Upcoming Screenings Online/Week of July 12th

Top Picks for Art Online Week of July 12th

Curator Zoé Whitley Interviews Artist Titus Kaphar
Design Emergency, Special Edition/Instagram Live
July 13, 2020/11am (EDT)

Scrolling through Instagram I stopped short on an arresting painting: a pastel haze with two women standing behind strollers, children cut out, absent from the spaces they should are meant to be in. The work is by Titus Kaphar, whose art recently graced the cover of Time Magazine. From his site: "His practice seeks to dislodge history from its status as the 'past' in order to unearth its contemporary relevance...Open areas become active absences; walls enter into the portraits; stretcher bars are exposed; and structures that are typically invisible underneath, behind, or inside the canvas are laid bare to reveal the interiors of the work. In so doing, Kaphar's aim is to reveal something of what has been lost and to investigate the power of a rewritten history." This discussion is part of the Design Emergency series founded by MoMA curator Paola Antonelli and Design Critic Alice Rawsthorn, an ongoing, fascinating "investigation into design's response to Covid-19." 

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Rot by Kathleen Ryan
Karma/Online Viewing Room
July 8-August-30, 2020/Free

A lot of these art exhibits online are underwhelming. Galleries seem to put too much in between the work and the UX. This is why Karma's stripped-down videos of Kathleen Ryan's pieces in her show titled Rot are extra appealing as they draw attention to the details, capitalizing on the online format by providing an up-close view one might not be able to get in the gallery, alongside a deep-dive essay by curator Jenelle Porter. Ryan's pieces are reminiscent of that chintzy beaded fruit that my retro hairdresser has on her Formica waiting room table but these pieces are adorned with precious, earthly gemstones cum craft-store jewelry beads intricately transformed into molding fruit. There is something so unfathomable in the construction of these pieces with their tiny pointillism and eerie Oldenburg charm-- I'm really taken with the craft and the larger picture does feel so in keeping with the spirit of 2020...

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A Dream is What You Wake Up From (1978) by Larry Bullard and Carolyn Y. Johnson
Lightbox Film Center/Online
July 7-17, 2020/$10 24hr. Streaming Rental
 

A Dream is What You Wake Up From uses documentary and dramatic scenes of labor, neighborhoods, home and school coupled with personal voiceovers of three families in late 70s New York. What emerges is a multitudinous portrait of the Black American experience, lives unfolding across different planes of concern. The juxtaposition of fictions, nonfictions, observations and perceptions allows for an exploration of realities, possibilities, and struggling hopes, an elliptical view of what it means to be a Black family in this particular time and place. Shot on luscious 16mm and featuring a soundtrack by pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs (who recently passed away) the film is a meditation on the resilience and strength needed in order to thrive in America's contradictions, sentiments being loudly echoed today.

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Notes On Digging (inspired by 2020 piece Reaching Towards Warmer Suns) by Kiyan Williams
The Shed/Up Close Online
July 12, 2020/6pm (EST)/Free

In video-diary format, Artist Kiyan Williams will discuss their relationship with digging in the dirt, dirt being a medium often found in the artist's gritty, grounded yet elegant sculptural and performative practice. As part of a 2020 residency, the artist produced the piece Reaching Towards Warmer Suns, giant earthen arms extended skyward on the banks of the James River in Virginia, a location pivotal in the formation of oppressive American histories; deep roots can reach into the heavy soil, transform both the beautiful and the ugly burdens found within and produce lightness through acts of shared creativity. In this talk, Williams will speak on the installation and research that went into the making of this piece in addition to the connection they find with the earth and how it can act as a recovery method for intersectional violence.

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The Giverny Document (Single Channel) (2019) by Ja'Tovia Gary

Courtesy of the Artist/Youtube
Begins July 6, 2020/Free

As I spoke about earlier on the blog, The Giverny Document is an incredible work that should not be missed. Artist Ja'Tovia Gary stated in a recent Instagram post: "Last year I made an experimental documentary about Black women’s safety. A bulk of my work has found its place within a gallery and museum context as it relates to exhibition/ distribution. This is a double edged sword that often restricts access to the very audience I am committed to reaching. This particular work will be different. I’d like as many Black women as possible to view this film so I’ve made THE GIVERNY DOCUMENT (Single Channel) available on YouTube at this time. No fanfare, no press release, just get into if you can. And let me know what you think. She loves a sound, good faith critique!"
 

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Jim Henson's World: Creature Makers with Peter Brooke and Jason Weber

Museum of the Moving Image/Live Online Talk
July 18, 2020/7pm (EDT)/Suggested Donation $10 + RSVP

Once I met a couple who had worked alongside Jim Henson, the two spoke of operating puppets in The Dark Crystal and the foibles of making Kermit the frog ride a bike but, most memorable to me was the reverence and palpable love that one could feel in their words when speaking of Henson and his vision, a feeling of love that comes forth through every creation from his prolific studio. Henson's spirit lives on in his Creature Shop, a space that continues to champion innovation and play. In this talk, the Creative Supervisors of the Shop, located in New York and Los Angeles, will discuss how they continue Henson's tradition as puppeteers, thinkers and makers. This event is part of the larger, ongoing museum show titled The Jim Henson Exhibition full of lovers and dreamers. 
 

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Please send recs for upcoming weeks to: donnak3[at]gmail[dot]com