Though I was, of course, taken by the work inside the studios, I found myself fixating on how artists adorned their studio doors. These three are from Reis Studios, which are open to the public again today for the LIC Arts Open.
queens art
Arts, open
It's that time again: time for the LIC Arts Open, nearly a week of gallery nights, events, and open studios spread across Long Island City.
Tonight revolved around Queens Plaza/Dutch Kills; first, we visited the Clock Tower, 29-27 41st Avenue, which is hosting a group show, with standouts like recent prints from Luba Lukova. Next, we wandered over to Space Gallery, 29-09 39th Avenue, and took a peek at Windmill Tap & Grill, still not quite ready for the public, but beautifully restored and looking like a promising addition to the neighborhood. Finally, we headed to Studio 34, 34-01 38th Avenue, and checked out a group show as well as a few studio spaces.
Lots of great stuff---like "Power" in pink plush, below, in addition to pieces by Ayakoh Furukawa, Mary Teresa Giancoli, Sofia Hager, Eric March, Nancy Rakoczy, Helaine Soller, and many, many more. Have a wander in the neighborhood---this weekend, the open studios should be another big draw; Reis Studios and Diego Salazar are a pretty good bet.
In the Clock Tower
No Longer Empty, an organization that creates site-specific installations in abandoned urban spaces, opened a new exhibit, How Much Do I Owe You?, in the Clock Tower Building off Queens Plaza. This corner of LIC, ordinarily rather empty, was buzzing with energy, so mobbed that I headed out into the chill night and vowed to return later, when fewer people were around. I looked back and saw shadow figures dancing behind the clock’s illuminated face, a playful touch that makes the three-month show, "a personal and conversational exploration into the new iterations of currency, value and exchange at this time of financial flux, growing debt and job insecurity," a rather visible presence in the neighborhood.
It seems worth it to go sooner rather than later; perhaps tonight's chaos is par for the course, but we saw an older gentleman crouch down beside one work -- a display of white plates arranged just so, with dollar bills and loose change dispersed among them -- only to then grab several bills and cram them into his pocket. “What? They owe me,” he grumbled, and griped about the cost of admission. (Which was free.) I suppose in today's economy, we all have to make do.
How Much Do I Owe You? | December 12 through March 13, 2013, Thursdays through Mondays, 1-7 p.m. | The Clock Tower, 29-27 41st Avenue, Long Island City, Queens
