Community: feminist.bloggers@brooklynmuseum

Tracey Moffatt’s exhibition, First Jobs Series 2008 opens Thursday, August 21st at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney and will be up until September 3rd. If you’re in the neighborhood, you really shouldn’t miss this amazing photographer/video artist’s work!

(Tracey Moffatt, First Jobs, Fruit Market, 1975, 2008. Archival pigments on rice paper with gel medium. Image from First Jobs Series 2008 exhibition announcement.)

Global Feminisms artist Shahzia Sikander’s first major solo exhibition in the U.K. is on view now at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. Intimate Ambivalence features this incredible artist’s recent paintings, a wall drawing installed in Ikon, and a series of graphite portraits done over the last couple of years titled Monks and Novices.

(Shahzia Sikander, Monks and Novices Series - Novice Chandon, 2006-08. Graphite on paper 14 x 11 inches. Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co.)

in your face, a group exhibition that investigates portraiture and representation of the figure, will be on view at Tria Gallery from August 19 – 23. Curated by Nikki Cohen, the show features the work of emerging artists Ben Aqua and Mike Ruiz (the collaborative team OK!Fresh), Elizabeth Dyer, Mary Lydecker, and Megan Cedro. The opening reception for the exhibition will be on Tuesday, August 19, from 6-8pm. Stop by and check out innovative work by these exciting up-and-comers!

(Ok! Fresh, photograph from in your face. Courtesy of Nikki Cohen Enterprise.)

April Vollmer’s Doing What Comes Naturally opened this month at The Sirens’ Song Gallery in Greenport, NY, and runs until September 2nd. Continuing an age old medium, Vollmer uses woodcut to explore the stereotypically feminine medium of floral design.

(April Vollmer, Rococo Puff, 2007. Hanga Woodcut. Courtesy of the artist.)

Karen Finley’s Impulse to Suck: The Performance of the Apology and the Separation of Sex and State, happens tomorrow night, the 14th of August at Performance Space 122 in Manhattan. In addition to performing her latest piece, Karen Finley with discuss aspects of Eliot Spitzer’s televised apology that followed the discovery of his criminal activities. Make sure to check out Performance Space 122’s website for advance tickets to this one night only event!

(Artwork by Karen Finley. Courtesy of Performance Space 122.)

Mother’s!!!, a solo exhibition by Lin Tianmiao just opened at Long March Project’s Gallery Space C in China. Tianmiao was also featured in our Global Feminisms show last year. As the exhibition title suggests, the theme of the show revolves around a mother’s role and all of the emotions-both positive and negative- that come with it. This exhibition runs until August 24th.

(Lin Tianmiao, Mothers!!! No. 5, 2008. Courtesy of Long March Project.)

Woman Made Gallery in Chicago is opening Her Mark 2009, an exhibition celebrating the publication of the gallery’s annual art and literary journal. The reception is this Friday, August 1st, and the show will be up until August 28th.

(Elizabeth Bruno, The Illusion of Control, oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches. Courtesy of Woman Made Gallery.)

Will Happiness Find Me, at the Marvelli Gallery ends this Thursday, August 8th. This exhibition features artists Daphne Arthur, Mary Reid Kelley, Jason Ledet, and Juliana Romano and includes a video by Kelley about an aviator(played by the artist) and his lover, a ballerina named Camel Toe, who leaves him for her vibrator.

(Mary Reid Kelley, Camel Toe, 2008. Video, 1 minute 25 seconds, Edition of 8. Courtesy of the Marvelli Gallery.)

Sexy Time: A Group Effort closes today at the Morgan Lehman Gallery. From the work of Susan Anderson, which explores the world of the young girl’s beauty pageant, to Chrissy Conant’s Chrissy Skin Rug, this show approaches the issues of sex and gender from a variety of innovative angles. If you have time today or after work tonight, stop on by!

(Chrissy Conant, Chrissy Skin Rug, 84 x 60 in. Silicone rubber, human hair, glass eyes, wood. Courtesy of Morgan Lehman Gallery.)

If Loved Could Have Saved You, You Would Have Lived Forever closes next week at Bellwether gallery. This group show investigates loss and memory and includes the work of Tammy Rae Carland and Patricia Cronin.

(Tammy Rae Carland, My Inheritance, 60 x 40 inches, Digital C-print, 2008. Courtesy of Bellwether Gallery.)

One of my fellow interns here at the museum discovered some really neat hand-stenciled shirts featuring feminist women throughout history the other day. Here’s what Lindsay Keating-Moore, creator of KMStitchery has to say about her artistry, “My rebellious spirit saw injustice and it prompted me to address it and attack it in a healthy way. I think it’s important to recognize, acknowledge and admire women who have fought for women’s rights and who have broken through gender barriers. And clothing is a great way to spread the message of feminism.” The selection ranges from Frida Kahlo to Emma Goldman and almost every woman worthy of note in between. Keep it up Lindsay!

(Susan B. Anthony Hand Stenciled Shirt, by KMStitchery. Courtesy of the Artist.)

Camouflage opens this Friday at Amos Eno Gallery in Manhattan. This solo exhibition features artist Wei-Hui Hsu’s series of the same name. Using cosmetic facial masks to construct sculptural bodices and high heeled shoes, Wei-Hui Hsu interacts with her creations to create a voyeuristic atmosphere in her photographs.

(Wei-Hui Hsu, Photographic print from the Camoflage Series, 2007, Installation with facial masks, fabric stiffener, performance, toy guns, spray paint, army uniform. Courtesy of the artist.)

SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery just opened its 14th Annual International Exhibition last week which includes a solo show in their second gallery with artist Jong Sun Lee. Lee explores gender and power relations in her work through the use of unusual materials like human hair. When we emailed SOHO20 Chelsea’s director, Jenn Dierdorf, this morning, she mentioned that Lee “is currently preparing for a trip to Guatemala, where she will finance and work to build bathrooms for a community in return for their collaborative effort on an art project.”

(Jong Sun Lee, Yes You Are II, included in the 14th Annual International Exhibition. Courtesy of SOGO20 Chelsea Gallery)

2b female:perceptions of femininity opened last week at the Pendleton Art Gallery in Newport, Kentucky. Artist Pattie Byron combines female symbols with gender stereotypes to create her sculptures. The show runs through August 18^th, so if you’re in the area, check it out!

(Pattie Byron, Habitual Femininity, painted metal, polished metal and yarn. Included in the 2b female: perceptions of femininity exhibition, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.)

Yayoi Kusama currently has a solo exhibition up at Ota Fine Arts in Tokyo. On view until August 22nd, this artist’s unique vision is not to be missed!

(Yayoi Kusama, Original Infinity Nets, 1999. Acrylic on canvas, 194 x 391 cm. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts.)

Using familiar objects in unfamiliar ways, artist Heidi Forssell includes everything from a toothy teddy bear to a deep fried ball gown to get her message across. Her MFA graduate exhibition, The Right Kind of Girl: Video, Sculpture and Drawings about Female Identity and Experience, just opened last Saturday at the Arts and Consiousness Gallery of JFKU Berkeley and runs until August 2nd.

(Heidi Forssell, Image from exhibition announcement for The Right Kind of Girl.)

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is currently showing Modern Love: Gifts to the Collection from Heather and Tony Podesta. This group show will be up until September 21st, so if you are in the D.C. area anytime soon, feel free to take a gander!

(Icelandic Love Corporation, Where Do We Go From Here?, 2001. Diasec lazerchrome print, 27 3/4 x 27 1/2 in. Courtesy of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.)

In part an exploration of the hybridization of female identity in a global culture, Neti Neti (not this, not this) opened last week at Bosa Pacia and features artists Michael Bühler-Rose and Sheba Chhachhi among others. Don’t miss out on this exhibition, on view until August 16th.

(Michael Bühler-Rose, The Secret, Alachua, FL. 2006)

May Stevens: Paintings and Works on Paper 1968-1976 opened last Thursday at the Mary Ryan Gallery and includes works from Louise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith. The work by May Stevens focuses mainly on her “Big Daddy” character who symbolizes her view of the archetypal middle-American man.

(Louise Bourgeois, The Night, 2001, lithograph, 20 x 16 inches, edition of 50. Courtesy of Mary Ryan Gallery.)

Rendering their own interpretations of goddess and female myths throughout time, a collection of women artists around the globe participate in …All About Eve, open until August 3rd at Siren Song Gallery in Greenport, NY.

(Kathleen Bifulco, Barbie Bustin’ Out, charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 31 x 24 inches. Courtesy Gallery Merz.)

Stories We Tell Ourselves, an all women show that explores the narrative in art opened July 10th at the Rhonda Schaller Studio in Chelsea. This show includes a work by Maureen Kelleher, who was inspired to become an artist after refusing to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina.

(Maureen Kelleher, I’m Gonna Try, H. Tubman, 2003. Paint, paper, cloth and engraving on wood, 46 in. x 30 in. Courtesy of the artist)

Investigating the link between clothing and identity, the Kniznick Gallery of Brandeis University presents Dress Redress, opening this week and running through September 25th. Artists represented in this exhibition include Aparna Agrawal, Candice Smith Corby, Maryjean Viano Crowe, Carol Hamoy, Sandra Eula Lee, Esther Solondz, Andrew Thompson, and Leslie Wilcox.

(Sandra Eula Lee, Clothing Inventory – under 2” tall, 2006. Courtesy Kniznick Gallery.)

History Keeps Me Awake at Night: A Genealogy of Wojnarowicz opened last Thursday at the PPOW Gallery. This exhibition features the work of artists influenced by David Wojnarowicz, activist for queer rights and against AIDS discrimination in the 1980’s.

(Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled from The Hampton Project, 2000. Inkjet print on canvas, edition of 5, 61 x 69 inches. Courtesy of PPOW.)

Flesh, Akino Kondoh’s second solo exhibition at Tokyo’s Mizuma Art Gallery opened last week. This time around, Kondoh is showing her oil paintings, which examine the potential crossover between the human body and plant life, rather than the animations, which made up her previous exhibition at this venue. The show will be up until August 9th. If you’re in the area, this one is definitely worth checking out!

(Akino Kondoh, Flesh (work in progress), 2008. Oil on canvas 112×162cm. Photo by Kei Miyajima, courtesy of Mizuma Art Gallery)

Social Conditioning opens July 5th at Femina Potens gallery. Each of these four artists subjectively contemplates and deconstructs the social, cultural, and emotional conditioning experienced while growing up queer.

(Announcement for Social Conditioning. Courtesy: Femina Potens.)

Power Change (Initiated by a Woman), a show of work by Global Feminisms artist Elke Krystufek, opens July 6th at the Ulmer Museum.

(Elke Krystufek, Katherine Mansfield, 2008, ink on canvas. Courtesy: Galerie Barbara Thumm.)

When Color Was New: Vintage Photographs from Around the 1970s opens July 7th at Julie Saul Gallery. Three female pioneers of fine art color photography are included: Nan Goldin, Helen Levitt, and Jan Groover.

(Helen Levitt, New York, 1980, C-print. Courtesy: Laurence Miller Gallery.)

Asian Cinevision and Asia Society host the 2008 Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF08) July 10th through July 19th. This year’s festival spotlights female documentary filmmakers. On July 17th, don’t miss the panel discussion Documentary Subjects, Female Gaze with three of the four AAIFF08 featured female directors Ann Kaneko, Risa Morimoto, and Mirjam van Veelen and moderator Anne del Castillo.

(Still from Megumi, directed by Mirjam van Veelen. Courtesy: Mirjam van Veelen.)

A show of work by Global Feminisms artist Sigalit Landau remains open at MoMA through July 28th. Landau here presents a video trilogy in which she employs circular movement and spinning in her performative exploration of the Israeli landscape.

(Sigalit Landau, Dead See (From Cycle Spun, 2007), 2005, video (color, silent). The Museum of Modern Art. Fund for the Twenty-First Century. Image © Sigalit Landau. Courtesy: MoMA.)

Mona Hatoum: Present Tense at Parasol Unit of London features work representative of the span of Hatoum’s career thus far. Hatoum renders ordinary domestic objects uncanny in her efforts to address notions of displacement, uncertainty, and extant power structures. Open now through August 8th.

(Mona Hatoum, Misbah, 2006. Courtesy: Jay Jopling/White Cube (London) and Parasol Unit.)

A Year in Drawing, which continues through August 1st at Galerie Lelong, brings together a diverse collection of work including drawings by Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Nancy Spero, Jane Hammond, and many more!

(Kate Shepherd, Untitled (1-7), 2008, assembled cut screenprints. Courtesy: Galerie Lelong.)

Women in Photography is an ongoing online exhibition space for both emerging and established female photographers, featuring a solo show, curated by Amy Elkins and Cara Phillips, of work by a new artist every two weeks. Currently on view, Sarah Sudhoff’s photographs reveal a personal take on “body art” as well as a meditation on the female body as an object to be examined.

(Sarah Sudhoff, Exam 2, 2006. Courtesy: Sarah Sudhoff and Women in Photography.)

SWAP (Supporting Women Artists Project) hosts its Summer Auction at A.I.R. Gallery on June 26th, featuring work by both SWAP artists in residence as well as their student mentee artists from Girls Prep.

(Left: Claire Brassil, untitled, gouache and graphite on paper, 20 x 20″, 2007. Courtesy: Claire Brassil. Right: Announcement for SWAP’s Summer Auction. Courtesy: SWAP.)

Artistic Production and the Feminist Theory of Art: New Debates, an exciting three-day course to assess the state of feminist art and art history, runs June 26 through June 28th at the Montehermoso Cultural Centre. “The objective of this course is to propose a panoramic view of the main contributions of feminist art history, delving into the theoretical and political problems feminist researchers must face in order to continue developing knowledge freed of sexist structures that have guided the construction of social and human sciences.” New Debates features numerous world-renowned feminist art and gender studies scholars including Judith Halberstam and Griselda Pollock.

Opening June 27th, the Guggenheim presents a full-career retrospective of the divine Louise Bourgeois as well as A Life in Pictures: Louise Bourgeois, a collection of images and objects from the artist’s personal archives.

(Louise Bourgeois, circa 1980. Photo: Louise Bourgeois Archive. Courtesy: Guggenheim Museum.)

**Also, on June 28th, Bard College art history professor Susan Aberth will lecture on Bourgeois at Dia:Beacon.

Jackie Gendel: Does She Know? closes June 29th at Moti Hasson Gallery. Gendel forges a new kind of portraiture in which her subjects resist categorization according to physical context, gender, and era.

(Jackie Gendel, At the Beach, 2008, oil on canvas. Courtesy: Moti Hasson Gallery.)

Caterina Bertolotto’s Dresses of Transformation closes June 30th at the Italian American Museum. Bertolotto’s dresses celebrate the “joy, creativity, and playfulness” of the feminine spirit.

(Caterina Bertolotto, Dresses of Transformation, photograph: T. Inagaki & N. Veronesi. Courtesy: Italian American Museum and Caterina Bertolotto.)

Like the Spice Gallery hosts Gay Directions in New Art, a group show of work by gay artists in the “post-everything society,” through July 6th. With all due respect to their predecessors, the gay artists who have greatly influenced the course of art history and pop culture alike–Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and John Waters, to name a few, these artists explore what it means to be gay in a new era, one of integration rather than “hermetically sealed gay culture.”

(Jesse Finley Reed, The Cock: Bathroom, view #1 and #2, New York, NY, 2002. Archival Ultrachrome Digital Inkjet Prints. Courtesy: Like the Spice Gallery.)

Sleep in Spite of Thunder, works by Exene Cervenka, remains open through July 18th at DCKT Contemporary. Widely known as an icon of 1970s L.A. punk and a founding member of the band X, Cervenka here infuses her image and word collages with a punk aesthetic.

(Exene Cervenka, Thesp, 2008, mixed media on canvas panel. Courtesy: DCKT Contemporary.)

For more art by and about the fierce women of the L.A. punk scene, check out VEXING: Female Voices from East L.A. Punk, now open at the Claremont Museum through August 31st.

(Left to right: Shizu Saldamando, Cindi and Asma in the Ladies Room, 2007, colored pencil, collage on paper, Collection of Sam Lee and Karen Rapp. Louis Jacinto, The Bags, 1979, Hong Kong Café, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA, black and white C-print, Courtesy: drkrm Gallery. Dawn Wirth, Alice Bag, Jensen Rec Center/Silver Lake Film Festival (detail), 2007, silver-halide/C-print, Courtesy: Dawn Wirth. All, Courtesy: Claremont Museum.)

Cancelled, Erased & Removed is open now through August 1st at the Sean Kelly Gallery. With a concept extrapolated from Robert Rauschenberg’s Erased de Kooning (1953), this group show explores creation borne from negation, featuring innovative and non-traditional artists such as Ana Mendieta, Janine Antoni, and Jenny Holzer.

(Jenny Holzer, PALM LEFT 000113, 2007, oil on linen. Courtesy: Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers.)

This Friday, The Women’s Museum in Denmark opens 64-Occupations and Collections featuring Kirsten Justesen in an historical exhibitition about the daughters of war and a look at anti-authoritarian feminism.

(announcement for 64 – Occupations and Collections. Courtesy: Kvindemuseet.)

Also on Friday, Melanie Herzog, art historian and director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Edgewood College will be speaking at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Wisconsin. Herzog will discuss MMoCA’s current exhibition, Girls and Company: Feminist Works from MMoCA’s Permanent Collection, on view through July 20th.

(Frances Myers, The Martyrdom, from the portfolio Point of Departure, 1984. Linoleum cut on paper, 20 x 15 inches. Courtesy of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.)

Curated by Joanne Hinkel, LADYLIKE: A proper take on feminist art, just opened at Chicago’s Koscielak Gallery. Featuring a group of ten feminist artists using everything from fiber to video, this exhibition runs through July 30, 2008.

(Jessica Hannah, Red Phone Showroom No.6, 2007, A photo still of a performance within a mixed-media installation from the Columbia College Chicago MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Show. Courtesy of Koscielak Gallery.)

Gender This, a current exhibition at the Andrea Meislin Gallery features artist Shelley Adler. Through the medium of portraiture, Adler focuses on the female gaze and the journey through adolescence in her exploration of gender identity. Don’t miss this artist’s first solo exhibition in New York, closing June 21, 2008.

(Shelley Adler, Party Girl, 2008, Oil on canvas, 96 x 72 inches. Courtesy of the Andrea Meislin Gallery.)

The Frida Kahlo retrospective continues its tour this month at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This legendary artist had the guts to embark on a career in easel painting at a time in Mexico when macho muralists reined supreme, which perhaps makes her struggles with illness and the drama of her personal life secondary to the impact of her work. This retrospective is definitely worth checking out for feminists and Kahlo fans alike, and will be up through September 28, 2008.

(Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Autorretrato con collar de espinas y colibrí), 1940. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.)

Closing on June 27, 2008, everydaypeople explores issues of sex and gender in everyday life. Check this exhibition out at Chicago’s estudiotres!

(Doug Ischar, Untitled, Belmont Rocks, Chicago, 1984. Digital Archival Print - 36″ x 24″. Courtesy: estudiotres.)

Photographer, video artist, and associate professor at the California College of the Arts, Tammy Rae Carland is also the author of such titles as Lesbian Art in America and The Passionate Camera; Queer Bodies of Desire. This internationally known feminist artist’s solo exhibition, An Archive of Feelings, is opening June 20th at the Silverman Gallery in San Francisco.

(Tammy Rae Carland, Untitled, Lesbian Bed #1. Courtesy of the artist.)

Last but not least, Susan Hefuna’s exhibition Knowledge is Sweeter than Honey opened yesterday in conjunction with Vito Acconci’s solo exhibition at Albion Gallery’s SoHo location, 102 Prince St, 4th Floor, btw Greene and Mercer.

(Susan Hefuna. Woman behind Mashrabiya I, 1997. Courtesy of the artist.)

Work by Kathe Burkhart opens June 14th at Galerie Lumen Travo in Amsterdam. Cleverly appropriating a pop art aesthetic for feminist ends, Burkhart visually and verbally elaborates the radical female subject.

(Kathe Burkhart, Blueballs: from the Liz Taylor Series (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), 2007, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 72 x 108 in. Courtesy: Galerie Lumen Travo.)

Four//From Istanbul opens June 14th at Inspiring Spaces Loft. This weekend-only show is co-curated by Mezze and our former graduate intern Saisha Grayson. The show includes work by Turkish artist Hayal Ponzanti, whose stark black and white prints focuses on gender roles, and sexual and moral taboos in Turkish culture.

(Hayal Ponzanti. From the series This Longing. 2008. Serigraph print. 50 x 70 cm. Photo courtesy of the artist.)

A group show entitled Mahrem: Footnotes on Veiling opens June 14th at Tanas. Mahrem explores the disparity between the meanings women subjectively assign to Islamic covering and the significances projected and perceived by the public. This exhibition serves as the visual component to the first edition of “Non-Western Modernities,” an annual series of workshops and panel discussions conceptualized by sociologist Nilüfer Göle.

(Mandana Moghaddam, Chelgis I, 2003. Courtesy: Tanas.)

Also, for work that deals with veiling in a myriad of cultures and contexts, check out The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces at The Dairy through June 20th.

(announcement for The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces. Courtesy: The Dairy.)

The first Folkestone Triennial, Tales of Time and Space, has commissioned public works by 23 contemporary artists, including Global Feminisms artist Tracey Emin, Pae White, and Sejla Kameric, for its inaugural exhibition, opening June 14th.

(Sejla Kameric, 30 Years After, 2006, color photograph. Courtesy: Sejla Kameric.)

Summer, a group show that includes work by feminist artist Cyrilla Mozenter, opens June 19th at Knoedler Project Space.

(Cyrilla Mozenter, More Saints Seen #29, 2005. Courtesy: Cyrilla Mozenter.)

On June 19th, a show of work by Susan Hefuna, Knowledge is Sweeter than Honey, inaugurates Albion Gallery’s New York location.

(Susan Hefuna, Woman behind a masrhibiyya, 1997, photographic print. Image: artnet.)

Woman Made Gallery hosts both A Minyan Without Men and Tradition and Transformation: Art by Jewish Women through June 19th.

(Dorothy T. Grunes, The Centre Cannot Hold, 24 x 30 in., included in A Minyan Without Men. Courtesy: Woman Made Gallery.)

Janet Biggs’ Tracking Up: A Presentation of Six Single-Channel Videos remains open through June 21st at Solomon Projects. While Biggs has previously addressed social constructions of gender in her work, in this ambitious video installation she broadens her conceptual concerns to include complex relationships of power and control.

(Janet Biggs, Tracking Up, video stills. Courtesy: Solomon Projects.)

Portrait of Silvia Elena, a collaborative installation by Swoon and Tennessee Jane Watson, remains open through July 5th at Honey Space. This show constitutes a visceral reaction to the death of Silvia Elena; it memorializes and draws attention to the hundreds of women who have been abducted and murdered in Ciudad Juarez over the past decade.

(Swoon, Portrait of Silvia Elena. Courtesy: flavorpill and Honey Space.)

The Selling of the West, new photographs by the well-known male feminist Donald Woodman, is open now through August 2nd at Zane Bennett Contemporary Art. Taken during the course of a prolonged western road trip, Woodman’s photographs challenge the notion of the west as utopian frontier.

(Donald Woodman, announcement for The Selling of the West. Courtesy: Zane Bennett Contemporary Art.)

**To learn more about one of the Sackler Center’s favorite male feminist, check out Woodman’s website.

This just in:

This weekend the Renegade Craft Fair, a multi-city organization that gives artists and artisans the chance to sell their wares in a non-corporate venue, takes place at the McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Many of the vendors are female craftspeople who support themselves through consigning their works and participating in DIY craft fairs like this one. Keep it up ladies!

(Sarah Neuberger, Nesting Dolls Stamp Set. Courtesy of the Artist.)

Opening June 7th at Rose Gallery is Global Feminisms artist Tomoko Sawada’s Bride. Sawada’s diptychs represent a meditation on the dichotomies of old and new, east and west, and tradition and fashion.

(Tomoko Sawada, BRIDE, 2007, 1983, 19.75 x 19.75 in., Lambda print mounted on Alpolic. Courtesy: Rose Gallery.)

“Not for the prude, humor-less, or squeamish!” June 4th through 14th, apexart presents a series of free events entitled Come Out & Play. Wednesday’s event, Supermasochist, perhaps the most controversial on the week’s bill, will feature a discussion with Sheree Rose, collaborator and dominatrix of her late husband Bob Flanagan. A screening of Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist will be preceded by relevant short films by numerous artists.

(Courtesy: apexart.)

Chez Bushwick Presents Three Films by Yvonne Rainer, the final two of which occur on June 11th, with a screening of Murder and Murder (1996), and June 18th, with a screening of Privilege (1990).

(Courtesy: Chez Bushwick.)

Work by abstract artist Carol Ross, Paintings 1988-1990, remains on view through June 14th at Janos Gat Gallery. In this collection, one can sense Ross’s unique, often feminine approach to the transition from the modernist, flat, painted canvas to a minimalist unified object.

(Carol Ross, Arch, 74 x 68 inches. Courtesy: Carol Ross.)

Also through June 14th, Global Feminisms artist Lee Bul presents an exciting installation of work at Lehmann Maupin in her first solo exhibition in New York.

(Lee Bul, Sternbau 4, 2007, crystal, glass, and acrylic beads on nickel chrome wire, stainless steel, and aluminum armature. Photo: Patrick Gries. © Lee Bul, © Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. Courtesy: Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, and Lehmann Maupin.)

Andrea Meislin Gallery currently hosts Gender This, a show of paintings by Shelley Adler, through June 21st. Adler’s portraits of ambiguously-gendered figures invite the viewer to question her assumptions about the gender of Adler’s other subjects as well.

(Shelley Adler, Untitled (Blue Woman), 2007, oil on canvas. Courtesy: Andrea Meislin Gallery.)

Jack *%SS is now open, through June 28th, at Susan Inglett Gallery and includes work by Marina Abramovic, Sophie Calle, Carolee Schneemann, and Sara Greenberger Rafferty. The exhibition takes its title from the MTV show of the same name which features stunts and pranks acted out by and upon its cast of characters; Jack *%SS explores the value of similar tactics executed in the realm of contemporary art.

(Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Lucky Not Funny, 2006, C-print, 24 x 16 in. Courtesy: Sara Greenberger Rafferty.)

He/She Series - Sequel, paintings by Rachel Friedberg, is open through June 28th at Kouros Gallery.

(Rachel Friedberg, Kayla’s Skirt, 2008, encaustic on panel, 30 x 20 in. Courtesy: Kouros Gallery.)

Trappings: Stories of Women, Power and Clothing by Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki opens at 516 Arts on June 13th and remains open at Nicolaysen Art Museum through July 27th. Trappings, which now includes over 600 participants, is an ongoing documentary and oral history project that poses the question “What do you wear that makes you feel powerful?” to women across the country.

(Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki, Trappings, Stephanie Rivera, 2005, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Courtesy: Two Girls Working: Tiffany Ludwig and Renee Piechocki.)

Keith Haring’s Houston Street and Bowery Mural has been recreated through the collaborative effort of the Keith Haring Foundation, Goldman Properties, and Deitch Projects. Though Haring’s mural existed for only a few months in 1982, its recreation embodies the bold vitality of Haring’s oeuvre and echoes Haring’s interest in the public visibility of his art.

(Mural at Houston and Bowery Street by Keith Haring, ©1982 The Estate of Keith Haring. Photograph by Tseng Kwong Chi ©1982 Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York. Courtesy: The Keith Haring Foundation and Deitch Projects.)

An exhibition by and talk with Janet Culbertson, Eco-Feminism: Eve Defends Her Garden, opens May 31st, 3pm, at the Floyd Memorial Library of Greenport, NY.

Happy Anniversary Hera Gallery! Hera Gallery hosts its 34th Anniversary opening on May 31st which features work by its current and associate members. Originally intended as a venue for women artists, Hera has grown to include regionally and nationally recognized artists regardless of gender.

(Myron Rubenstein, Night Burns Bright, 2006, 30″ x 40″, printed on canvas with pigmented ink. Courtesy: Hera Gallery.)

Lynn Hershman Leeson’s Found Objects is open through June 5th at bitforms gallery. In this exhibition Hershman Leeson includes an installation comprised of a projector and a realistic female sex doll, posed as Manet’s Olympia, as well as photographic portraits of the doll as seemingly frightened.

(Lynn Hershman Leeson, No Body, 2007, from the Found Objects series, Lambda print, 42″ x 42.5″. Courtesy: bitforms gallery.)

Louise Lawler’s Sucked In, Blown Out, Obviously Indebted or One Foot in Front of the Other remains open at Metro Pictures through June 7th. Lawler, a pioneer of institutional critique in art, here displays photographs taken of recent, publicly displayed art installations in museums and auction houses, including, as shown here, a work by one of Brooklyn Museum’s current guest artists Takashi Murakami.

(Louise Lawler, Polyanna, 2007/2008, 30 1/8″ x 24 1/8″, cibachrome face mounted to plexi on museum box. Courtesy: Metro Pictures.)

California Video at The Getty Center, open through June 8th, addresses the production of video art by California feminist artists and includes work by Eleanor Antin, Martha Rosler, and Woman’s Building artists such as Cheri Gaulke.

(Nina Sobell, Interactive Electroencephalographic Video Drawings, 1973, photo by Ken Feingold. Courtesy: The Getty.)

ISE Cultural Foundation is currently showing work by Japanese artist Yuko Suzuki in its front project space, through June 27th. Suzuki’s ceramic works encapsulate human interactions as shaped by capitalism and personal identification with globalized commodities.

(Yuko Suzuki, installation view of POP, 2008. Courtesy: ISE Cultural Foundation.)

Energetic Accumulators and Token Exchanges by Andrea Zittel is now open at Regen Projects. In an extension of her Raugh Furniture series, Zittel continues to walk a fine line between sculpture and furniture while creating objects that attempt to embrace human imperfection through the creation of a mindset or ideology.

(Andrea Zittel, Raugh Furniture, 2007. Courtesy: Andrea Zittel.)

A joint show of work by Marilyn Minter and Mika Rottenberg, Sweat, is now open at Galerie Laurent Godin. Minter and Rottenberg kick off the summer with an irreverent celebration of sweat and all its implications.

(Marilyn Minter, Shinola, 2008, color print. Courtesy: Galerie Laurent Godin.)