It’s inspiring. It’s educational. And it’s indoors!
Visual art is popping up all over the borough this month. It’s all new and fun — although some of it is a bit wacky. Here’s a short preview of receptions, performances, and tours.
The opening party for Parables of the Unknown: The Art of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror is at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (161-04 Jamaica Ave.) on Friday, Jan. 19, at 6 pm.
Fifteen artists created paintings, sculptures, videos, and comic books that demonstrate how SciFi, fantasy, and horror influence contemporary art. They used popular culture to construct private universes and deliver subtle social commentary in the pieces.
Then on Saturday, Jan. 20, in Long Island City, Studio 41 hosts the opening reception for its Winter Exhibition from 3 pm to 5 pm. Nine local artists share their pieces. (Read more about Studio 41 here.)
The following day, Sunday, Jan. 21, two artists enrich exhibitions that are currently at Queens Museum, which lies in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Emilie L. Gossiaux leads a Tour for the Vision Impaired through her Other-Worlding at 1 pm. Participants learn the proper way to touch art with consent and care.
Then at 3:33 pm, Aki Sasamoto presents a live performance, Point Reflection, which relates to her eponymous exhibition. With such improvisational acts as unscripted spoken words, modified objects, blowing air, live sounds, and lighting, Sasamoto responds to questions like “when did you decide to go the other way?”
Then on Wednesday, Jan. 24, SculptureCenter hosts an Opening for Three Exhibitions from 6 pm to 8 pm.
In collaboration with Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Small World Cinema is an arrangement of moving images from the Taipei Biennial 2023 divided into four programs and spread across the lower level galleries.
R.I.P. Germain’s Avangarda consists of newly commissioned sculptures in the guise of facades and storefronts. It’s the UK-based artist’s first exhibition ever in the United States.
The third is In Practice: Claudia Pagès, which features new work by the Barcelona-born artist that circulates word, body, music, and movement in multiple directions, tracing the continuity of logistics systems like shipping and transport.
The works will be on display at SculptureCenter, which is at 44-19 Purves St. in Long Island City, until March 25.
Editor’s note: Khaila Batts, Atiya Brockington, Janet Bruesselbach, Areta Buk, Emily Chen, Paul Deo, Heather Dunn, Issa Ibrahim, Matt Johnson, David Marini, Marleen Moise, Omar Olivera, Christopher Spinelli, Tabitha Theogene, and Rute Ventura contributed to Parables of the Unknown.
Other editor’s note: Violet Baxter, Casey Concelmo, Amy Geller, Nancy Gesimondo, Tina Glavan, Dianne Martin, Sheila Ross, James Seffens, and Vicky A Stein are in the show at Studio 41.
Finale editor’s note: The Small World Cinema contributors are Tekla Aslanishvili; Yin-Ju Chen; Giorgi Gago Gagoshidze; Samia Halaby; Li Yi-Fan; Jen Liu; Basim Magdy; Jumana Manna; Artemio Narro; Bahar Noorizadeh in collaboration with Rudá Babau and Waste Paper Opera (Klara Kofen, James Oldham, Gary Zhexi Zhang, Anna Palmer); Ipeh Nur; Ellen Pau; Oleksiy Radynski; John Smith; Su Yu-Hsin; Wang Ya-Hui; C. Spencer Yeh; and Zhou Tao.
Top image: Emilie L. Gossiaux’s Other-Worlding at Queens Museum;
Bottom image: In Practice: Claudia Pagès at SculptureCenter