GAYLETTER

Much to my dismay, most of my go-to art friends are more or less completely unfamiliar with Chantal Joffe. Luckily for me, I had a darling professor who worked closely with the artist and gallery during Joffe’s past show, Night Self-Portraits, at Cheim & Read and she felt it was integral to introduce and study the painter in the class dedicated to self-fashioning and self-portraiture. On that previous show, Joffe said, “I felt those self-portraits were getting closer to the kind of honesty I want.” In her latest exhibition for Cheim & Read, which closes this coming Friday, Joffe has produced a collection of portraits of women and girls alone, save an addition to her on-going series of portraits that feature herself and her own daughter, Esme. “With influences ranging from Piero della Francesca to Edgar Degas and Francis Bacon, Joffe has based her work on a direct and intimate observational relationship between the painter and her sitter.” As Joffe regards her previous show with the gallery as a personal breakthrough, I must run over to Chelsea and catch these canvases before they are down. There’s nothing better than hearing a painter feel that she’s hit her stride, and then, of course, seeing for yourself.  —Chris Stewart

All of my closest friends are painters, so I’ve received what I call a second-hand arts education by sitting in on their critiques and conversations. (Maybe I am not so subtly trying to become Frank O’Hara). As I write this, I realize I’m at risk of sounding like an idiot, but as the Latin idiom goes: as in painting so is poetry, and I know poetry, so fuck it! The Hole, which is always doing something interesting, is presenting their second installment of Post-Analog Painting. The exhibition, which includes only digitally-inspired works, features contemporary populars like Trudy Benson, Austin Lee, Maja Djordjevic, Caroline Larsen and Guy Yanai; all whom I’ve been interacted with via friends or Instagram (seems appropriate for the occasion). The idiosyncratic approach and the physical materiality of painting is perhaps the most mystifying aspect of the medium. So to take on a painting show that sees painting in a post-analog state, is provocative as much as it is relevant. We live in a digital age and so many artists are consuming work via their phones; really, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the hand-made has been refashioned into pixelated textures. I’m sure an art historian could point out someone else who did this years ago, but I’m feeling like a romantic. The show feels totally fresh (though a tad over-crowded). It closes Sunday! Get jiggy with it.  —Chris Stewart

You are probably thinking why in the hell are we talking about March Madness when it’s the first letter of May, but bare with us. This group show at Fort Gansevoort opened on March 17 and has just recently been extended through May 13. “The show features a roster of 31 artists, all women, whose artwork subvert masculine archetypes, and challenge more docile notions of femininity by highlighting the qualities of strength, fitness and agility that are characteristic of physical skill and capability.” How I haven’t heard about this show in recent weeks is a little beyond me. Some of the artists included are Cindy Sherman, Catherine Opie, Collier Schorr, Miranda July, and GAYLETTER friend and contributor Renée Cox whose triumphant and commandeering piece is featured in the press-email. I was browsing the online gallery and was surprised to see how many works included actual depictions of sports, rather than just pandering. Basketballs seem to be alerting the viewer to feminine body standards, and in another, trophies have never looked so totally worthless. You’ve got a little over a week left in the extension. Grab an iced coffee with almond milk and non-gmo ice and take a walk to Chelsea — the weather is right for it.  —Chris Stewart

Shannon Michael Cane from Printed Matter is always looking for ways to shine a spotlight on queer artists that never got the acclaim they so rightly deserve. And bless him for that. We do the same in our magazine. It’s amazing how many brilliant queer artists have been overlooked by the mainstream art community because it’s clearly filled with a bunch of homophobes. This week Shannon is bringing to Printed Matter “an exhibition of self-published serial publications and ephemera by late New Yorker John Dowd, a key if often overlooked figure in the correspondence art movement of the early 1970s.” John Dowd is an artist made for GAYLETTER. Like us, John was fascinated with printed materials, popular culture and queer politics. His work was often described as having a “xerox aesthetic” (I love that term), he also had a “perverse sense of humor” which is evident in much of his work, like his pieces featuring Disney cartoon characters. “The John Dowd Fan Club traces Dowd’s collaborative output through a near-complete overview of editioned publications and folded broadsheets, accompanied by extensive archival material including unique zines, xerox ephemera, promotional inserts, collages, mail art, correspondence, and original stencils.” The opening reception is on Friday, April 21, 6:00-8:00PM. There’s always a cute crowd at Printed Matter’s openings, and free beer! It’s time to join the John Dowd fan club.  —tom

Come one come all to this multimedia exhibit that seeks to celebrate one of Lesbian-Rights most notable coalitions. Formed in 1992 during a surge of misogyny, and anti-gay, white nationalist hate, the Lesbian Avengers was created in NYC to focus, and work, on issues that were essential to lesbian visibility and survival. On view at the lovely BGSQD at The Center, Friday’s opening will include readings by the uber-cool Eileen Myles and Sassafras Lowrey. Both of these writers have made it a point to celebrate sexuality and challenge gender in their literary works. The first time I read the lines: “I thought / Well I’ll be a poet. / What could be more / foolish and obscure. / I became a lesbian” from Myles’ “An American Poem,” I nearly fell over. I was a junior in college trying to figure out how a queer voice could claim real space in the literature landscape. Myles was already paving the goddamn way. The exhibit will catalog various flyers, photographs, posters, slide shows and more, all from scenes of the Avengers activism. What will begin at BGSQD will travel to various spots around the country, so anyone who was involved at the time can get a chance to commemorate their important work. Stop by and have a look — if you were involved in the past, they’re asking for your participation again!

I was just saying the other day that the New Museum is on a streak holding exhibitions that have been real hits. The MoMA is probably a little jealous about the Raymond Pettibon exhibition titled ‘A Pen of All Work’ now on view at the New Museum. Whoever is calling the shots (I assume that’s chief curator Richard Flood) is calling them right. Our office is right near the museum and the lines for recent shows have been wrapping around the corner of the block. “For over thirty years, Raymond Pettibon (b. 1957, Tucson, AZ) has been chronicling the history, mythology, and culture of America with a prodigious and distinctive voice. Through his drawings’ signature interplay between image and text, he moves between historical reflection, emotional longing, poetic wit, and strident critique.” This is the first major museum survey exhibition in New York of Raymond’s work. It’s a show worth seeing, and one that we’re sure will continue the museum’s winning streak. It’s a great time for this exhibition giving it’s political nature, and that it’s graphic, engaging and very Instagram friendly. Just don’t go at 7:00PM on a Thursday night unless you get turned on by waiting in lines. Lol.  —t&a