[Press Release] The Grit & The Glam is an exploration into the duality of beauty, a showcase of Bella and Mastrion’s individual styles that contrast and complement one another. As street artists, Lexi and Danielle have been transforming rusted gates and old brick walls into works of art for over a decade. With The Grit & The Glam, the artists translate these experiences onto the canvas. Conceptually, the show focuses on juxtapositions of beauty; between urban and natural, decay and revival, abstraction and realism, grit and glamour. Building off one another’s strengths, Lexi and Danielle navigate layers of meaning within their art.

As I made my way around the lounge I examined Cecilia’s work. What struck me was how evocative her pieces are. While I am not usually one for abstract art, Cecilia’s craft conveyed deep emotion. Longing, despair, and confusion; jubilation, tranquility, and a sense of still timelessness. The assortment of art was constructed with powder on paper, all imbued with the nebulous thematic elements; A Matter of Dust.

Henry Kissinger is one of the most influential statesmen in American history. The former Secretary of State is known for expanding a policy of detente with the Soviet Union, opening China to trade, the bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam war, his tangled relationship with President Nixon, public calls for him to be tried for war crimes, and adopting a strong element of realpolitik into foreign policy. His is a divided legacy.

In his decades-long career, Noam Chomsky has transcended academia into pop culture; in effect he has become the epitome of the modern American intellectual. Through his scholarly work in the fields of linguistics and philosophy, and his willingness to challenge the political status quo, Chomsky has made a name for himself as one of the most articulate critics of contemporary society. Masters of Mankind reads like a greatest hits of Chomsky’s essays and lectures, with the seven collected in Masters of Mankind ranging from 1969 to 2013, covering a diversity of topics, all of which are explored with intelligent insight.

Do you believe in evil, or rather, evil people? If so, what is it that makes them evil? Is it a matter of unpardonable crimes committed, or it is simply an intractable matter of their being? I ask, but Maria never asks. That is not who she is. Who she is, however, is the central force within Joan Didion’s Play it as it Lays . I chose the above quote, because I believe in encapsulates everything es

On a fine Friday evening, the sky still bright with the nascent long sun of summer, we embarked on our gallery tour. An agenda of four: Essex Flowers, Fierman, Shrine, and the Lazy Susan Gallery. Each unique, displaying artists of a wide aesthetic range. Taking advantage of the temperate weather, we met with the gracious galleries hosts, eager to welcome our gang of curious voyagers.

As you step into the cavernous chamber, you are first greeted by a diamond; a glowing monument of 23 prisms. This audacity of scale, imaginative range, and scope of form are representative of the collection as a whole. The Spring/Break Bklyn Immersive Art Show, courtesy of Frieze Week and lead curators Ambre Kelly and Andrew Gori, explores themes of displacement, loss, and the surreal.

American politics elicit a range of emotions; outrage, indignation, humor, apathy, disappointment. The pervasive nature of our interconnected culture makes it all but impossible to avoid; one cannot escape but feel something. Those feelings in turn are what inspire “REACT,” an exhibition curated by The Peanut Gallery. The show displays a collection of artists, capturing sentiments of social commentary in a variety of mediums.

Rough Matter is the titular subject of Rebecca Murtaugh’s new exhibition hosted by Stout Projects in the Gary Giordano Gallery. Rough Matter is an apt title; it conveys the art in both its literal and figurative forms.

Among the various celebrities publicly grieved in 2016, one name passed without much social media fanfare; Arnold Mesches died on November 5, at the age of 93. Now, however, several of his works have been given new life, detailing the variety of style which marked an illustrious career. A Selection of Master Works, curated by the David & Schweitzer Contemporary Gallery, exhibits the vivid socio-political conscious that defined Mesches’ art.

Reinvention, recollection, and rediscovery. These are the thematic elements that dominate Realizations, a new exhibition of Samuel Stabler’s works at the Victori+Mo Gallery. Reimaginings of the past are brought to life in a colorful display of artistic craft.

“They had no understanding of life, and believed that bribes were given out of respect for moral qualities, and after they were married grew old quickly, let themselves go completely, and sank hopelessly in the mire of vulgar, petty bourgeois existence.”

Within a repurposed warehouse in Bushwick, the Black and White Gallery exhibits its taste with the fine works of Patte Loper. An eclectic mix of mediums, Loper’s Sparkly Darkly has an otherworldly feel.

“Money for the right kind of education, money for influential friends, money for leisure and peace of mind, money for trips to Italy. Money writes books and money sells them. Give me not righteousness, O Lord, give me money, only money.”