Young Capote! The Olympics! Art Things To Do & See This Week
It’s a complete myth that there’s nothing art-related worth seeing in August in New York. Things slow down, for sure, but look at all this! Gorgeous paintings in Bushwick, performances in Downtown Brooklyn, “lost” photographs of young Truman Capote—and yes, the Olympics. Because that’s art too. Don’t miss out on all the good stuff because your face is stuck to your air conditioner with one eye on The Get Down.
UNDERDONK GALLERY: WOOGIE — OSAMU KOBAYASHI
Kobayashi’s paintings have a sweeping, subtle confidence and sweet humor: his solo show at Bushwick’s Underdonk Gallery—Woogie—isn’t his first, with shows at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York and AplusB Contemporary Art in Italy on his resume. Don’t miss this one (it’s worth it just to see the image above in person) but go over the weekend, because they’re only open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00PM – 6:00PM.
Exhibition: August 13 2016 — September 11 2016
315 GALLERY: I’D RATHER BE HERE THAN ALMIGHTY — CLOSING RECEPTION
There are two things happening here: the show, I’d Rather Be Here Than Almighty, which is lovely, and the performances marking the end of the show, which haven’t happened yet, but will likely be equally fascinating. Peter Zohore (a Cooper Union grad who has worked with the Bruce High Quality Foundation), James Bayard (watch this video featuring Jamie Bayard dancing with Jamie Bayard) and several others will perform and screen video works. If the performances are anything like the exhibition, you can expect cyborgs, cruising culture, and “questions of where the body ends and the environment begins.”
Performance: August 18, 6:00PM – 8:00PM, Exhibition: July 16 2016 — August 21 2016
BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: TRUMAN CAPOTE’S BROOKLYN—THE LOST PHOTOGRAPHS OF DAVID ATTIE
Obviously ‘lost’ is a misnomer, because the photographs are definitely here, plus they appeared in book form (accompanying Truman Capote’s Brooklyn: A Personal Memoir, edited by George Plimpton) in 2015. But they were misplaced until 2014, when David Attie’s son found them, and it was very exciting for everyone to find a forgotten, never-published pile of photographs featuring a young Truman Capote. The photographs exist because in spring of 1958, Truman Capote and David Attie (who shot the images for Breakfast At Tiffany’s) went for a walk from Brooklyn Heights to the waterfront, capturing 33-year-old Capote’s favorite spots. Their chemistry is obvious; Attie’s photographs are architecturally lovely, but they also manage to capture a less squirrelly, practically stately young Capote.
Exhibition: July 20 2016 — July 2017
BROOKLYN MUSEUM: WATCH THE OLYMPICS
Is this art, you ask? Come at me, bro. There will be beer, the Olympics will be on the big screen, it’s happening at Brooklyn Museum, and yes, there’s also an exhibition, appropriately sportif—Who Shot Sports: A Photographic History, 1843 to the Present—currently on view. Admission is free from 6:00PM – 10:00PM, and we all know that looking at other people’s perfect bodies doing amazing things is the only reason anyone actually watches the Olympics. Sounds like art to me.
Olympics viewing: August 18, 8:00PM, Exhibition: July 15 2016 — January 8 2017