neighborhood, and immerse yourself in the abundant culture the city has to offer; it’ll only cost you $2.75.