Austin Thomas Sketchbook

We saw the sketchbook above at a great show titled "Draw" at Norte Maar in Bushwick, featuring drawings by established and emerging artists + architects, designers, choreographers and composers. The drawings are generally pre-study stage, more like R&D.

Austin's 2-year project Pocket Utopia ends its run in Bushwick on the 28th, as does a show of her work at Kris Graves Projects in DUMBO. Check out the ArtCat Zine interview with her by our awesome summer intern Stephanie.

On Saturday, May 30th a select group of artists will present Playing Through, an extensive mini golf course (and then some) at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (55 33rd Street). From noon to midnight, the 16,000 sqft, 15ft ceilinged industrial space will be transformed into a carnival extravaganza. We are eliminating greens fees and assembling a full food court featuring many local vendors. There will be a cotton candy machine and a popcorn waterfall. The course will have roaming beverage cart service. Nightfall will see the musical stage come to life, with several bands performing. In these tough economic times we're taking care of you with an entire day of free entertainment for everyone on the Brooklyn waterfront.

James and I hope to stop by this on Saturday. It's an interesting group of artists, ranging from recent Hunter MFA graduates to more "established" artists like Rachel Harrison. James and I have written about quite a few of them. I was told by one of the organizers that they wanted to use an event like this to introduce the artists working there to the broader community. I particularly like the fact that they have fliers in English and Spanish!

Carrie Moyer, Mythic Being (detail), 2008, acrylic on canvas, 50 × 30 inches

Work stuff is not leaving much time for blog posts, so I'm posting images of some of my favorite things seen lately. That definitely includes Carrie Moyer's excellent show of paintings at Canada, up through June 7. Do not miss it.

Angela Dufresne, Some Like it Hot, 2009, oil on canvas, 40 × 60 inches (via Monya Rowe Gallery)

Angela Dufresne, Nosforatu Street Scene with Italian Hookers (from Herzog's 'Nosforatu'), 2008, oil on canvas, 84 × 132 inches (via CRG Gallery)

My own photos didn't turn out so well, so here are two images of Angela's work from the gallery websites. I've been following her work for a while, and the latest paintings are my favorite work by her so far. The Monya Rowe show closes June 13, and the CRG show closes July 2.

Video spotted via enjoybanking. Visit Barbara Celis's blog for more info, James's post, and this flickr stream.

Here is a short clip from Luke Murphy's video installation at Canada. Visit the ArtCat listing for more information on the show.

Lately I've seen a few gallery opening announcements where the beverage sponsor was Jamaican beer Red Stripe. This makes a good "teaching moment." Jamaica is the most dangerous place in the Caribbean for queer people, with a government that regularly issues anti-LBGT statements, and a dance hall culture whose musicians regularly call for violence against queer people in their lyrics. Much of Jamaica's income comes from investment, trade, and tourism from the United States. This is no time to do business with Red Stripe or for that matter Myers Rum. Visit Pam's House Blend and Boycott Jamaica for more information.

I guess the pricey gallery website provider exhibit-e has heard of my ArtCat hosting business for artists and galleries. They are buying ads on the keyword "artcat" so that their ad appears when people Google it.

This is an installation and detail view from a smart two-person show at Kate Werble in SoHo combining work in various media of Brock Enright with photographs by John Lehr. There is much more in the show, and I really like the photos by Lehr as well. I'm just showing you what I could get good images of. Check out the gallery's website for more.

3 works, all 2009:

Sunset
Latex paint, glitter, paper, spray paint, snow, and baby powder
dimensions variable

Butterfly Knife and a Ritz Cracker
Butterfly knife, Ritz Cracker, and toothpaste

Penguin Paradox
Pastel on paper
50 1/2 × 38 inches

Museum 52 had a solo installation of Sarah Braman's work for their booth at The Armory Show. I can't get enough of her work!

Anaba also wrote about this, and has some photos of individual sculptures.