4 Must-See Shows in New York Right Now
Laurie Simmons, Alexandria Deters, Kathie Halfin, Tobias Bradford, and more.
DEEP PHOTOS / IN THE BEGINNING: Laurie Simmons at 56 Henry
Laurie Simmons’s newest body of work no longer uses the photograph as its main channel, instead, she takes a step back in her process, bringing the objects that she has staged and photographed in the past to protrude out from or live within custom-made box frames. In Deep Photos (Sparkle House) the artist has installed parts of a dollhouse extending out from the frame—instead of the glossy, still, effect that a photograph has the dimensionality of the piece centers its DIY and inventive glory. A photograph depicts something that has happened, but here, in these five new works, I feel as if anything can happen. You might recognize the doll house installed at the bottom of Deep Photos (White House Green Lawn/Swimming Pool) it was photographed in White House/Green Lawn first on view at Metro Pictures in 1997. Resurfacing these archival pieces, making them available to the naked eye is both bold and generous—a reminder of the possibility of constant renewal, but also the lingering presence of the past.
In 56 Henry’s first show with Simmons Color Pictures/Deep Photos 2007-2022, the artist was inching towards more sculptural work. Domestic scenes were shown in deep frames where photographs with some cutouts and miniature furniture enclosed in poured clear resin. This never-before-seen material exploration by the artist was fresh—also its subject matter, including some pornographic imagery was new to the public, but, given the time frame of the work (beginning in 2007) not new to the artist’s practice. Throughout her artistic career, Simmons has created four-dimensional sculptural environments. In the 1970s, at the height of the feminist movement, she set up the 1950s dollhouses of her youth, creating scenes to photograph—for progressive forces, these toys had been abandoned, seen as agents to enforce gender norms. But, as Simmons revisited them she also highlighted the impact of their phantasmal world-building on U.S.-American life—with the recent surge in idolizing the 1950s (ranging from politicians to social media trends) Simmons’s revisitation of her archive in her newest body of work is extremely timely. Kudos to Ellie Rines for her keen eye and daring to offer the artist, in both exhibitions, the platform to exhibit her playful experimentations which will surely become a pivotal part of her artistic oeuvre.
Throughout her career, Simmons has brought the private to the public by using language from mainstream popular culture in thought-provoking juxtapositions. Simmons’s recent Instagram post with Taylor Swift epitomized just that; not Mommie Dearest i.e. domestic abuse, referencing Christine Crawford’s auto-biography about the abuse she endured behind doors by her adopted mother Joan Crawford, not advocating having children, just one friend helping the other organize her closet…and Simmons lauding Swift’s endorsement for Kamala Harris. The U.S. first female president. So real and out-of-this-world unreal at the same time.
Open through October 27th, 2024 at 102 Henry Street, 10002, New York, New York.
Historical Fever Dreams: Alexandria Deters at BravinLee Projects
Queer Playmates, the rise and fall of Playgirl, and historical events and scandals are some of the things that get Alexandria Deters going. Her latest solo show at BravinLee Projects in Chelsea presents an array of her embroidery work adorned with embroidered text highlighting the personal history of those depicted on pages from LIFE, Playboy, Playgirl, and Frolic, from the 1950s and onwards. Deters is interested in the lives of people who adorn these publications but whose life stories tell a very different story than those projected by the articles that their bodies and faces were printed across. As Deters revisits magazine archives, her embroidery shouts loud and clear that the questions we need to ask archives are not what is in them, but what is excluded from them. Like Dorothy Stratton who in 1980, after being discovered for nude photographs sent by her boyfriend Paul Snider, was selected Playmate of the Year and moved to Hollywood. The page Deters has embroidered tells of Stratten’s fairytale life—but, shortly thereafter she was murdered by Snider. Jessica Hahn was raped by Jim Bakker, the televangelist who pioneered Christian TV through his ministry PTL, at the age of 21 when she was a church secretary. Later she posed nude in Playboy on two occassions and has shared her regrets and anger publicly—the Playboy photos that Deters has embroidered are cute, Hahn with a dog. The work shows that women, LGBTQ, and immigrant populations—or people that otherwise do not fit within strict (read: impossible) societal norms—often voice their dissatisfaction and truths, to find them and connect the dots we must sometimes look elsewhere.
It’s not all true crime. When Thom Collins was photographed for the centerfold in Playgirl (the first U.S. magazine to center male nudity) the accompanying article set him out to be every girl’s dream, he was however gay, and went on to become an important activist for HIV. The magazine was also mostly bought by gay men, not women, its intended demographic. Deter’s bold stitches shed an unwavering light on the fact that things are not always what they seem.
An in-person discussion with artist and writer Alexandria Deters and curator and writer Emily Colucci will take place on September 18th at 6:00 pm and the exhibition is open through September at 508-526 W 26th St #211, New York, NY 10001. No RSVP required.
Tentacular Threads: Natalie Adgnot, Frid Branham, Rina AC Dweck, Kathie Halfin, Yudit Katz, Elizabeth Tolson
Part of the ninth edition of New York Textile Month the artist-curator Kathie Halfin has assembled work by nine artists, including herself, around the theme of tentacle-thinking, coined by Donna Haraway the term counters the dominant view that the world is simply seen—instead it should be felt, touched, and is interconnected. “The tentacles stand for the other, the non-human and implicitly pose the question of how a perception that is not two-armed, two-eyed, two-eared and one-brained, but many-armed and many-brained can generate other forms of knowledge,” Eli Mosyedi, a professor of architecture at ETH Zurich, writes in her online Theasuarus. A piece that stands out is Agnot’s Bird Brain which hangs from the ceiling, it is autobiographical and slightly self-deprecating (calling someone a birdbrain is calling them stupid). A horsehair mane hangs from its messy and collaged body that combines thermoplastic, cotton muslin, and protyping textiles from her time working in Paris. In Coralie Fargeat’s new film The Substance Demi Moore leads as a character who splits into two versions—a younger and an older—they end up being at odds with each other. Albeit, less violently, Agnot’s work also seems to explore self-critique through disapproval, bodily collage, and connectivity with the materials and textures.
The show presents intricate textile sculptures that employ a variation of techniques that hang from the ceiling and on walls—most works embody a certain sense of animism or personality, and in some, the interconnection is more apparent than others. Halfin for instance trained under Yudit Katz—putting the work in the same room threads this bridge between knowledge passed on. Two works in muddy colors by Katz are included in the show—a treat as her work is otherwise mostly exhibited in Israel. Halfin’s work consists of dyed and woven paper—the color scheme is current, purple and green, and the work she says resembles a flower pod, but in my eyes it looks vaginal with a high degree of sensuality with its varied textures. It is clear why NYTM asked Halfin to participate as her degree in mastery and skill, needed to experiment with textile work, is high. These works that speak to human, plant, and other bodies serve as a beautiful talking point to the energies that sculptures can both hold and emit.
Open through September 19 by appointment with a closing event on September 19th 6-8PM at 75 19th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11232. No RSVP required.
As my eyes adjust: Tobias Bradford at Company Gallery
On the heels of the closing of the Paralympics in Paris—where many athletes use metal, synthetic, and otherwise inventively engineered prosthetics to mimic lost limbs—As my eyes adjust a solo exhibition presenting a collection of Tobias Bradford’s kinetic sculptures opens at Company Gallery in New York. Entering the backroom of the gallery, where the exhibition starts, three limbs hang and lay on the floor, literally, my eyes and mind were trying to adjust, understand what I was seeing. Why do artificial limbs always represent something lost (as they are commonly used, as prosthetics)? Can we not think about them as devices that make us superhuman—the selfie-stick, the mainstream prosthetic, enhances our body’s function. Walking downstairs, where the exhibition continues, two sculptures with robotic limbs make the same continuous motions but go nowhere. A dog with an accordion as lungs (inventive!). A dude wearing sandals carrying a blue plastic bag with a cigarette in hand—epitomizing a laissez-faire attitude, stands next to its polar opposite, a reclining nude, Nude Figure (2024). A dead branch. Which, amongst the collection of works appears as poetic and beautiful. Think Modigliani. In the vein of the Paralympics, Bradford begs the viewer not to consider what is lost but what has been gained and what we can overcome as our eyes adjust to navigating the depths of our own headspace.
Open through October 26, 2024 at 145 Elizabeth Street. New York, New York 10012.
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